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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Belton Estate, by Anthony Trollope
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Belton Estate
+
+
+Author: Anthony Trollope
+
+
+
+Release Date: January, 2004  [EBook #4969]
+[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002]
+[Most recently updated June 8, 2010]
+
+
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELTON ESTATE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Andrew Turek; corrections by Rita Bailey
+
+
+
+THE BELTON ESTATE
+
+by
+
+ANTHONY TROLLOPE
+
+First published in serial form in the _Fortnightly Review_
+in 1865 and in book form the same year
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE REMNANTS OF THE AMEDROZ FAMILY
+
+Mrs Amedroz, the wife of Bernard Amedroz, Esq, of Belton Castle, and
+mother of Charles and Clara Amedroz, died when those children were
+only eight and six years old, thereby subjecting them to the greatest
+misfortune which children born in that sphere of life can be made to
+suffer. And, in the case of this boy and girl, the misfortune was
+aggravated greatly by the peculiarities of the father's character. Mr
+Amedroz was not a bad man as men are held to be bad in the world's
+esteem. He was not vicious was not a gambler or a drunkard was not
+self-indulgent to a degree that brought upon him any reproach; nor
+was he regardless of his children. But he was an idle, thriftless
+man, who, at the age of sixty-seven, when the reader will first make
+his acquaintance, had as yet done no good in the world whatever.
+Indeed he had done terrible evil; for his son Charles was now dead
+had perished by his own hand and the state of things which had
+brought about this woeful event had been chiefly due to the father's
+neglect.
+
+Belton Castle is a pretty country seat, standing in a small but
+beautifully wooded park, close under the Quantock hills in
+Somersetshire; and the little town of Belton clusters round the park
+gates. Few Englishmen know the scenery of England well, and the
+prettinesses of Somersetshire are among those which are the least
+known. But the Quantock hills are very lovely, with their rich
+valleys lying close among them, and their outlying moorlands running
+off towards Dulverton and the borders of Devonshire moorlands which
+are not flat, like Salisbury Plain, but are broken into ravines and
+deep watercourses and rugged dells hither and thither; where old oaks
+are standing, in which life seems to have dwindled down to the last
+spark; but the last spark is still there, and the old oaks give forth
+their scanty leaves from year to year.
+
+In among the hills, somewhat off the high road from Minehead to
+Taunton, and about five miles from the sea, stands the little town,
+or village, of Belton, and the modern house of Mr Amedroz, which is
+called Belton Castle. The village for it is in truth no more, though
+it still maintains a charter for a market, and there still exists on
+Tuesdays some pretence of an open sale of grain and butcher's meat in
+the square before the church-gate contains about two thousand
+persons. That and the whole parish of Belton did once and that not
+long ago belong to the Amedroz family. They had inherited it from the
+Beltons of old, an Amedroz having married the heiress of the family.
+And as the parish is large, stretching away to Exmoor on one side and
+almost to the sea on the other, containing the hamlet of Redicote,
+lying on the Taunton high road Redicote, where the post-office is
+placed, a town almost in itself, and one which is now much more
+prosperous than Belton as the property when it came to the first
+Amedroz had limits such as these, the family had been considerable in
+the county. But these limits had been straitened in the days of the
+grandfather and the father of Bernard Amedroz; and he, when he
+married a Miss Winterfield of Taunton, was thought to have done very
+well, in that mortgages were paid off the property with his wife's
+money to such an extent as to leave him in clear possession of an
+estate that gave him two thousand a year. As Mr Amedroz had no grand
+neighbours near him, as the place is remote and the living therefore
+cheap, and as with this income there was no question of annual visits
+to London, Mr and Mrs Amedroz might have done very well with such of
+the good things of the world as had fallen to their lot. And had the
+wife lived, such would probably have been the case; for the
+Winterfields were known to be prudent people. But Mrs Amedroz had
+died young, and things with Bernard Amedroz had gone badly.
+
+And yet the evil had not been so much with him as with that terrible
+boy of his. The father had been nearly forty when he married. He had
+then never done any good; but as neither had he done much harm, the
+friends of the family had argued well of his future career. After
+him, unless he should leave a son behind him, there would be no
+Amedroz left among the Quantock hills; and by some arrangement in
+respect to that Winterfield money which came to him on his marriage
+the Winterfields having a long-dated connexion with the Beltons of
+old the Amedroz property was, at Bernard's marriage, entailed back
+upon a distant Belton cousin, one Will Belton, whom no one had seen
+for many years, but who was by blood nearer the squire in default of
+children of his own than any other of his relatives. And now Will
+Belton was the heir to Belton Castle; for Charles Amedroz, at the age
+of twenty-seven, had found the miseries of the world to be too many
+for him, and had put an end to them and to himself.
+
+Charles had been a clever fellow a very clever fellow in the eyes of
+his father. Bernard Amedroz knew that he himself was not a clever
+fellow, and admired his son accordingly; and when Charles had been
+expelled from Harrow for some boyish freak in his vengeance against a
+neighbouring farmer, who had reported to the school authorities the
+doings of a few beagles upon his land, Charles had cut off the heads
+of all the trees in a young fir plantation his father was proud of
+the exploit. When he was rusticated a second time from Trinity, and
+when the father received an intimation that his son's name had better
+be taken from the College books, the squire was not so well pleased;
+but even then he found some delight in the stories which reached him
+of his son's vagaries; and when the young man commenced Bohemian life
+in London, his father did nothing to restrain him. Then there came
+the old story debts, endless debts; and lies, endless lies. During
+the two years before his death, his father paid for him, or undertook
+to pay, nearly ten thousand pounds, sacrificing the life assurances
+which were to have made provision for his daughter; sacrificing, to a
+great extent, his own life income sacrificing everything, so that the
+property might not be utterly ruined at his death. That Charles
+Amedroz should be a brighter, greater man than any other Amedroz, had
+still been the father's pride. At the last visit which Charles had
+paid to Belton his father had called upon him to pledge himself
+solemnly that his sister should not be made to suffer by what had
+been done for him. Within a month of that time he had blown his
+brains out in his London lodgings, thus making over the entire
+property to Will Belton at his father's death. At that last pretended
+settlement with his father and his father's lawyer, he had kept back
+the mention of debts as heavy nearly as those to which he had owned;
+and there were debts of honour, too, of which he had not spoken,
+trusting to the next event at Newmarket to set him right. The next
+event at Newmarket had set him more wrong than ever, and so there had
+come an end to everything with Charles Amedroz.
+
+This had happened in the spring, and the afflicted father afflicted
+with the double sorrow of his son's terrible death and his daughter's
+ruin had declared that he would turn his face to the wall and die.
+But the old squire's health, though far from strong, was stronger
+than he had deemed it, and his feelings, sharp enough, were less
+sharp than he thought them; and when a month had passed by, he had
+discovered that it would be better that he should live, in order that
+his daughter might still have bread to eat and a house of her own
+over her head. Though he was now an impoverished man, there was still
+left to him the means of keeping up the old home; and he told himself
+that it must, if possible, be so kept that a few pounds annually
+might be put by for Clara. The old carriage-horses were sold, and the
+park was let to a farmer, up to the hall door of the castle. So much
+the squire could do; but as to the putting by of the few pounds, any
+dependence on such exertion as that on his part would, we may say, be
+very precarious.
+
+Belton Castle was not in truth a castle. Immediately before the front
+door, so near to the house as merely to allow of a broad road running
+between it and the entrance porch, there stood an old tower, which
+gave its name to the residence an old square tower, up which the
+Amedroz boys for three generations had been able to climb by means of
+the ivy and broken stones in one of the inner corners and this tower
+was a remnant of a real castle that had once protected the village of
+Belton. The house itself was an ugly residence, three stories high,
+built in the time of George II, with low rooms and long passages,
+and an immense number of doors. It was a large unattractive
+house--unattractive that is, as regarded its own attributes but made
+interesting by the beauty of the small park in which it stood. Belton
+Park did not, perhaps, contain much above a hundred acres, but the
+land was so broken into knolls and valleys, in so many places was the
+rock seen to be cropping up through the verdure, there were in it so
+many stunted old oaks, so many points of vantage for the lover of
+scenery, that no one would believe it to be other than a considerable
+domain. The farmer who took it, and who would not under any
+circumstances undertake to pay more than seventeen shillings an acre
+for it, could not be made to think that it was in any way
+considerable. But Belton Park, since first it was made a park, had
+never before been regarded in this fashion. Farmer Stovey, of the
+Grange, was the first man of that class who had ever assumed the
+right to pasture his sheep in Belton chase as the people around were
+still accustomed to call the woodlands of the estate.
+
+It was full summer at Belton, and four months had now passed since
+the dreadful tidings had reached the castle. It was full summer, and
+the people of the village were again going about their ordinary
+business; and the shop-girls with their lovers from Redicote were
+again to be seen walking among the oaks in the park on a Sunday
+evening; and the world in that district of Somersetshire was getting
+itself back into its grooves. The fate of the young heir had
+disturbed the grooves greatly, and had taught many in those parts to
+feel that the world was coming to an end. They had not loved young
+Amedroz, for he had been haughty when among them, and there had been
+wrongs committed by the dissolute young squire, and grief had come
+from his misdoings upon more than one household; but to think that he
+should have destroyed himself with his own hand! And then, to think
+that Miss Clara would become a beggar when the old squire should die!
+All the neighbours around understood the whole history of the entail,
+and knew that the property was to go to Will Belton. Now Will Belton
+was not a gentleman! So, at least, said the Belton folk, who had
+heard that the heir had been brought up as a farmer somewhere in
+Norfolk. Will Belton had once been at the Castle as a boy, now some
+fifteen years ago, and then there had sprung up a great quarrel
+between him and his distant cousin Charles and Will, who was rough
+and large of stature, had thrashed the smaller boy severely; and the
+thing had grown to have dimensions larger than those which generally
+attend the quarrels of boys; and Will had said something which had
+shown how well he understood his position in reference to the estate
+and Charles had hated him. So Will had gone, and had been no more
+seen among the oaks whose name he bore. And the people, in spite of
+his name, regarded him as an interloper. To them, with their short
+memories and scanty knowledge of the past, Amedroz was more
+honourable than Belton, and they looked upon the coming man as an
+intruder. Why should not Miss Clara have the property? Miss Clara had
+never done harm to any one!
+
+Things got back into their old grooves, and at the end of the third
+month the squire was once more seen in the old family pew at church.
+He was a large man, who had been very handsome, and who now, in his
+yellow leaf, was not without a certain beauty of manliness. He wore
+his hair and his beard long; before his son's death they were grey,
+but now they were very white. And though he stooped, there was still
+a dignity in his slow step a dignity that came to him from nature
+rather than from any effort. He was a man who, in fact, did little or
+nothing in the world whose life had been very useless; but he had
+been gifted with such a presence that he looked as though he were one
+of God's nobler creatures. Though always dignified he was ever
+affable, and the poor liked him better than they might have done had
+he passed his time in searching out their wants and supplying them.
+They were proud of their squire, though he had done nothing for them.
+It was something to them to have a man who could so carry himself
+sitting in the family pew in their parish church. They knew that he
+was poor, but they all declared that he was never mean. He was a real
+gentleman was this last Amedroz of the family; therefore they
+curtsied low, and bowed on his reappearance among them, and made all
+those signs of reverential awe which are common to the poor when they
+feel reverence for the presence of a superior.
+
+Clara was there with him, but she had shown herself in the pew for
+four or five weeks before this. She had not been at home when the
+fearful news had reached Belton, being at that time with a certain
+lady who lived on the farther side of the county, at Perivale a
+certain Mrs Winterfield, born a Folliott, a widow, who stood to Miss
+Amedroz in the place of an aunt. Mrs Winterfield was, in truth, the
+sister of a gentleman who had married Clara's aunt there having been
+marriages and intermarriages between the Winterfields and the
+Folliotts and the Belton-Amedroz families. With this lady in Perivale,
+which I maintain to be the dullest little town in England, Miss
+Amedroz was staying when the news reached her father, and when it was
+brought direct from London to herself. Instantly she had hurried
+home, taking the journey with all imaginable speed though her heart
+was all but broken within her bosom. She had found her father
+stricken to the ground, and it was the more necessary, therefore,
+that she should exert herself. It would not do that she also should
+yield to that longing for death which terrible calamities often
+produce for a season.
+
+Clara Amedroz, when she first heard the news of her brother's fate,
+had felt that she was for ever crushed to the ground. She had known
+too well what had been the nature of her brother's life, but she had
+not expected or feared any such termination to his career as this
+which had now come upon him to the terrible affliction of all
+belonging to him. She felt at first, as did also her father, that she
+and he were annihilated as regards this world, not only by an
+enduring grief, but also by a disgrace which would never allow her
+again to hold up her head. And for many a long year much of this
+feeling clung to her clung to her much more strongly than to her
+father. But strength was hers to perceive, even before she had
+reached her home, that it was her duty to repress both the feeling of
+shame and the sorrow, as far as they were capable of repression. Her
+brother had been weak, and in his weakness had sought a coward's
+escape from the ills of the world around him. She must not also be a
+coward! Bad as life might be to her henceforth, she must endure it
+with such fortitude as she could muster. So resolving she returned to
+her father, and was able to listen to his railings with a fortitude
+that was essentially serviceable both to him and to herself.
+
+'Both of you! Both of you!' the unhappy father had said in his woe.
+'The wretched boy has destroyed you as much as himself!' 'No, sir,'
+she had answered, with a forbearance in her misery, which, terrible
+as was the effort, she forced herself to accomplish for his sake. 'It
+is not so. No thought of that need add to your grief. My poor brother
+has not hurt me not in the way you mean.' 'He has ruined us all,'
+said the father; 'root and branch, man and woman, old and young,
+house and land. He has brought the family to an end ah me, to such an
+end!' After that the name of him who had taken himself from among
+them was not mentioned between the father and daughter, and Clara
+settled herself to the duties of her new life, striving to live as
+though there was no great sorrow around her as though no cloud-storm
+had burst over her head.
+
+The family lawyer, who lived at Taunton, had communicated the fact of
+Charles's death to Mr Belton, and Belton had acknowledged the letter
+with the ordinary expressions of regret. The lawyer had alluded to
+the entail, saying that it was improbable that Mr Amedroz would have
+another son. To this Belton had replied that for his cousin Clara's
+sake he hoped that the squire's life might be long spared. The lawyer
+smiled as he read the wish, thinking to himself that luckily no wish
+on the part of Will Belton could influence his old client either for
+good or evil. What man, let alone what lawyer, will ever believe in
+the sincerity of such a wish as that expressed by the heir to a
+property? And yet where is the man who will not declare to himself
+that such, under such circumstances, would be his own wish?
+
+Clara Amedroz at this time was not a very young lady. She had already
+passed her twenty-fifth birthday, and in manners, appearance, and
+habits was, at any rate, as old as her age. She made no pretence to
+youth, speaking of herself always as one whom circumstances required
+to take upon herself age in advance of her years. She did not dress
+young, or live much with young people, or correspond with other girls
+by means of crossed letters; nor expect that, for her, young
+pleasures should be provided. Life had always been serious with her;
+but now, we may say, since the terrible tragedy lit the family, it
+must be solemn as well as serious. The memory of her brother must
+always be upon her; and the memory also of the fact that her father
+was now an impoverished man, on whose behalf it was her duty to care
+that every shilling spent in the house did its full twelve pennies'
+worth of work. There was a mixture in this of deep tragedy and of
+little cares, which seemed to destroy for her the poetry as well as
+the pleasure of life. The poetry and tragedy might have gone hand in
+hand together; and so might the cares and pleasures of life have
+done, had there been no black sorrow of which she must be ever
+mindful. But it was her lot to have to scrutinize the butcher's bill
+as she was thinking of her brother's fate; and to work daily among
+small household things while the spectre of her brother's corpse was
+ever before her eyes.
+
+A word must be said to explain how it had come to pass that the life
+led by Miss Amedroz had been more than commonly serious before that
+tragedy had befallen the family. The name of the lady who stood to
+Clara in the place of an aunt has been already mentioned. When a girl
+has a mother, her aunt may be little or nothing to her. But when the
+mother is gone, if there be an aunt unimpeded with other family
+duties, then the family duties of that aunt begin and are assumed
+sometimes with great vigour. Such had been the case with Mrs
+Winterfield. No woman ever lived, perhaps, with more conscientious
+ideas of her duty as a woman than Mrs Winterfield of Prospect Place,
+Perivale. And this, as I say it, is intended to convey no scoff
+against that excellent lady. She was an excellent lady unselfish,
+given to self-restraint, generous, pious, looking to find in her
+religion a safe path through life a path as safe as the facts of
+Adam's fall would allow her feet to find. She was a woman fearing
+much for others, but fearing also much for herself, striving to
+maintain her house in godliness, hating sin, and struggling with the
+weakness of her humanity so that she might not allow herself to hate
+the sinners. But her hatred for the sin she found herself bound at
+all times to pronounce to show it by some act at all seasons. To
+fight the devil was her work was the appointed work of every living
+soul, if only living souls could be made to acknowledge the necessity
+of the task. Now an aunt of that kind, when she assumes her duties
+towards a motherless niece, is apt to make life serious.
+
+But, it will be said, Clara Amedroz could have rebelled; and Clara's
+father was hardly made of such stuff that obedience to the aunt would
+be enforced on her by parental authority. Doubtless Clara could have
+rebelled against her aunt. Indeed, I do not know that she had
+hitherto been very obedient. But there were family facts about these
+Winterfield connexions which would have made it difficult for her to
+ignore her so-called aunt, even had she wished to do so. Mrs
+Winterfield had twelve hundred a year at her own disposal, and she
+was the only person related to the Amedroz family from whom Mr
+Amedroz had a right to have expectations on his daughter's behalf.
+Clara had, in a measure, been claimed by the lady, and the father had
+made good the lady's claim, and Clara had acknowledged that a portion
+of her life was due to the demands of Perivale. These demands had
+undoubtedly made her life serious.
+
+Life at Perivale was a very serious thing. As regards amusement,
+ordinarily so called, the need of any such institution was not
+acknowledged at Prospect House. Food, drink, and raiment were
+acknowledged to be necessary to humanity, and, in accordance with the
+rules of that house, they were supplied in plenty, and good of their
+kind. Such ladies as Mrs Winterfield generally keep good tables,
+thinking no doubt that the eatables should do honour to the grace
+that is said for them. And Mrs Winterfield herself always wore a
+thick black silk dress not rusty or dowdy with age but with some
+gloss of the silk on it; giving away, with secret, underhand,
+undiscovered charity, her old dresses to another lady of her own
+sort, on whom fortune had not bestowed twelve hundred a year. And Mrs
+Winterfield kept a low, four-wheeled, one-horsed phaeton, in which
+she made her pilgrimages among the poor of Perivale, driven by the
+most solemn of stable-boys, dressed up in a great white coat, the
+most priggish of hats, and white cotton gloves. At the rate of five
+miles an hour was she driven about, and this driving was to her the
+amusement of life. But such an occupation to Clara Amedroz assisted
+to make life serious.
+
+In person Mrs Winterfield was tall and thin, wearing on her brow thin
+braids of false hair. She had suffered much from acute ill health,
+and her jaws were sunken, and her eyes were hollow, and there was a
+look of woe about her which seemed ever to be telling of her own
+sorrows in this world and of the sorrows of others in the world to
+come. Ill-nature was written on her face, but in this her face was a
+false face. She had the manners of a cross, peevish woman; but her
+manners also were false, and gave no proper idea of her character.
+But still, such as she was, she made life very serious to those who
+were called upon to dwell with her.
+
+I need, I hope, hardly say that a young lady such as Miss Amedroz,
+even though she had reached the age of twenty-five for at the time to
+which I am now alluding she had nearly done so and was not young of
+her age, had formed for herself no plan of life in which her aunt's
+money figured as a motive power. She had gone to Perivale when she
+was very young, because she had been told to do so, and had continued
+to go, partly from obedience, partly from habit, and partly from
+affection. An aunt's dominion, when once well established in early
+years, cannot easily be thrown altogether aside even though a young
+lady have a will of her own. Now Clara Amedroz had a strong will of
+her own, and did not at all at any rate in these latter days belong
+to that school of divinity in which her aunt shone almost as a
+professor. And this circumstance, also, added to the seriousness of
+her life. But in regard to her aunt's money she had entertained no
+established hopes; and when her aunt opened her mind to her, on that
+subject, a few days before the arrival of the fatal news at Perivale,
+Clara, though she was somewhat surprised, was by no means
+disappointed. Now there was a certain Captain Aylmer in the question,
+of whom in this opening chapter it will be necessary to say a few
+words.
+
+Captain Frederic Folliott Aylmer was, in truth, the nephew of Mrs
+Winterfield, whereas Clara Amedroz was not, in truth, her niece. And
+Captain Aylmer was also Member of Parliament for the little borough
+of Perivale, returned altogether on the Low Church interest for a
+devotion to which, and for that alone, Perivale was noted among
+boroughs. These facts together added not a little to Mrs
+Winterfield's influence and professorial power in the place, and gave
+a dignity to the one-horse chaise which it might not otherwise have
+possessed. But Captain Aylmer was only the second son of his father,
+Sir Anthony Aylmer, who had married a Miss Folliott, sister of our
+Mrs Winterfield. On Frederic Aylmer his mother's estate was settled.
+That and Mrs Winterfield's property lay in the neighbourhood of
+Perivale; and now, on the occasion to which I am alluding, Mrs
+Winterfield thought it necessary to tell Clara that the property must
+all go together. She had thought about it, and had doubted about it,
+and had prayed about it, and now she found that such a disposition of
+it was her duty.
+
+'I am quite sure you're right, aunt,' Clara had said. She knew very
+well what had come of that provision which her father had attempted
+to make for her, and knew also how great were her father's
+expectations in regard to Mrs Winterfield's money.
+
+'I hope I am; but I have thought it right to tell you. I shall feel
+myself bound to tell Frederic. I have had many doubts, but I think I
+am right.'
+
+'I am sure you are, aunt. What would he think of me if, at some
+future time, he should have to find that I had been in his way?'
+
+'The future time will not be long now, my dear.'
+
+'I hope it may; but long or short, it is better so.'
+
+'I think it is, my dear; I think it is. I think it is my duty.'
+
+It must be understood that Captain Aylmer was member for Perivale on
+the Low Church interest, and that, therefore, when at Perivale he was
+decidedly a Low Churchman. I am not aware that the peculiarity stuck
+to him very closely at Aylmer Castle, in Yorkshire, or among his
+friends in London; but there was no hypocrisy in this, as the world
+goes. Women in such matters are absolutely false if they be not
+sincere; but men, with political views, and with much of their future
+prospects in jeopardy also, are allowed to dress themselves
+differently for different scenes. Whatever be the peculiar interest
+on which a man goes into Parliament, of course he has to live up to
+that in his own borough. Whether malt, the franchise, or teetotalism
+be his rallying point, of course he is full of it when among his
+constituents. But it is not desirable that he should be full of it
+also at his club. Had Captain Aylmer become Prime Minister, he would
+no doubt have made Low Church bishops. It was the side to which he
+had taken himself in that matter not without good reasons. And he
+could say a sharp word or two in season about vestments; he was
+strong against candles, and fought for his side fairly well. No one
+had good right to complain of Captain Aylmer as being insincere; but
+had his aunt known the whole history of her nephew's life, I doubt
+whether she would have made him her heir thinking that in doing so
+she was doing the best for the good cause.
+
+The whole history of her niece's life she did know, and she knew that
+Clara was not with her, heart and soul. Had Clara left the old woman
+in doubt on this subject, she would have been a hypocrite. Captain
+Aylmer did not often spend a Sunday at Perivale, but when he did, he
+went to church three times, and submitted himself to the yoke. He was
+thinking of the borough votes quite as much as of his aunt's money,
+and was carrying on his business after the fashion of men But Clara
+found herself compelled to maintain some sort of a fight, though she
+also went to church three times on Sunday. And there was another
+reason why Mrs Winterfield thought it right to mention Captain
+Aylmer's name to her niece on this occasion.
+
+'I had hoped', she said, 'that it might make no difference in what
+way my money was left.'
+
+Clara well understood what this meant, as will, probably, the reader
+also. 'I can't say but what it will make a difference,' she answered,
+smiling; 'but I shall always think that you have done right. Why
+should I stand in Captain Aylmer's way?'
+
+'I had hoped your ways might have been the same,' said the old lady,
+fretfully.
+
+'But they cannot be the same.'
+
+'No; you do not see things as he sees them. Things that are serious
+to him are, I fear, only light to you. Dear Clara, would I could see
+you more in earnest as to the only matter that is worth our
+earnestness.' Miss Amedroz said nothing as to the Captain's
+earnestness, though, perhaps, her ideas as to his ideas about
+religion were more correct than those held by Mrs Winterfield. But it
+would not have suited her to raise any argument on that subject. 'I
+pray for you, Clara,' continued the old lady, 'and will do so as long
+as the power of prayer is left to me. I hope I hope you do not cease
+to pray for yourself?'
+
+'I endeavour, aunt.'
+
+'It is an endeavour which, if really made, never fails.' Clara said
+nothing more, and her aunt also remained silent. Soon afterwards, the
+four-wheeled carriage, with the demure stable-boy, came to the door,
+and Clara was driven up and down through the streets of Perivale in a
+manner which was an injury to her. She knew that she was suffering an
+injustice, but it was one of which she could not make complaint. She
+submitted to her aunt, enduring the penances that were required of
+her; and, therefore, her aunt had opportunity enough to see her
+shortcomings. Mrs Winterfield did see them, and judged her
+accordingly. Captain Aylmer, being a man and a Member of Parliament,
+was called upon to bear no such penances, and, therefore, his
+shortcomings were not suspected.
+
+But, after all, what title had she ever possessed to entertain
+expectations from Mrs Winterfield? When she thought of it all in her
+room that night, she told herself that it was strange that her aunt
+should have spoken to her in such a way on such a subject. But, then,
+so much had been said to her on the matter by her father, so much, no
+doubt, had reached her aunt's ears also, the hope that her position
+with reference to the rich widow at Perivale might be beneficial to
+her had been so often discussed at Belton as a make-weight against
+the extravagances of the heir, there had already been so much of this
+mistake, that she taught herself to perceive that the communication
+was needed. 'In her honesty 'she has not chosen to leave me with
+false hopes,' said Clara to herself. And at that moment she loved her
+aunt for her honesty.
+
+Then, on the day but one following this conversation as to the
+destiny of her aunt's property, came the terrible tidings of her
+brother's death. Captain Aylmer, who had been in London at the time,
+hurried down to Perivale, and had been the first to tell Miss Amedroz
+what had happened. The words spoken between them had not been many,
+but Clara knew that Captain Aylmer had been kind to her; and when he
+had offered to accompany her to Belton, she had thanked him with a
+degree of gratitude which had almost seemed to imply more of regard
+between them than Clara would have acknowledged to exist. But in
+moments such as those, soft words may be spoken and hands may be
+pressed without any of that meaning which soft words and the grasping
+of hands generally carry with them. As far as Taunton Captain Aylmer
+did go with Miss Amedroz, and there they parted, he on his journey up
+to town, and she for her father's desolate house at Belton.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HEIR PROPOSES TO VISIT HIS COUSIN
+
+It was full summer at Belton, and the sweet scene of the new hay
+filled the porch of the old house with fragrance, as Clara sat there
+alone with her work. Immediately before the house door, between that
+and the old tower, there stood one of Farmer Stovey's hay-carts, now
+empty, with an old horse between the shafts looking as though he were
+asleep in the sun. Immediately beyond the tower the men were loading
+another cart, and the women and children were chattering as they
+raked the scattered remnants up to the rows. Under the shadow of the
+old tower, but in sight of Clara as she sat in the porch, there lay
+the small beer-barrels of the hay-makers, and three or four rakes
+were standing erect against the old grey wall. It was now eleven
+o'clock, and Clara was waiting for her father, who was not yet out of
+his room. She had taken his breakfast to him in bed, as was her
+custom; for he had fallen into idle ways, and the luxury of his bed
+was, of all his remaining luxuries, the one that he liked the best.
+After a while he came down to her, having an open letter in his hand.
+Clara saw that he intended either to show it to her or to speak of
+it, and asked him therefore, with some tone of interest in her voice,
+from whom it had come. But Mr Amedroz was fretful at the moment, and
+instead of answering her began to complain of his tenant's ill-usage
+of him.
+
+'What has he got his cart there for? I haven't let him the road up to
+the hall door. I suppose he will bring his things into the parlour
+next.'
+
+'I rather like it, papa.'
+
+'Do you? I can only say that you're lucky in your tastes. I don't
+like it, I can tell you.'
+
+'Mr Stovey is out there. Shall I ask him to have the things moved
+farther off?'
+
+'No, my dear no. I must bear it, as I do all the rest of it. What
+does it matter? There'll be an end of it soon. He pays his rent, and
+I suppose he is right to do as he pleases. But I can't say that I
+like it.'
+
+'Am I to see the letter, papa?' she asked, wishing to turn his mind
+from the subject of the hay-cart.
+
+'Well, yes. I brought it for you to see; though perhaps I should be
+doing better if I burned it, and said nothing more about it. It is a
+most impudent production; and heartless very heartless.'
+
+Clara was accustomed to such complaints as these from her father.
+Everything that everybody did around him he would call heartless. The
+man pitied himself so much in his own misery, that he expected to
+live in an atmosphere of pity from others; and though the pity
+doubtless was there, he misdoubted it. He thought that Farmer Stovey
+was cruel in that he had left the hay-cart near the house, to wound
+his eyes by reminding him that he was no longer master of the ground
+before his own hall door. He thought that the women and children were
+cruel to chatter so near his ears. He almost accused his daughter of
+cruelty, because she had told him that she liked the contiguity of
+the hay-making. Under such circumstances as those which enveloped him
+and her, was it not heartless in her to like anything? It seemed to
+him that the whole world of Belton should be drowned in woe because
+of his misery.
+
+'Where is it from, papa?' she asked.
+
+'There, you may read it. Perhaps it is better that you should know
+that it has been written.' Then she read the letter, which was as
+follows:--
+
+
+'Plaistow Hall, -- July, 186--.'
+
+
+Though she had never before seen the handwriting, she knew at once
+from whence came the letter, for she had often heard of Plaistow
+Hall. It was the name of the farm at which her distant cousin, Will
+Belton, lived, and her father had more than once been at the trouble
+of explaining to her, that though the place was called a hall, the
+house was no more than a farmhouse. He had never seen Plaistow Hall,
+and had never been in Norfolk; but so much he could take upon himself
+to say, 'They call all the farms halls down there.' It was not
+wonderful that he should dislike his heir; and perhaps not unnatural
+that he should show his dislike after this fashion. Clara, when she
+read the address, looked up into her father's face. 'You know who it
+is now,' he said. And then she read the letter.
+
+
+'Plaistow Hall, -- July, 186--.
+
+'My dear Sir,
+
+'I have not written to you before since your bereavement, thinking it
+better to wait awhile; but I hope you have not taken me to be unkind
+in this, or have supposed me to be unmindful of your sorrow. Now I
+take up my pen, hoping that I may make you understand how greatly I
+was distressed by what has occurred. I believe I am now the nearest
+male relative that you have, and as such I am very anxious to be of
+service to you if it may be possible. Considering the closeness of
+our connexion, and my position in reference to the property, it seems
+bad that we should never meet. I can assure you that you would find
+me very friendly if we could manage to come together.
+
+'I should think nothing of running across to Belton, if you would
+receive me at your house. I could come very well before harvest, if
+that would suit you, and would stay with you for a week. Pray give my
+kindest regards to my cousin Clara, whom I can only just remember as
+a very little girl. She was with her aunt at Perivale when I was at
+Belton as a boy. She shall find a friend in me if she wants a friend.
+
+'Your affectionate cousin,
+
+'W. BELTON.'
+
+
+Clara read the letter very slowly, so that she might make herself
+sure of its tone and bearing before she was called upon by her father
+to express her feeling respecting it. She knew that she would be
+expected to abuse it violently, and to accuse the writer of
+vulgarity, insolence, and cruelty, but she had already learned that
+she must not allow herself to accede to all her father's fantasies.
+For his sake, and for his protection, it was necessary that she
+should differ from him, and even contradict him. Were she not to do
+so, he would fall into a state of wailing and complaining that would
+exaggerate itself almost to idiotcy. And it was imperative that she
+herself should exercise her own opinion on many points, almost
+without reference to him. She alone knew how utterly destitute she
+would be when he should die. He, in the first days of his agony, had
+sobbed forth his remorse as to her ruin; but, even when doing so, he
+had comforted himself with the remembrance of Miss Winterfield's
+money and Mrs Winterfield's affection for his daughter. And the aunt,
+when she had declared her purpose to Clara, had told herself that the
+provision made for Clara by her father was sufficient. To neither of
+them had Clara told her own position. She could not inform her aunt
+that her father had given up to the poor reprobate who had destroyed
+himself all that had been intended for her. Had she done so she would
+have been asking her aunt for charity. Nor would she bring herself to
+add to her father's misery, by destroying the hopes which still
+supported him. She never spoke of her own position in regard to
+money, but she knew that it had become her duty to live a wary,
+watchful life, taking much upon herself in their impoverished
+household, and holding her own opinion against her father's when her
+doing so became expedient. So she finished the letter in silence, and
+did not speak at the moment when the movement of her eyes declared
+that she had completed the task.
+
+'Well?' said he.
+
+'I do not think my cousin means badly.'
+
+'You don't! I do, then. I think he means very badly. What business
+has he to write to me, talking of his position?'
+
+'I can't see anything amiss in his doing so, papa. I think he wishes
+to be friendly. The property will be his some day, and I don't see
+why that should not be mentioned, when there is occasion.'
+
+'Upon my word, Clara, you surprise me. But women never understood
+delicacy in regard to money. They have so little to do with it, and
+think so little about it, that they have no occasion for such
+delicacy.'
+
+Clara could not help the thought that to her mind the subject was
+present with sufficient frequency to make delicacy very desirable, if
+only it were practicable. But of this she said nothing. 'And what
+answer will you send to him, papa?' she asked.
+
+'None at all. Why should I trouble myself to write to him?'
+
+'I will take the trouble off your hands.'
+
+'And what will you say to him?'
+
+'I will ask him to come here, as he proposes.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Why not, papa? He is the heir to the property, and why should he not
+be permitted to see it? There are many things in which his
+co-operation with you might be a comfort to you. I can't tell you
+whether the tenants and people are treating you well, but he can do
+so; and, moreover, I think he means to be kind. I do not see why we
+should quarrel with our cousin because he is the heir to your
+property. It is not through any doing of his own that he is so.'
+
+This reasoning had no effect upon Mr Amedroz, but his daughter's
+resolution carried the point against him in spite of his want of
+reason. No letter was written that day, or on the next; but on the
+day following a formal note was sent off by Clara, in which Mr Belton
+was told that Mr Amedroz would be happy to receive him at Belton
+Castle. The letter was written by the daughter, but the father was
+responsible for the formality. He sat over her while she wrote it,
+and nearly drove her distracted by discussing every word and phrase.
+At last, Clara was so annoyed with her own production, that she was
+almost tempted to write another letter unknown to her father; but the
+formal note went.
+
+
+'My Dear Sir
+
+'I am desired by my father to say that he will be happy to receive
+you at Belton Castle, at the time fixed by yourself.
+
+'Yours truly,
+
+'CLARA AMEDROZ.'
+
+
+There was no more than that, but that had the desired effect; and by
+return of post there came a rejoinder saying that Will Belton would
+be at the Castle on the fifteenth of August. 'They can do without me
+for about ten days,' he said in his postscript, writing in a familiar
+tone, which did not seem to have been at all checked by the coldness
+of his cousin's note 'as our harvest will be late; but I must be back
+for a week's work before the partridges.'
+
+'Heartless! quite heartless!' Mr Amedroz said as he read this.
+'Partridges! to talk of partridges at such a time as this!'
+
+Clara, however, would not acknowledge that she agreed with her
+father; but she could not altogether restrain a feeling on her own
+part that her cousin's good humour towards her and Mr Amedroz should
+have been repressed by the tone of her letter to him. The man was to
+come, however, and she would not judge of him until he was there.
+
+In one house in the neighbourhood, and in only one, had Miss Amedroz
+a friend with whom she was intimate; and as regarded even this single
+friend, the intimacy was the effect rather of circumstances than of
+real affection. She liked Mrs Askerton, and saw her almost daily; but
+she could hardly tell herself that she loved her neighbour.
+
+In the little town of Belton, close to the church, there stood a
+pretty, small house, called Belton Cottage. It was so near the church
+that strangers always supposed it to be the parsonage; but the
+rectory stood away out in the country, half a mile from the town, on
+the road to Redicote, and was a large house, three stories high, with
+grounds of its own, and very ugly. Here lived the old bachelor
+rector, seventy years of age, given much to long absences when he
+could achieve them, and never on good terms with his bishop. His two
+curates lived at Redicote, where there was a second church. Belton
+Cottage, which was occupied by Colonel Askerton and Mrs Askerton, was
+on the Amedroz property, and had been hired some two years since by
+the Colonel, who was then a stranger in the country and altogether
+unknown to the Belton people. But he had come there for shooting, and
+therefore his coming had been understood. Even as long ago as two
+years since, there had been neither use nor propriety in keeping the
+shooting for the squire's son, and it had been let with the cottage
+to Colonel Askerton. So Colonel Askerton had come there with his
+wife, and no one in the neighbourhood had known anything about them.
+Mr Amedroz, with his daughter, had called upon them, and gradually
+there had grown up an intimacy between Clara and Mrs Askerton. There
+was an opening from the garden of Belton Cottage into the park, so
+that familiar intercourse was easy, and Mrs Askerton was a woman who
+knew well how to make herself pleasant to such another woman as Miss
+Amedroz.
+
+The reader may as well know at ones that rumours prejudicial to the
+Askertons reached Belton before they had been established there for
+six months. At Taunton, which was twenty miles distant, these rumours
+were very rife, and there were people there who knew with accuracy
+though probably without a grain of truth in their accuracy every
+detail in the history of Mrs Askerton's life. And something, too,
+reached Clara's ears something from old Mr Wright, the rector, who
+loved scandal, and was very ill-natured. 'A very nice woman,' the
+rector had said; 'but she does not seem to have any belongings in
+particular.' 'She has got a husband,' Clara had replied with some
+little indignation, for she had never loved Mr Wright. 'Yes; I
+suppose she has got a husband.' Then Clara had, in her own judgment,
+accused the rector of lying, evil-speaking, and slandering, and had
+increased the measure of her cordiality to Mrs Askerton. But
+something more she had heard on the same subject at Perivale. 'Before
+you throw yourself into close intimacy with the lady, I think you
+should know something about her,' Mrs Winterfield had said to her.
+'I do know something about her; I know that she has the manners and
+education of a lady, and that she is living affectionately with her
+husband, who is devoted to her. What more ought I to know?' 'If you
+really do know all that, you know a great deal,' Mrs Winterfield had
+replied.
+
+'Do you know anything against her, aunt?' Clara asked, after a pause.
+
+There was another pause before Mrs Winterfield answered. 'No, my
+dear; I cannot say that I do. But I think that young ladies, before
+they make intimate friendships, should be very sure of their
+friends.'
+
+'You have already acknowledged that I know a great deal about her,'
+Clara replied. And then the conversation was at an end. Clara had not
+been quite ingenuous, as she acknowledged to herself. She was aware
+that her aunt would not permit herself to repeat rumours as to the
+truth of which she had no absolute knowledge. She understood that the
+weakness of her aunt's caution was due to the old lady's sense of
+charity and dislike of slander. But Clara had buckled on her armour
+for Mrs Askerton, and was glad, therefore, to achieve her little
+victory. When we buckle on our armour in any cause, we are apt to go
+on buckling it, let the cause become as weak as it may; and Clara
+continued her intimacy with Mrs Askerton, although there was
+something in the lady's modes of speech, and something also in her
+modes of thinking, which did not quite satisfy the aspirations of
+Miss Amedroz as to a friend.
+
+Colonel Askerton himself was a pleasant, quiet man, who seemed to be
+contented with the life which he was leading. For six weeks in April
+and May he would go up to town, leaving Mrs Askerton at the cottage
+as to which, probably jovial, absence in the metropolis there seemed
+to be no spirit of grudging on the part of the wife. On the first of
+September a friend would come to the cottage and remain there for six
+weeks' shooting: and during the winter the Colonel and his wife
+always went to Paris for a fortnight. Such had been their life for
+the last two years; and thus so said Mrs Askerton to Clara did they
+intend to live as long as they could keep the cottage at Belton.
+Society at Belton they had none, and as they said desired none.
+Between them and Mr Wright there was only a speaking acquaintance.
+The married curate at Redicote would not let his wife call on Mrs
+Askerton, and the unmarried curate was a hard-worked, clerical hack,
+a parochial minister at all times and seasons, who went to no houses
+except the houses of the poor, and who would hold communion with no
+man, and certainly with no woman, who would not put up with clerical
+admonitions for Sunday backslidings. Mr Amedroz himself neither
+received guests nor went as a guest to other men's houses. He would
+occasionally stand for a while at the gate of the Colonel's garden,
+and repeat the list of his own woes as long as his neighbour would
+stand there to hear it. But there was no society at Belton, and
+Clara, as far as she herself was aware, was the only person with whom
+Mrs Askerton held any social intercourse, except what she might have
+during her short annual holiday in Paris.
+
+'Of course, you are right,' she said, when Clara told her of the
+proposed coming of Mr Belton. 'If he turn out to be a good fellow,
+you will have gained a great deal. And should he be a bad fellow,
+you will have lost nothing. In either case you will know him, and
+considering how he stands towards you, that itself is desirable.'
+
+'But if he should annoy papa?'
+
+'In your papa's condition, my dear, the coming of any one will annoy
+him. At least, he will say so; though I do not in the least doubt
+that he will like the excitement better even than you will.'
+
+'I can't say there will be much excitement to me.'
+
+'No excitement in a young man's coming into the house! Without
+shocking your propriety, allow me to say that that is impossible. Of
+course, he is coming to see whether he can't make matters all right
+by marrying you.'
+
+'That's nonsense, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'Very well. Let it be nonsense. But why shouldn't he? It's just what
+he ought to do. He hasn't got a wife; and, as far as I know, you
+haven't got a lover.'
+
+'I certainly have not got a lover.'
+
+'Our religious nephew at Perivale does not seem to be of any use.'
+
+'I wish, Mrs Askerton, you would not speak of Captain Aylmer in that
+way. I don't know any man whom I like so much, or at any rate better,
+than Captain Aylmer; but I hate the idea that no girl can become
+acquainted with an unmarried man without having her name mentioned
+with his, and having to hear ill-natured remarks of that kind.'
+
+'I hope you will learn to like this other man much better. Think how
+nice it will be to be mistress of the old place after all. And then
+to go back to the old family name! If I were you I would make up my
+mind not to let him leave the place till I had brought him to my
+feet.'
+
+'If you go on like that I will not speak to you about him again.'
+
+'Or rather not to my feet for gentlemen have laid aside the humble
+way of making love for the last twenty years at least; but I don't
+know whether the women haven't gained quite as much by the change as
+the men.'
+
+'As I know nothing will stop you when you once get into a vein of
+that kind, I shall go,' said Clara. 'And till this man has come and
+gone I shall not mention his name again in your presence.'
+
+'So be it,' said Mrs Askerton; 'but as I will promise to say nothing
+more about him, you need not go on his account.' But Clara had got
+up, and did leave the cottage at once.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WILL BELTON
+
+Mr Belton came to the castle, and nothing further had been said at
+the cottage about his coming. Clara had seen Mrs Askerton in the
+meantime frequently, but that lady had kept her promise almost to
+Clara's disappointment. For she though she had in truth disliked the
+proposition that her cousin could be coming with any special views
+with reference to herself had nevertheless sufficient curiosity about
+the stranger to wish to talk about him. Her father, indeed, mentioned
+Belton's name very frequently, saying something with reference to him
+every time he found himself in his daughter's presence. A dozen times
+he said that the man was heartless to come to the house at such a
+time, and he spoke of his cousin always as though the man were guilty
+of a gross injustice in being heir to the property. But not the less
+on that account did he fidget himself about the room in which Belton
+was to sleep, about the food that Belton was to eat, and especially
+about the wine that Belton was to drink. What was he to do for wine?
+The stock of wine in the cellars at Belton Castle was, no doubt, very
+low. The squire himself drank a glass or two of port daily, and had
+some remnant of his old treasures by him, which might perhaps last
+him his time; and occasionally there came small supplies of sherry
+from the grocer at Taunton; but Mr Amedroz pretended to think that
+Will Belton would want champagne and claret and he would continue to
+make these suggestions in spite of his own repeated complaints that
+the man was no better than an ordinary farmer. 'I've no doubt he'll
+like beer,' said Clara. 'Beer!' said her father, and then stopped
+himself, as though he were lost in doubt whether it would best suit
+him to scorn his cousin for having so low a taste as that suggested
+on his behalf, or to ridicule his daughter's idea that the household
+difficulty admitted of so convenient a solution.
+
+The day of the arrival at last came, and Clara certainly was in a
+twitter, although she had steadfastly resolved that she would be in
+no twitter at all. She had told her aunt by letter of the proposed
+visit, and Mrs Winterfield had expressed her approbation, saying that
+she hoped it would lead to good results. Of what good results could
+her aunt be thinking? The one probable good result would surely be
+this that relations so nearly connected should know each other. Why
+should there be any fuss made about such a visit? But, nevertheless,
+Clara, though she made no outward fuss, knew that inwardly she was
+not as calm about the man's coming as she would have wished herself
+to be.
+
+He arrived about five o'clock in a gig from Taunton. Five was the
+ordinary dinner hour at Belton, but it had been postponed till six on
+this day, in the hope that the cousin might make his appearance at
+any rate by that hour. Mr Amedroz had uttered various complaints as
+to the visitor's heartlessness in not having written to name the hour
+of his arrival, and was manifestly intending to make the most of the
+grievance should he not present himself before six but this
+indulgence was cut short by the sound of the gig wheels. Mr Amedroz
+and his daughter were sitting in a small drawing-room which looked
+out to the front of the house, and he, seated in his accustomed chair
+near the window, could see the arrival. For a moment or two he
+remained quiet in his chair, as though he would not allow so
+insignificant a thing as his cousin's coming to ruffle him but he
+could not maintain this dignified indifference, and before Belton was
+out of the gig he had shuffled out into the hall.
+
+Clara followed her father almost unconsciously, and soon found
+herself shaking hands with a big man, over six feet high, broad in
+the shoulders, large limbed, with bright quick grey eyes, a large
+mouth, teeth almost too perfect and a well-formed nose, with thick
+short brown hair and small whiskers which came half-way down his
+cheeks a decidedly handsome man with a florid face, but still,
+perhaps, with something of the promised roughness of the farmer. But
+a more good-humoured looking countenance Clara felt at once that she
+had never beheld.
+
+'And you are the little girl that I remember when I was a boy at Mr
+Folliott's?' he said. His voice was clear, and rather loud, but it
+sounded very pleasant in that sad old house.
+
+'Yes; I am the little girl,' said Clara smiling.
+
+'Dear, dear! and that's twenty years ago now,' said he.
+
+'But you oughtn't to remind me of that, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Oughtn't I? Why not?'
+
+'Because it shows how very old I am.'
+
+'Ah, yes to be sure. But there's nobody here that signifies. How well
+I remember this room and the old tower out there. It isn't changed a
+bit!'
+
+'Not to the outward eye, perhaps,' said the squire.
+
+'That's what I mean. So they're making hay still. Our hay has been
+all up these three weeks. I didn't know you ever meadowed the park.'
+Here he trod with dreadful severity upon the corns of Mr Amedroz, but
+he did not perceive it. And when the squire muttered something about
+a tenant, and the inconvenience of keeping land in his own hands,
+Belton would have gone on with the subject had not Clara changed the
+conversation. The squire complained bitterly of this to Clara when
+they were alone, saying that it was very heartless.
+
+She had a little scheme of her own a plan arranged for the saying of
+a few words to her cousin on the earliest opportunity of their being
+alone together and she contrived that this should take place within
+half an hour after his arrival, as he went through the hall up to his
+room. 'Mr Belton,' she said, 'I'm sure you will not take it amiss if
+I take a cousin's privilege at once and explain to you something of
+our way of living here. My dear father is not very strong.'
+
+'He is much altered since I saw him last.'
+
+'Oh, yes. Think of all that he has had to bear! Well, Mr Belton, the
+fact is, that we are not so well off as we used to be, and are
+obliged to live in a very quiet way. You will not mind that?'
+
+'Who? I?'
+
+'I take it very kind of you, your coming all this way to see us--'
+
+'I'd have come three times the distance.'
+
+'But you must put up with us as you find us, you know. The truth is
+we are very poor.'
+
+'Well, now that's just what I wanted to know. One couldn't write and
+ask such a question; but I was sure I should find out if I came.'
+
+'You've found it out already, you see.'
+
+'As for being poor, it's a thing I don't think very much about not
+for young people. But it isn't comfortable when a man gets old. Now
+what I want to know is this; can't something be done?'
+
+'The only thing to do is to be very kind to him. He has had to let
+the park to Mr Stovey, and he doesn't like talking about it.'
+
+'But if it isn't talked about, how can it be mended?'
+
+'It can't be mended.'
+
+'We'll see about that. But I'll be kind to him; you see if I ain't.
+And I'll tell you what, I'll be kind to you too, if you'll let me.
+You have got no brother now.'
+
+'No,' said Clara; 'I have got no brother now.' Belton was looking
+full into her face, and saw that her eyes had become clouded with
+tears.
+
+'I will be your brother,' said he. 'You see if I don't. When I say a
+thing I mean it. I will be your brother.' And he took her hand,
+caressing it, and showing her that he was not in the least afraid of
+her. He was blunt in his bearing, saying things which her father
+would have called indelicate and heartless, as though they gave him
+no effort, and placing himself at once almost in a position of
+ascendency. This Clara had not intended. She had thought that her
+farmer cousin, in spite of the superiority of his prospects as heir
+to the property, would have acceded to her little hints with silent
+acquiescence; but instead of this he seemed prepared to take upon
+himself the chief part in the play that was to be acted between them.
+'Shall it be so?' he said, still holding her hand.
+
+'You are very kind.'
+
+'I will be more than kind; I will love you dearly if you will let me.
+You don't suppose that I have looked you up here for nothing. Blood
+is thicker than water, and you have nobody now so near to you as I
+am. I don't see why you should be so poor, as the debts have been
+paid.'
+
+'Papa has had to borrow money on his life interest in the place.'
+
+'That's the mischief! Never mind. We'll see if we can't do something.
+And in the meantime don't make a stranger of me. Anything does for
+me. Lord bless you! if you were to see how I rough it sometimes! I
+can eat beans and bacon with any one; and what's more, I can go
+without 'em if I can't get 'em.'
+
+'We'd better get ready for dinner now. I always dress, because papa
+likes to see it.' This she said as a hint to her cousin that he would
+be expected to change his coat, for her father would have been
+annoyed had his guest sat down to dinner without such ceremony. Will
+Belton was not very good at taking hints; but he did understand this,
+and made the necessary change in his apparel.
+
+The evening was long and dull, and nothing occurred worthy of remark
+except the surprise manifested by Mr Amedroz when Belton called his
+daughter by her Christian name. This he did without the slightest
+hesitation, as though it were the most natural thing in the world for
+him to do. She was his cousin, and cousins of course addressed each
+other in that way. Clara's quick eye immediately saw her father's
+slight gesture of dismay, but Belton caught nothing of this. The
+squire took an early opportunity of calling him Mr Belton with some
+little peculiarity of expression; but this was altogether lost on
+Will, who five times in the next five minutes addressed 'Clara' as
+though they were already on the most intimate terms. She would have
+answered him in the same way, and would have called him Will, had she
+not been afraid of offending her father.
+
+Mr Amedroz had declared his purpose of coming down to breakfast
+during the period of his cousin's visit, and at half-past nine he was
+in the parlour. Clara had been there some time, but had not seen her
+cousin. He entered the room immediately after her father, bringing
+his hat with him in his hand, and wiping the drops of perspiration
+from his brow. 'You have been out, Mr Belton,' said the squire.
+
+'All round the place, sir. Six o'clock doesn't often find me in bed,
+summer or winter. What's the use of laying in bed when one has had
+enough of sleep?'
+
+'But that's just the question,' said Clara; 'whether one has had
+enough at six o'clock.'
+
+'Women want more than men, of course. A man, if he means to do any
+good with land, must be out early. The grass will grow of itself at
+nights, but it wants looking after as soon as the daylight comes.'
+
+'I don't know that it would do much good to the grass here,' said the
+squire, mournfully.
+
+'As much here as anywhere. And indeed I've got something to say about
+that.' He had now seated himself at the breakfast-table, and was
+playing with his knife and fork. 'I think, sir, you're hardly making
+the best you can out of the park.'
+
+'We won't mind talking about it, if you please,' said the squire.
+
+'Well; of course I won't, if you don't like it; but upon my word you
+ought to look about you; you ought indeed.'
+
+'In what way do you mean?' said Clara.
+
+'If your father doesn't like to keep the land in his own hands, he
+should let it to some one who would put stock in it not go on cutting
+it year after year and putting nothing back, as this fellow will do.
+I've been talking to Stovey, and that's just what he means.'
+
+'Nobody here has got money to put stock on the land,' said the
+squire, angrily.
+
+'Then you should look for somebody somewhere else. That's all. I'll
+tell you what now, Mr Amedroz, I'll do it myself.' By this time he
+had helped himself to two large slices of cold mutton, and was eating
+his breakfast and talking with an equal amount of energy for either
+occupation.
+
+'That's out of the question,' said the squire.
+
+'I don't see why it should be out of the question. It would be better
+for you and better for me too, if this place is ever to be mine.' On
+hearing this the squire winced, but said nothing. This terrible
+fellow was so vehemently outspoken that the poor old man was
+absolutely unable to keep pace with him even to the repeating of his
+wish that the matter should be talked of no further. 'I'll tell you
+what I'll do, now,' continued Belton. 'There's altogether, outside
+the palings and in, about a hundred and fifty acres of it. I'll give
+you one pound two and sixpence an acre, and I won't cut an acre of
+grass inside the park no, nor much of it outside either only just
+enough to give me a little fodder for the cattle in winter.'
+
+'And give up Plaistow Hall?' asked Clara.
+
+'Lord love you, no. I've a matter of nine hundred acres on hand
+there, and most of it under the plough. I've counted it up, and it
+would just cost me a thousand pounds to stock this place. I should
+come and look at it twice a year or so, and I should see my money
+home again, if I didn't get any profit out of it.'
+
+Mr Amedroz was astonished. The man had only been in his house one
+night, and was proposing to take all his troubles off his hands. He
+did not relish the proposition at all. He did not like to be accused
+of not doing as well for himself as others could do for him. He did
+not wish to make any change although he remembered at the moment his
+anger with Farmer Stovey respecting the haycarts. He did not desire
+that the heir should have any immediate interest in the place. But he
+was not strong enough to meet the proposition with a direct negative.
+'I couldn't get rid of Stovey in that way,' he said, plaintively.
+I've settled it all with Stovey already,' said Belton. 'He'll be glad
+enough to walk off with a twenty-pound note, which I'll give him. He
+can't make money out of the place. He hasn't got means to stock it,
+and then see the wages that hay-making runs away with! He'd lose by
+it even at what he's paying, and he knows it. There won't be any
+difficulty about Stovey.'
+
+By twelve o'clock on that day Mr Stovey had been brought into the
+house, and had resigned the land. It had been let to Mr William
+Belton at an increased rental a rental increased by nearly forty
+pounds per annum and that gentleman had already made many of his
+arrangements for entering upon his tenancy. The twenty pounds had
+already been paid to Stovey, and the transaction was complete. Mr
+Amedroz sat in his chair bewildered, dismayed and, as he himself
+declared shocked, quite shocked, at the precipitancy of the young
+man. It might be for the best. He didn't know. He didn't feel at all
+sure. But such hurrying in such a matter was, under all the
+circumstances of the family, to say the least of it, very indelicate.
+He was angry with himself for having yielded, and angry with Clara
+for having allowed him to do so. 'It doesn't signify much,' he said,
+at last. 'Of course he'll have it all to himself before long.'
+
+'But, papa, it really seems to be a much better arrangement for you.
+You'll get more money.'
+
+'Money is not everything, my dear.'
+
+'But you'd sooner have Mr Belton, our own cousin, about the place,
+than Mr Stovey.'
+
+'I don't know. We shall see. The thing is done now, and there is no
+use in complaining. I must say he hasn't shown a great deal of
+delicacy.'
+
+On that afternoon Belton asked Clara to go out with him, and walk
+round the place. He had been again about the grounds, and had made
+plans, and counted up capabilities, and calculated his profit and
+losses. 'If you don't dislike scrambling about,' said he, 'I'll show
+you everything that I intend to do.'
+
+'But I can't have any changes made, Mr Belton,' said Mr Amedroz, with
+some affectation of dignity in his manner. 'I won't have the fences
+moved, or anything of that kind.'
+
+'Nothing shall be done, sir, that you don't approve. I'll just manage
+it all as if I was acting as your own bailiff.' 'Son,' he was going
+to say, but he remembered the fate of his cousin Charles just in time
+to prevent the use of the painful word.
+
+'I don't want to have anything done,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'Then nothing shall be done. We'll just mend a fence or two, to keep
+in the cattle, and leave other things as they are. But perhaps Clara
+will walk out with me all the same.'
+
+Clara was quite ready to walk out, and had already tied on her hat
+and taken her parasol.
+
+'Your father is a little nervous,' said he, as soon as they were
+beyond hearing of the house.
+
+'Can you wonder at it, when you remember all that he has suffered.'
+
+'I don't wonder at it in the least; and I don't wonder at his
+disliking me either.'
+
+'I don't think he dislikes you, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Oh, but he does. Of course he does. I'm the heir to the place
+instead of you. It is natural that he should dislike me. But I'll
+live it down. You see if I don't. I'll make him so fond of me, he'll
+always want to have me here. I don't mind a little dislike to begin
+with.'
+
+'You're a wonderful man, Mr Belton.'
+
+'I wish you wouldn't call me Mr Belton. But of course you must do as
+you please about that. If I can make him call me Will, I suppose
+you'll call me so too.'
+
+'Oh, yes; then I will.'
+
+'It don't much matter what a person is called; does it! Only one
+likes to be friendly with one's friends. I suppose you don't like my
+calling you Clara.'
+
+'Now you've begun you had better go on.'
+
+'I mean to. I make it a rule never to go back in the world. Your
+father is half sorry that he has agreed about the place; but I shan't
+let him off now. And I'll tell you what. In spite of what he says,
+I'll have it as different as possible before this time next year.
+'Why, there's lots of timber that ought to come out of the
+plantation; and there's places where the roots want stubbing up
+horribly. These things always pay for themselves if they are properly
+done. Any good done in the world always pays.' Clara often remembered
+those words afterwards when she was thinking of her cousin's
+character. Any good done in the world always pays!
+
+'But you mustn't offend my father, even though it should do good,'
+she said.
+
+'I understand,' he answered. 'I won't tread on his toes. Where do you
+get your milk and butter?'
+
+'We buy them.'
+
+'From Stovey, I suppose.'
+
+'Yes; from Mr Stovey. It goes against the rent.'
+
+'And it ought to go against the grain too living in the country and
+paying for milk! I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a cow. It
+shall be a little present from me to you.' He said nothing of the
+more important present which this would entail upon him in the matter
+of the grass for the cow; but she understood the nature of the
+arrangement, and was anxious to prevent it.
+
+'Oh, Mr Belton, I think we'd better not attempt that,' she said.
+
+'But we will attempt it. I've pledged myself to do nothing to oppose
+your father; but I've made no such promise as to you. We'll have a
+cow before I'm many days older. What a pretty place this is! I do
+like these rocks so much, and it is such a comfort to be off the
+flat.'
+
+'It is pretty.'
+
+'Very pretty. You've no conception what an ugly place Plaistow is.
+The land isn't actual fen now, but it was once. And it's quite flat.
+And there is a great dike, twenty feet wide, oozing through it just
+oozing, you know; and lots of little dikes, at right angles with the
+big one. And the fields are all square. And there are no hedges and
+hardly a tree to be seen in the place.
+
+'What a picture you have drawn! I should commit suicide if I lived
+there.'
+
+'Not if you had so much to do as I have.'
+
+'And what is the house like?'
+
+'The house is good enough an old-fashioned manor-house, with high
+brick chimneys, and brick gables, tiled all over, and large square
+windows set in stone. The house is good enough, only it stands in the
+middle of a farm-yard. I said there were no trees, but there is an
+avenue.'
+
+'Come, that is something.'
+
+'It was an old family seat, and they used to have avenues in those
+days; but it doesn't lead up to the present hail door. It comes
+sideways up to the farm-yard; so that the whole thing must have been
+different once, and there must have been a great court-yard. In
+Elizabeth's time Plaistow Manor was rather a swell place, and
+belonged to some Roman Catholics who came to grief, and then the
+Howards got it. There's a whole history about it, only I don't care
+much about those things.'
+
+'And is it yours now?'
+
+'It's between me and my uncle, and I pay him rent for his part. He's
+a clergyman you know, and he has a living in Lincolnshire not far
+off.'
+
+'And do you live alone in that big house?'
+
+'There's my sister. You've heard of Mary haven't you?'
+
+Then Clara remembered that there was a Miss Belton, a poor sickly
+creature, with a twisted spine and a hump back, as to whose welfare
+she ought to have made inquiries.
+
+'Oh yes; of course,' said Clara. 'I hope she's better than she used
+to be when we heard of her.'
+
+'She'll never be better. But then she does not become much worse. I
+think she does grow a little weaker. She's older than I am, you know
+two years older; but you would think she was quite an old woman to
+look at her.' Then, for the next half-hour, they talked about Mary
+Belton as they visited every corner of the place. Belton still had an
+eye to business as he went on talking, and Clara remarked how many
+sticks he moved as he went, how many stones he kicked on one side,
+and how invariably he noted any defect in the fences. But still he
+talked of his sister, swearing that she was as good as gold, and at
+last wiping away the tears from his eyes as he described her
+maladies. 'And yet I believe she is better off than any of us,' he
+said, 'because she is so good.' Clara began to wish that she had
+called him Will from the beginning, because she liked him so much. He
+was just the man to have for a cousin a true loving cousin, stalwart,
+self-confident, with a grain or two of tyranny in his composition as
+becomes a man in relation to his intimate female relatives; and one,
+moreover, with whom she could trust herself to be familiar without
+any danger of love-making! She saw his character clearly, and told
+herself that she understood it perfectly. He was a jewel of a cousin,
+and she must begin to call him Will as speedily as possible.
+
+At last they came round in their walk to the gate leading into
+Colonel Askerton's garden; and here in the garden, close to the gate,
+they found Mrs Askerton. I fancy that she had been watching for them,
+or at any rate watching for Clara, so that she might know how her
+friend was carrying herself with her cousin. She came at once to the
+wicket, and there she was introduced by Clara to Mr Belton. Mr
+Belton, as he made his bow, muttered something awkwardly, and seemed
+to lose his self-possession for the moment. Mrs Askerton was very
+gracious to him, and she knew well how to be both gracious and
+ungracious. She talked about the scenery, and the charms of the old
+place, and the dullness of the people around them, and the
+inexpediency of looking for society in country places; till after
+awhile Mr Belton was once more at his ease.
+
+'How is Colonel Askerton?' asked Clara.
+
+'He's in-doors. Will you come and see him? He's reading a French
+novel, as usual. It's the only thing he ever does in summer. Do you
+ever read French novels, Mr Belton?'
+
+'I read very little at all, and when I do I read English.'
+
+'Ah, you're a man who has a pursuit in life, no doubt.'
+
+'I should rather think so that is, if you mean, by a pursuit, earning
+my bread. A man has not much time for French novels with a thousand
+acres of land on his hands; even if he knew how to read French, which
+I don't.'
+
+'But you're not always at work on your farm?'
+
+'It's pretty constant, Mrs Askerton. Then I shoot, and hunt.'
+
+'You're a sportsman?'
+
+'All men living in the country are more or less.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton shoots a great deal. He has the shooting of Belton,
+you know. He'll be delighted, I'm sure, to see you if you are here
+some time in September. But you, coming from Norfolk, would not care
+for partridge-shooting in Somersetshire.'
+
+'I don't see why it shouldn't be as good here as there.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton thinks he has got a fair head of game upon the
+place.'
+
+'I dare say. Game is easily kept if people knew how to set about it.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has a very good keeper, and has gone to a great
+deal of expense since he has been here.'
+
+'I'm my own head-keeper,' said Belton;' and so I will be or rather
+should be, if I had this place.'
+
+Something in the lady's tone had grated against his feelings and
+offended him; or perhaps he thought that she assumed too many of the
+airs of proprietorship because the shooting of the place had been let
+to her husband for thirty pounds a year.
+
+'I hope you don't mean to say you'll turn us out,' said Mrs Askerton,
+laughing.
+
+'I have no power to turn anybody out or in,' said he. 'I've got
+nothing to do with it.'
+
+Clara, perceiving that matters were not going quite pleasantly
+between her old and new friend, thought it best to take her
+departure. Belton, as he went, lifted his hat from his head, and
+Clara could not keep herself from thinking that he was not only very
+handsome, but that he looked very much like a gentleman, in spite of
+his occupation as a farmer.
+
+'Bye-bye, Clara,' said Mrs Askerton; 'come down and see me tomorrow,
+there's a dear. Don't forget what a dull life I have of it.' Clara
+said that she would come. And I shall be so happy to see Mr Belton if
+he will call before he leaves you.' At this Belton again raised his
+hat from his head, and muttered some word or two of civility. But
+this, his latter muttering, was different from the first, for he had
+altogether regained his presence of mind.
+
+'You didn't seem to get on very well with my friend,' said Clara,
+laughing, as soon as they had turned away from the cottage.
+
+'Well, no that is to say, not particularly well or particularly
+badly. At first I took her for somebody else I knew slightly ever so
+long ago, and I was thinking of that other person at the time.'
+
+'And what was the other person's name?'
+
+'I can't even remember that at the present moment.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton was a Miss Oliphant.'
+
+'That wasn't the other lady's name. But, independently of that, they
+can't be the same. The other lady married a Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'A Mr Berdmore!' Clara as she repeated the name felt convinced that
+she had heard it before, and that she had heard it in connexion with
+Mrs Askerton. She certainly had heard the name of Berdmore
+pronounced, or had seen it written, or had in some shape come across
+the name in Mrs Askerton's presence; or at any rate somewhere on the
+premises occupied by that lady. More than this she could not
+remember; but the name, as she had now heard it from her cousin,
+became at once distinctly connected in her memory with her friends at
+the cottage.
+
+'Yes,' said Belton; 'a Berdmore. I knew more of him than of her,
+though for the matter of that, I knew very little of him either. She
+was a fast-going girl, and his friends were very sorry. But I think
+they are both dead or divorced, or that they have come to grief in
+some way.'
+
+'And is Mrs Askerton like the fast-going lady?'
+
+'In a certain way. Not that I remember what the fast-going lady was
+like; but there was something about this woman that put me in mind of
+the other. Vigo was her name; now I recollect it a Miss Vigo. It's
+nine or ten years ago now, and I was little more than a boy.'
+
+'Her name was Oliphant.'
+
+'I don't suppose they have anything to do with each other. What riled
+me was the way she talked of the shooting. People do when they take a
+little shooting. They pay some trumpery thirty or forty pounds a
+year, and then they seem to think that it's almost the same as though
+they owned the property themselves. I've known a man talk of his
+manor because he had the shooting of a wood and a small farm round
+it. They are generally shop-keepers out of London, gin distillers, or
+brewers, or people like that.'
+
+'Why, Mr Belton, I didn't think you could be so furious!
+
+'Can't I? When my back's up, it is up! But it isn't up yet.'
+
+'And I hope it won't be up while you remain in Somersetshire.'
+
+'I won't answer for that. There's Stovey's empty cart standing just
+where it stood yesterday; and he promised he'd have it home before
+three today. My back will be up with him if he doesn't mind himself.'
+
+It was nearly six o'clock when they got back to the house, and Clara
+was surprised to find that she had been out three hours with her
+cousin. Certainly it had been very pleasant. The usual companion of
+her walks, when she had a companion, was Mrs Askerton; but Mrs
+Askerton did not like real walking. She would creep about the grounds
+for an hour or so, and even such companionship as that was better to
+Clara than absolute solitude; but now she had been carried about the
+place, getting over stiles and through gates, and wandering through
+the copses, till she was tired and hungry, and excited and happy.
+'Oh, papa,' she said, 'we have had such a walk!'
+
+'I thought we were to have dined at five,' he replied, in a low
+wailing voice.
+
+'No, papa, indeed indeed you said six.'
+
+'That was for yesterday.'
+
+'You said we were to make it six while Mr Belton was here.'
+
+'Very well if it must be, I suppose it must be.'
+
+'You don't mean on my account,' said Will. 'I'll undertake to eat my
+dinner, sir, at any hour that you'll undertake to give it me. If
+there's a strong point about me at all, it is my appetite.'
+
+Clara, when she went to her father's room that evening, told him what
+Mr Belton had said about the shooting, knowing that her father's
+feelings would agree with those which had been expressed by her
+cousin. Mr Amedroz of course made this an occasion for further
+grumbling, suggesting that Belton wanted to get the shooting for
+himself as he had got the farm. But, nevertheless, the effect which
+Clara had intended was produced, and before she left him he had
+absolutely proposed that the shooting and the land should go
+together.
+
+'I'm sure that Mr Belton doesn't mean that at all,' said Clara.
+
+'I don't care what he means,' said the squire.
+
+'And it wouldn't do to treat Colonel Askerton in that way,' said
+Clara.
+
+'I shall treat him just as I like,' said the squire.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING
+
+A DEAR cousin, and safe against love-making! This was Clara's verdict
+respecting Will Belton, as she lay thinking of him in bed that night.
+Why that warranty against love-making should be a virtue in her eyes
+I cannot, perhaps, explain. But all young ladies are apt to talk to
+themselves in such phrases about gentlemen with whom they are thrown
+into chance intimacy,--as though love-making were in itself a thing
+injurious and antagonistic to happiness, instead of being, as it is,
+the very salt of life. Safe against love-making! And yet Mrs
+Askerton, her friend, had spoken of the probability of such
+love-making as being the great advantage of his coming. And there
+could not be a second opinion as to the expediency of a match between
+her and her cousin in a worldly point of view. Clara, moreover, had
+already perceived that he was a man fit to guide a wife, very
+good-humoured,--and good-tempered also, anxious to give pleasure to
+others, a man of energy and forethought, who would be sure to do well
+in the world and hold his head always high among his fellows;--as good a
+husband as a girl could have. Nevertheless, she congratulated herself
+in that she felt satisfied that he was safe against love-making!
+Might it be possible that the pressing of hands at Taunton had been
+so tender, and those last words spoken with Captain Aylmer so soft,
+that on his account she felt delighted to think that her cousin was
+warranted not to make love?
+
+And what did Will Belton think about his cousin, insured as he was
+thus supposed to be against the dangers of love? He, also, lay awake
+for awhile that night, thinking over his new friendship. Or rather he
+thought of it walking about his room, and looking out at the bright
+harvest moon for with him to be in bed was to be asleep. He sat
+himself down, and he walked about, and he leaned out of the window
+into the cool night air; and he made some comparisons in his mind,
+and certain calculations; and he thought of his present home, and of
+his sister, and of his future prospects as they were concerned with
+the old place at which he was now staying; and he portrayed to
+himself, in his mind, Clara's head and face and figure and feet and
+he resolved that she should be his wife. He had never seen a girl who
+seemed to suit him so well. Though he had only been with her for a
+day, he swore to himself that he knew he could love her. Nay he swore
+to himself that he did love her. Then when he had quite made up his
+mind, he tumbled into his bed and was asleep in five minutes.
+
+Miss Amedroz was a handsome young woman, tall, well-made, active, and
+full of health. She carried herself as though she thought her limbs
+were made for use, and not simply for ease upon a sofa. Her head and
+neck stood well upon her shoulders, and her waist showed none of
+those waspish proportions of which ladies used to be more proud than
+I believe them to be now, in their more advanced state of knowledge
+and taste. There was much about her in which she was like her cousin,
+as though the blood they had in common between them had given to both
+the same proportions and the same comeliness. Her hair was of a dark
+brown colour, as was his. Her eyes were somewhat darker than his, and
+perhaps not so full of constant movement; but they were equally
+bright, and possessed that quick power of expressing tenderness which
+belonged to them. Her nose was more finely cut, as was also her chin,
+and the oval of her face; but she had the same large expressive
+mouth, and the same perfection of ivory-white teeth. As has been said
+before, Clara Amedroz, who was now nearly twenty-six years of age,
+was not a young-looking woman. To the eyes of many men that would
+have been her fault; but in the eyes of Belton it was no fault. He
+had not made himself fastidious as to women by much consort with
+them, and he was disposed to think that she who was to become his
+wife had better be something more than a girl not long since taken
+out of the nursery. He was well-to-do in the world, and could send
+his wife out in her carriage, with all becoming bravery of
+appurtenances. And he would do so, too, when he should have a wife.
+But still he would look to his wife to be a useful partner to him.
+She should be a woman not above agricultural solicitude, or too proud
+to have a care for her cows. Clara, he was sure, had no false pride;
+and yet,--as he was sure also, she was at every point such a lady as
+would do honour to the carriage and the bravery when it should be
+forthcoming. And then such a marriage as this would put an end to all
+the trouble which he felt in reference to the entail on the estate.
+He knew that he was to be master of Belton, and of course had, in
+that knowledge, the satisfaction which men do feel from the
+consciousness of their future prosperity. And this with him was
+enhanced by a strong sympathy with old-fashioned prejudices as to
+family. He would be Belton of Belton; and there had been Beltons of
+Belton in old days, for a longer time backwards than he was able to
+count. But still the prospect had not been without its alloy, and he
+had felt real distress at the idea of turning his cousin out of her
+father's house. Such a marriage as that he now contemplated would put
+all these things right.
+
+When he got up in the morning he was quite as keen about it as he had
+been on the previous evening and as he thought about it the more, he
+became keener and still more keen. On the previous evening, as he was
+leaning out of the window endeavouring to settle in his own mind what
+would be the proper conduct of the romance of the thing, he had
+considered that he had better not make his proposal quite at once. He
+was to remain eight days at Belton, and as eight days was not a long
+period of acquaintance, he had reflected that it might be well for
+him to lay what foundation for love it might be in his power to
+construct during his present sojourn, and then return and complete
+the work before Christmas. But as he was shaving himself, the
+habitual impatience of his nature predominated, and he became
+disposed to think that delay would be useless, and might perhaps be
+dangerous. It might be possible that Clara would be unable to give
+him a decisive answer so quickly as to enable him to return home an
+accepted lover; but if such doubt were left, such doubt would give
+him an excuse for a speedy return to Belton. He did not omit to tell
+himself that very probably he might not succeed at all. He was a man
+not at all apt to feel assurance that he could carry all before him
+in love. But in this matter, as in all others which required from him
+any personal effort, he prepared himself to do his best, leaving the
+consequences to follow as they might. When he threw his seed corn
+into the earth with all such due appliances of agricultural skill and
+industry as his capital and experience enabled him to use, he did his
+part towards the production of next year's crop; and after that he
+must leave it to a higher Power to give to him, or to withhold from
+him, the reward of his labour. He had found that, as a rule, the
+reward had been given when the labour had been honest; and he was now
+prepared to follow the same plan, with the same hopes, in this matter
+of his love-making.
+
+After much consideration--very much consideration, a consideration
+which took him the whole time that he was brushing his hair and
+washing his teeth he resolved that he would, in the first instance,
+speak to Mr Amedroz. Not that he intended that the father should win
+the daughter for him. He had an idea that he would like to do that
+work for himself. But he thought that the old squire would be better
+pleased if his consent were asked in the first instance. The present
+day was Sunday, and he would not speak on the subject till Monday.
+This day he would devote to the work of securing his future
+father-in-law's good opinion; to that and to his prayers.
+
+And he had gained very much upon Mr Amedroz before the evening of the
+day was over. He was a man before whom difficulties seemed to yield,
+and who had his own way simply because he had become accustomed to
+ask for it to ask for it and to work for it. He had so softened the
+squire's tone of thought towards him, that the future stocking of the
+land was spoken of between them with something like energy on both
+sides; and Mr Amedroz had given his consent, without any difficulty,
+to the building of a shed for winter stall-feeding. Clara sat by
+listening, and perceived that Will Belton would soon be allowed to do
+just what he pleased with the place. Her father talked as she had not
+heard him talk since her poor brother's death, and was quite animated
+on the subject of woodcraft. 'We don't know much about timber down
+where I am,' said Will, 'just because we've got no trees.'
+
+'I'll show you your way,' said the old man. 'I've managed the timber
+on the estate myself for the last forty years.' Will Belton of course
+did not say a word as to the gross mismanagement which had been
+apparent even to him. What a cousin he was! Clara thought what a
+paragon among cousins! And then he was so manifestly safe against
+love-making! So safe, that he only cared to talk about timber, and
+oxen, and fences, and winter-forage! But it was all just as it ought
+to be; and if her father did not call him Will before long, she
+herself would set the way by doing so first. A very paragon among
+cousins!
+
+'What a flatterer you are,' she said to him that night.
+
+'A flatterer! I?'
+
+'Yes, you. You have flattered papa out of all his animosity already.
+I shall be jealous soon; for he'll think more of you than of me.'
+
+'I hope he'll come to think of us as being nearly equally near to
+him,' said Belton, with a tone that was half serious and half tender.
+Now that he had made up his mind, he could not keep his hand from the
+work before him an instant. But Clara had also made up her mind, and
+would not be made to think that her cousin could mean anything that
+was more than cousinly.
+
+'Upon my word,' she said, laughing, 'that is very cool on your part.'
+
+'I came here determined to be friends with him at any rate.'
+
+'And you did so without any thought of me. But you said you would be
+my brother, and I shall not forget your promise. Indeed, indeed, I
+cannot tell you how glad I am that you have come both for papa's sake
+and my own. You have done him so much good that I only dread to think
+that you are going so soon.'
+
+'I'll be back before long. I think nothing of running across here
+from Norfolk. You'll see enough of me before next summer.'
+
+Soon after breakfast on the next morning he got Mr Amedroz out into
+the grounds, on the plea of showing him the proposed site for the
+cattle shed; but not a word was said about the shed on that occasion.
+He went to work at his other task at once, and when that was well on
+hand the squire was quite unfitted for the consideration of any less
+important matter, however able to discuss it Belton might have been
+himself.
+
+'I've got something particular that I want to say to you, sir,'
+Belton began.
+
+Now Mr Amedroz was of opinion that his cousin had been saying
+something very particular ever since his arrival, and was rather
+frightened at this immediate prospect of a new subject.
+
+'There's nothing wrong; is there?'
+
+'No, nothing wrong at least, I hope it's not wrong. Would not it be a
+good plan, sir, if I were to marry my cousin Clara?'
+
+What a terrible young man! Mr Amedroz felt that his breath was so
+completely taken away from him that he was quite unable to speak a
+word of answer at the moment. Indeed, he was unable to move, and
+stood still, where he had been fixed by the cruel suddenness of the
+proposition made to him.
+
+'Of course I know nothing of what she may think about it,' continued
+Belton. 'I thought it best to come to you before I spoke a word to
+her. And I know that in many ways she is above me. She is better
+educated, and reads more, and all that sort of thing. And it may be
+that she'd rather marry a London man than a fellow who passes all his
+time in the country. But she couldn't get one who would love her
+better or treat her more kindly. And then as to the property; you
+must own it would be a good arrangement. You'd like to know it would
+go to your own child and your own grandchild wouldn't you, sir? And
+I'm not badly off, without looking to this place at all, and could
+give her every thing she wants. But then I don't know that she'd care
+to marry a farmer.' These last words he said in a melancholy tone, as
+though aware that he was confessing his own disgrace.
+
+The squire had listened to it all, and had not as yet said a word.
+And now, when Belton ceased, he did not know what word to speak. He
+was a man whose thoughts about women were chivalrous, and perhaps a
+little old-fashioned. Of course, when a man contemplates marriage, he
+could do nothing better, nothing more honourable, than consult the
+lady's father in the first instance. But he felt that even a father
+should be addressed on such a subject with great delicacy. There
+should be ambages in such a matter. The man who resolved to commit
+himself to such a task should come forward with apparent difficulty
+with great diffidence, and even with actual difficulty. He should
+keep himself almost hidden, as behind a mask, and should tell of his
+own ambition with doubtful, quivering voice. And the ambages should
+take time. He should approach the citadel to be taken with covered
+ways working his way slowly and painfully. But this young man, before
+he had been in the house three days, said all that he had to say
+without the slightest quaver in his voice, and evidently expected to
+get an answer about the squire's daughter as quickly as he had got it
+about the squire's land.
+
+'You have surprised me very much,' said the old man at last, drawing
+his breath.
+
+'I'm quite in earnest about it. Clara seems to me to be the very girl
+to make a good wife to such a one as I am. She's got everything that
+a woman ought to have By George, she has!'
+
+'She is a good girl, Mr Belton.'
+
+'She is as good as gold, every inch of her.'
+
+'But you have not known her very long, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Quite long enough for my purposes. You see I knew all about her
+beforehand who she is, and where she comes from. There's a great deal
+in that, you know.'
+
+Mr Amedroz shuddered at the expressions used. It was grievous to him
+to hear his daughter spoken of as one respecting whom some one knew
+who she was and whence she came. Such knowledge respecting the
+daughter of such a family was, as a matter of course, common to all
+polite persons. 'Yes,' said Mr Amedroz, stiffly: 'you know as much as
+that about her, certainly.'
+
+'And she knows as much about me. Now the question is, whether you
+have any objection to make?'
+
+'Really, Mr Belton, you have taken me so much by surprise that I do
+not feel myself competent to answer you at once.'
+
+'Shall we say in an hour's time, sir?' An hour's time! Mr Amedroz, if
+he could have been left to his own guidance, would have thought a
+month very little for such a work.
+
+'I suppose you would wish me to see Clara first,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'Oh dear, no. I would much rather ask her myself if only I could get
+your consent to my doing so.'
+
+'And you have said nothing to her?'
+
+'Not a word.'
+
+'I am glad of that. You would have behaved badly, I think, had you
+done so while staying under my roof.'
+
+'I thought it best, at any rate, to come to you first. But as I must
+be back at Plaistow on this day week, I haven't much time to lose. So
+if you could think about it this afternoon, you know Mr Amedroz, much
+bewildered, promised that he would do his best, and eventually did
+bring himself to give an answer on the next morning. 'I have been
+thinking about this all night,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'I'm sure I'm very much obliged to you,' said Belton, feeling rather
+ashamed of his own remissness as he remembered how soundly he had
+himself slept.
+
+'If you are quite sure of yourself'
+
+'Do you mean sure of loving her? I am as sure of that as anything.'
+
+'But men are so apt to change their fancies.'
+
+'I don't know much about my fancies; but I don't often change my
+purpose when I'm in earnest. In such a matter as this I couldn't
+change. I'll say as much as that for myself, though it may seem
+bold.'
+
+'Of course, in regard to money such a marriage would be advantageous
+to my child. I don't know whether you know it, but I shall have
+nothing to give her literally nothing.'
+
+'All the better, sir, as far as I am concerned. I'm not one who wants
+to be saved from working by a wife's fortune.'
+
+'But most men like to get something when they marry.'
+
+'I want to get nothing nothing, that is, in the way of money. If
+Clara becomes my wife I'll never ask you for one shilling.'
+
+'I hope her aunt will do something for her.' This the old man said in
+a wailing voice, as though the expression of such a hope was grievous
+to him.
+
+'If she becomes my wife, Mrs Winterfield will be quite at liberty to
+leave her money elsewhere.' There were old causes of dislike between
+Mr Belton and Mrs Winterfield, and even now Mrs Winterfield was
+almost offended because Mr Belton was staying at Belton Castle.
+
+'But all that is quite uncertain,' continued Mr Amedroz.
+
+'And I have your leave to speak to Clara myself?'
+
+'Well, Mr Belton; yes; I think so. I do not see why you should not
+speak to her. But I fear you are a little too precipitate. Clara has
+known you so very short a time, that you can hardly have a right to
+hope that she should learn to regard you at once as you would have
+her do.' As he heard this, Belton's face became long and melancholy.
+He had taught himself to think that he could dispense with that delay
+till Christmas which he had at first proposed to himself, and that he
+might walk into the arena at once, and perhaps win the battle in the
+first round. 'Three days is such a very short time,' said the squire.
+
+'It is short certainly,' said Belton.
+
+The father's leave was however given, and armed with that, Belton was
+resolved that he would take, at any rate, some preliminary steps in
+love-making before he returned to Plaistow. What would be the nature
+of the preliminary steps taken by such a one as him, the reader by
+this time will probably be able to surmise.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+NOT SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING
+
+'Why don't you call him Will?' Clara said to her father. This
+question was asked on the evening of that Monday on which Mr Amedroz
+had given his consent as to the marriage proposal.
+
+'Call him Will! Why should I?'
+
+'You used to do so, when he was a boy.'
+
+'Of course I did; but that is years ago. He would think it
+impertinent now.'
+
+'Indeed he would not; he would like it. He has told me so. It sounds
+so cold to him to be called Mr Belton by his relations.'
+
+The father looked at his daughter as though for a moment he also
+suspected that matters had really been arranged between her and her
+future lover without his concurrence, and before his sanction had
+been obtained. But if for a moment such a thought did cress his mind,
+it did not dwell there. He trusted Belton; but as to his daughter, he
+knew that he might be sure of her. It would be impossible with her to
+keep such a secret from him, even for half a day. And yet, how odd it
+was! Here was a man who in three days had fallen in love with his
+daughter; and here was his daughter apparently quite as ready to be
+in love with the man. How could she, who was ordinarily circumspect,
+and almost cold in her demeanour towards strangers who was from
+circumstances and from her own disposition altogether hostile to
+flirting intimacies how could this Clara have changed her nature so
+speedily? The squire did not understand it, but was prepared to
+believe that it was all for the best. 'I'll call him Will, if you
+like it,' said he.
+
+'Do, papa, and then I can do so also. He is such a good fellow, and I
+am so fond of him.'
+
+On the next morning Mr Amedroz did, with much awkwardness, call his
+guest by his Christian name. Clara caught her cousin's eye and
+smiled, and he also smiled. At that moment he was more in love than
+ever. Could anything be more charming than this? Immediately after
+breakfast he was going over to Redicote, to see a builder in a small
+way who lived there, and whom he proposed to employ in putting up the
+shed for the cattle; but he almost begrudged the time, so anxious was
+he to begin his suit. But his plan had been laid out and he would
+follow it. 'I think I shall be back by three o'clock,' he said to
+Clara, 'and then we'll have our walk.'
+
+'I'll be ready; and you can call for me at Mr Askerton's. I must go
+down there, and it will save you something in your walk to pick me up
+at the cottage.' And so the arrangements for the day were made.
+
+Clara had promised that she would soon call at the cottage, and was,
+indeed, rather anxious to see Mrs Askerton on her own account. What
+she had heard from her cousin as to a certain Miss Vigo of old days
+had interested her, and also what she had heard of a certain Mr
+Berdmore. It had been evident to her that her cousin had thought
+little about it. The likeness of the lady he then saw to the lady he
+had before known, had at first struck him; but when he found that the
+two ladies were not represented by one and the same person, he was
+satisfied, and there was an end of the matter for him. But it was not
+so with Clara. Her feminine mind dwelt on the matter with more
+earnestness than he had cared to entertain, and her clearer intellect
+saw possibilities which did not occur to him. But it was not till she
+found herself walking across the park to the cottage that she
+remembered that any inquiries as to her past life might be
+disagreeable to Mrs Askerton. She had thought of asking her friend
+plainly whether the names of Vigo and Berdmore had ever been familiar
+to her; but she reminded herself that there had been rumours afloat,
+and that there might be a mystery. Mrs Askerton would sometimes talk
+of her early life; but she would do this with dreamy, indistinct
+language, speaking of the sorrows of her girlhood, but not specifying
+their exact nature, seldom mentioning any names, and never referring
+with clear personality to those who had been nearest to her when she
+had been a child. Clara had seen her friend's maiden name, Mary
+Oliphant, written in a book, and seeing it had alluded to it. On that
+occasion Mrs Askerton had spoken of herself as having been an
+Oliphant, and thus Clara had come to know the fact. But now, as she
+made her way to the cottage, she remembered that she had learned
+nothing more than this as to Mrs Askerton's early life. Such being
+the case, she hardly knew how to ask any question about the two names
+that had been mentioned. And yet, why should she not ask such a
+question? Why should she doubt Mrs Askerton? And if she did doubt,
+why should not her doubts be solved?
+
+She found Colonel Askerton and his wife together, and she certainly
+would ask no such question in his presence. He was a slight built,
+wiry man, about fifty, with iron-grey hair and beard who seemed to
+have no trouble in life, and to desire but few pleasures. Nothing
+could be more regular than the course of his days, and nothing more
+idle. He breakfasted at eleven, smoked and read till the afternoon,
+when he rode for an hour or two; then he dined, read again, smoked
+again, and went to bed. In September and October he shot, and twice
+in the year, as has been before stated, went away to seek a little
+excitement elsewhere. He seemed to be quite contented with his lot,
+and was never heard to speak an angry word with any one. Nobody cared
+for him much; but then he troubled himself with no one's affairs. He
+never went to church, and had not eaten or drank in any house but his
+own since he had come to Belton.
+
+'Oh, Clara, you naughty girl,' said Mrs Askerton, 'why didn't you
+come yesterday? I was expecting you all day.'
+
+'I was busy. Really, we've grown to be quite industrious people since
+my cousin came.'
+
+'They tell me he's taking the land into his own hands,' said the
+colonel.
+
+'Yes, indeed; and he is going to build sheds, and buy cattle; and I
+don't know what he doesn't mean to do; so that we shall be alive
+again.'
+
+'I hope he won't want my shooting.'
+
+'He has shooting of his own in Norfolk,' said Clara.
+
+'Then he'll hardly care to come here for that purpose. When I heard
+of his proceedings I began to be afraid.'
+
+'I don't think he would do anything to annoy you for the world,' said
+Clara, enthusiastically. 'He's the most unselfish person I ever met.'
+
+'He'd have a perfect right to take the shooting if he liked it that
+is always supposing that he and your father agreed about it.'
+
+'They agree about everything now. He has altogether disarmed papa's
+prejudices, and it seems to be recognized that he is to have his own
+way about the place. But I don't think he'll interfere about the
+shooting.'
+
+'He won't, my dear, if you ask him not,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I'll ask him in a moment if Colonel Askerton wishes it.'
+
+'Oh dear no,' said he. 'It would be teaching the ostler to grease the
+horse's teeth. Perhaps he hasn't thought of it.'
+
+'He thinks of everything,' said Clara.
+
+'I wonder whether he's thinking of .' So far Mrs Askerton spoke, and
+then she paused. Colonel Askerton looked up at Clara with an
+ill-natured smile, and Clara felt that she blushed. Was it not cruel
+that she could not say a word in favour of a friend and a cousin a
+cousin who had promised to be a brother to her, without being treated
+with such words and such looks as these? But she was determined not
+to be put down. 'I'm quite sure of this,' she said, 'that my cousin
+would do nothing unfair or ungentlemanlike.'
+
+'There would be nothing unfair or ungentlemanlike in it. I shouldn't
+take it amiss at all but I should simply take up my bed and walk.
+Pray tell him that I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing him
+before he goes. I did call yesterday, but he was out.'
+
+'He'll be here soon. He's to come here for me.' But Colonel
+Askerton's horse was brought to the door, and he could not therefore
+wait to make Mr Belton's acquaintance on that occasion.
+
+'What a phoenix this cousin of yours is,' said Mrs Askerton, as soon
+as her husband was gone.
+
+'He is a splendid fellow he is indeed. There's so much life about
+him! He's always doing something. He says that doing good will always
+pay in the long run. Isn't that a fine doctrine?'
+
+'Quite a practical phoenix!'
+
+'It has done papa so much good! At this moment he's out somewhere,
+thinking of what is going on, instead of moping in the house. He
+couldn't bear the idea of Will's coming, and now he is already
+beginning to complain because he's going away.'
+
+'Will, indeed!'
+
+'And why not Will? He's my cousin.'
+
+'Yes ten times removed. But so much the better if he's to be anything
+more than a cousin.'
+
+'He is to be nothing more, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'You're quite sure of that?
+
+'I am quite sure of it. And I cannot understand why there should be
+such a suspicion because he and I are thrown closely together, and
+are fond of each other. Whether he is a sixth, eighth, or tenth
+cousin makes no difference. He is the nearest I have on that side;
+and since my poor brother's death he is papa's heir. It is so natural
+that he should be my friend and such a comfort that he should be such
+a friend as he is! I own it seems cruel to me that under such
+circumstances there should be any suspicion.'
+
+'Suspicion, my dear suspicion of what?'
+
+'Not that I care I or it. I am prepared to love him as if he were my
+brother. I think him one of the finest creatures I ever knew perhaps
+the finest I ever did know. His energy and good-nature together are
+just the qualities to make the best kind of man. I am proud of him as
+my friend and my cousin, and now you may suspect what you please.'
+
+'But, my dear, why should not he fall in love with you? It would be
+the most proper, and also the most convenient thing in the world.'
+
+'I hate talking of falling in love as though a woman had nothing else
+to think of whenever she sees a man.'
+
+'A woman has nothing else to think of.'
+
+'I have a great deal else. And so has he.'
+
+'It's quite out of the question on his part, then?'
+
+'Quite out of the question. I'm sure he likes me; I can see it in his
+face, and hear it in his voice, and am so happy that it is so. But it
+isn't in the way that you mean. Heaven knows that I may want a friend
+some of these days, and I feel that I may trust to him. His feelings
+to me will be always those of a brother.'
+
+'Perhaps so. I have seen that fraternal love before under similar
+circumstances, and it has always ended in the same way.'
+
+'I hope it won't end in any way between us.'
+
+'But the joke is that this suspicion, as you call it which makes you
+so indignant is simply a suggestion that a thing should happen which,
+of all things in the world, would be the best for both of you.'
+
+'But the thing won't happen, and therefore let there be an end of it.
+I hate the twaddle talk of love, whether it's about myself or about
+any one else. It makes me feel ashamed of my sex, when I find that I
+cannot talk of myself to another woman without being supposed to be
+either in love or thinking of love cither looking for it or avoiding
+it. When it comes, if it comes prosperously, it's a very good thing.
+But I for one can do without it, and I feel myself injured when such
+a state of things is presumed to be impossible.'
+
+'It is worth any one's while to irritate you, because your
+indignation is so beautiful.'
+
+'It is not beautiful to me; for I always feel ashamed afterwards of
+my own energy. And now, if you please, we won't say anything more
+about Mr Will Belton.'
+
+'May I not talk about him, even as the enterprising cousin?
+
+'Certainly; and in any other light you please. Do you know he seemed
+to think that he had known you ever so many years ago.' Clara, as she
+said this, did not look direct at her friend's face; but still she
+could perceive that Mrs Askerton was disconcerted. There came a shade
+of paleness over her face, and a look of trouble on her brow, and for
+a moment or two she made no reply.
+
+'Did he?' she then said. 'And when was that?'
+
+'I suppose it was in London. But, after all, I believe it was not
+you, but somebody whom he remembers to have been like you. He says
+that the lady was a Miss Vigo.' As she pronounced the name, Clara
+turned her face away, feeling instinctively that it would be kind to
+do so.
+
+'Miss Vigo!' said Mrs Askerton at once; and there was that in the
+tone of her voice which made Clara feel that all was not right with
+her. 'I remember that there were Miss Vigos; two of them, I think. I
+didn't know that they were like me especially.'
+
+'And he says that the one he remembers married a Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'Married a Mr Berdmore!' The tone of voice was still the same, and
+there was an evident struggle, as though the woman was making a
+vehement effort to speak in her natural voice. Then Clara looked at
+her, feeling that if she abstained from doing so, the very fact of
+her so abstaining would be remarkable. There was the look of pain on
+Mrs Askerton's brow, and her cheeks were still pale, but she smiled
+as she went on speaking. 'I'm sure I'm flattered, for I remember that
+they were both considered beauties. Did he know anything more of her?
+
+'No; nothing more.'
+
+'There must have been some casual likeness I suppose.' Mrs Askerton
+was a clever woman, and had by this time almost recovered her
+self-possession. Then there came a ring at the front door, and in
+another minute Mr Belton was in the room. Mrs Askerton felt that it
+was imperative on her to make some allusion to the conversation which
+had just taken place, and dashed at the subject at once. 'Clara tells
+me that I am exactly like some old friend of yours, Mr Belton.'
+
+Then he looked at her closely as he answered her. 'I have no right to
+say that she was my friend, Mrs Askerton,' he said; 'indeed there was
+hardly what might be called an acquaintance between us; but you
+certainly are extremely like a certain Miss Vigo that I remember.'
+
+'I often wonder that one person isn't more often found to be like
+another,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'People often are like,' said he, 'but not like in such a way as to
+give rise to mistakes as to identity. Now, I should have stopped you
+in the street and called you Mrs Berdmore.'
+
+'Didn't I once see or hear the name of Berdmore in this house?' asked
+Clara.
+
+Then that look of pain returned. Mrs Askerton had succeeded in
+recovering the usual tone of her countenance, but now she was once
+more disturbed. 'I think I know the name,' said she.
+
+'I fancy that I have seen it in this house,' said Clara. 'You may
+more likely have heard it, my dear. My memory is very poor, but if I
+remember rightly, Colonel Askerton did know a Captain Berdmore a long
+while ago, before he was married; and you may probably have heard him
+mention the name.' This did not quite satisfy Clara, but she said
+nothing more about it then. If there was a mystery which Mrs Askerton
+did not wish to have explored, why should she explore it?
+
+Soon after this Clara got up to go, and Mrs Askerton, making another
+attempt to be cheerful, was almost successful. So you're going back
+into Norfolk on Saturday, Clara tells me. You are making a very short
+visit now that you're come among us.'
+
+'It is a long time for me to be away from home. Farmers can hardly
+ever dare to leave their work. But in spite of my farm, I am talking
+of coming here again about Christmas.'
+
+'But you are going to have a farming establishment here too?'
+
+'That will be nothing. Clara will look after that for me; will you
+not?' Then they went, and Belton had to consider how he would begin
+the work before him. He had some idea that too much precipitancy
+might do him an injury, but he hardly knew how to commence without
+coming to the point at once. When they were out together in the park,
+he went back at first to the subject of Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I would almost have sworn they were one and the same woman,' he
+said.
+
+'But you see that they are not.'
+
+'It's not only the likeness, but the voice. It so chanced that I once
+saw that Miss Vigo in some trouble. I happened to meet her in company
+with a man who was who was tipsy, in fact, and I had to relieve her.'
+
+'Dear me how disagreeable!'
+
+'It's a long time ago, and there can't be any harm in mentioning it
+now. It was the man she was going to marry, and whom she did marry.'
+
+'What the Mr Berdmore?'
+
+'Yes; he was often in that way. And there was a look about Mrs
+Askerton just now so like the look of that Miss Vigo then, that I
+cannot get rid of the idea.'
+
+'They can't be the same, as she was certainly a Miss Oliphant. And
+you hear, too, what she says.'
+
+'Yes I heard what she said. You have known her long?'
+
+'These two years.'
+
+'And intimately?
+
+'Very intimately. She is our only neighbour; and her being here has
+certainly been a great comfort to me. It is sad not having some woman
+near one that one can speak to and then, I really do like her very
+much.'
+
+'No doubt it's all right.'
+
+'Yes; it's all right,' said Clara. After that there was nothing more
+said about Mrs Askerton, and Belton began his work. They had gone
+from the cottage, across the park, away from the house, up to a high
+rock which stood boldly out of the ground, from whence could be seen
+the sea on one side, and on the other a far track of country almost
+away to the moors. And when they reached this spot they seated
+themselves. 'There,' said Clara, 'I consider this to be the prettiest
+spot in England.'
+
+'I haven't seen all England,' said Belton.
+
+'Don't be so matter-of-fact, Will. I say it's the prettiest in
+England, and you can't contradict me.'
+
+'And I say you're the prettiest girl in England, and you can't
+contradict me.'
+
+This annoyed Clara, and almost made her feel that her paragon of a
+cousin was not quite so perfect as she had represented him to be. 'I
+see', she said, 'that if I talk nonsense I'm to be punished.'
+
+'Is it a punishment to you to know that I think you very handsome?'
+he said, turning round and looking full into her face.
+
+'It is disagreeable to me very, to have any such subject talked about
+at all. What would you think if I began to pay you foolish personal
+compliments?'
+
+'What I say isn't foolish; and there's a great difference. Clara, I
+love you better than all the world put together.'
+
+She now looked at him; but still she did not believe it. It could not
+be that after all her boastings she should have made so gross a
+blunder. 'I hope you do love me,' she said; 'indeed, you are bound to
+do so, for you promised that you would be my brother.'
+
+'But that will not satisfy me now, Clara. Clara, I want to be your
+husband.'
+
+'Will!' she exclaimed.
+
+'Now you know it all; and if I have been too sudden, I must beg your
+pardon.'
+
+'Oh, Will, forget that you have said this. Do not go on until
+everything must be over between us.'
+
+'Why should anything be over between us? Why should it be wrong in me
+to love you?'
+
+'What will papa say?'
+
+'Mr Amedroz knows all about it already, and has given me his consent.
+I asked him directly I had made up my own mind, and he told me that I
+might go to you.'
+
+'You have asked papa? Oh dear, oh dear, what am I to do?'
+
+'Am I so odious to you then?' As he said this he got up from his seat
+and stood before her. He was a tall, well-built, handsome man, and he
+could assume a look and mien that were almost noble when he was moved
+as he was moved now.
+
+'Odious! Do you not know that I have loved you as my cousin that I
+have already learned to trust you as though you were really my
+brother? But this breaks it all.'
+
+'You cannot love me then as my wife?'
+
+'No.' She pronounced the monosyllable alone, and then he walked away
+from her as though that one little word settled the question for him,
+now and for ever. He walked away from her, perhaps a distance of two
+hundred yards, as though the interview was over, and he were leaving
+her. She, as she saw him go, wished that he would return that she
+might say some word of comfort to him. Not that she could have said
+the only word that would have comforted him. At the first blush of
+the thing, at the first sound of the address which he had made to
+her, she had been angry with him. He had disappointed her, and she
+was indignant. But her anger had already melted and turned itself to
+ruth. She could not but love him better, in that he had loved her so
+well; but yet she could not love him with the love which he desired.
+
+But he did not leave her. When he had gone from her down the hill the
+distance that has been named, he turned back and came up to her
+slowly. He had a trick of standing and walking with his thumbs fixed
+into the armholes of his waistcoat, while his large hands rested on
+his breast. He would always assume this attitude when he was assured
+that he was right in his views, and was eager to carry some point at
+issue. Clara already understood that this attitude signified his
+intention to be autocratic. He now came close up to her and again
+stood over her, before he spoke. 'My dear,' he said, 'I have been
+rough and hasty in what I have said to you, and I have to ask you to
+pardon my want of manners.'
+
+'No, no, no,' she exclaimed.
+
+'But in a matter of so much interest to us both you will not let an
+awkward manner prejudice me.'
+
+'It is not that; indeed, it is not.'
+
+'Listen to me, dearest. It is true that I promised to be your
+brother, and I will not break my word unless I break it by your own
+sanction. I did promise to be your brother, but I did not know then
+how fondly I should come to love you. Your father, when I told him of
+this, bade me not to be hasty; but I am hasty, and I haven't known
+how to wait. Tell me that I may come at Christmas for my answer, and
+I will not say a word to trouble you till then. I will be your
+brother, at any rate till Christmas.'
+
+'Be my brother always.'
+
+A black cloud crossed his brow as this request reached his ears. She
+was looking anxiously into his face, watching every turn in the
+expression of his countenance. 'Will you not let it wait till
+Christmas?' he asked.
+
+She thought it would be cruel to refuse this request, and yet she
+knew that no such waiting could be of service to him. He had been
+awkward in his love-making, and was aware of it. He should have
+contrived this period of waiting for himself; giving her no option
+but to wait and think of it. He should have made no proposal, but
+have left her certain that such proposal was coming. In such case she
+must have waited and if good could have come to him from that, he
+might have received it. But, as the question was now presented to
+her, it was impossible that she should consent to wait. To have given
+such consent would have been tantamount to receiving him as her
+lover. She was therefore forced to be cruel.
+
+'It will be of no avail to postpone my answer when I know what it
+must be. Why should there be suspense?'
+
+'You mean that it is impossible that you should love me?'
+
+'Not in that way, Will.'
+
+'And why not?' Then there was a pause. 'But I am a fool to ask such a
+question as that, and I should be worse than a fool were I to press
+it. It must then be considered as settled?'
+
+She got up and clung to his arm. 'Oh, Will, do not look at me like
+that!
+
+'It must then be considered as settled?' he repeated.
+
+'Yes, Will, yes. Pray consider it as settled.' He then sat down on
+the rock again, and she came and sat by him near to him, but not
+close as she had been before. She turned her eyes upon him, gazing on
+him, but did not speak to him; and he sat also without speaking for a
+while, with his eyes fixed upon the ground. 'I suppose we may go back
+to the house?' he said at last.
+
+'Give me your hand, Will, and tell me that you will still love me as
+your sister.'
+
+He gave her his hand. 'If you ever want a brother's care you shall
+have it from me,' he said.
+
+'But not a brother's love?'
+
+'No. How can the two go together? I shan't cease to love you because
+my love is in vain. Instead of making me happy it will make me
+wretched. That will be the only difference.'
+
+'I would give my life to make you happy, if that were possible.'
+
+'You will not give me your life in the way that I would have it.'
+
+After that they walked in silence back to the house, and when he had
+opened the front door for her, he parted from her and stood alone
+under the porch, thinking of his misfortune.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING ONCE AGAIN
+
+For a considerable time Belton stood under the porch of the house,
+thinking of what had happened to him, and endeavouring to steady
+himself under the blow which he had received. I do not know that he
+had been sanguine of success. Probably he had made to himself no
+assurances on the subject. But he was a man to whom failure, of
+itself, was intolerable. In any other event of life he would have
+told himself that he would not fail that he would persevere and
+conquer. He could imagine no other position as to which he could at
+once have been assured of failure, in any project on which he had set
+his heart. But as to this project it was so. He had been told that
+she could not love him that she could never love him and he had
+believed her. He had made his attempt and had failed; and, as he
+thought of this, standing under the porch, he became convinced that
+life for him was altogether changed, and that he who had been so
+happy must now be a wretched man.
+
+He was still standing there when Mr Amedroz came down into the hall,
+dressed for dinner, and saw his figure through the open doors.
+'Will,' he said, coming up to him, 'it only wants five minutes to
+dinner.' Belton started and shook himself, as though he were shaking
+off a lethargy, and declared that he was quite ready. Then he
+remembered that he would be expected to dress, and rushed upstairs,
+three steps at a time, to his own room. When he came down, Clara and
+her father were already in the dining-room, and he joined them there.
+
+Mr Amedroz, though he was not very quick in reading facts from the
+manners of those with whom he lived, had felt assured that things had
+gone wrong between Belton and his daughter. He had not as yet had a
+minute in which to speak to Clara, but he was certain that it was so.
+Indeed, it was impossible not to read terrible disappointment and
+deep grief in the young man's manner. He made no attempt to conceal
+it, though he did not speak of it. Through the whole evening, though
+he was alone for a while with the squire, and alone also for a time
+with Clara, he never mentioned or alluded to the subject of his
+rejection. But he bore himself as though he knew and they knew as
+though all the world knew that he had been rejected. And yet he did
+not remain silent. He talked of his property and of his plans, and
+explained how things were to be done in his absence. Once only was
+there something like an allusion made to his sorrow. 'But you will be
+here at Christmas?' said Mr Amedroz, in answer to something which
+Belton had said as to work to be done in his absence. 'I do not know
+how that may be now,' said Belton. And then they had all been silent.
+
+It was a terrible evening to Clara. She endeavoured to talk, but
+found it to be impossible. All the brightness of the last few days
+had disappeared, and the world seemed to her to be more sad and
+solemn than ever. She had no idea when she was refusing him that he
+would have taken it to heart as he had done. The question had come
+before her for decision so suddenly, that she had not, in fact, had
+time to think of this as she was making her answer. All she had done
+was to feel that she could not be to him what he wished her to be.
+And even as yet she had hardly asked herself why she must be so
+steadfast in her refusal. But she had refused him steadfastly, and
+she did not for a moment think of reducing the earnestness of her
+resolution. It seemed to be manifest to her, from his present manner,
+that he would never ask the question again; but she was sure, let it
+be asked ever so often, that it could not be answered in any other
+way.
+
+Mr Amedroz, not knowing why it was so, became cross and querulous,
+and scolded his daughter. To Belton, also, he was captious, making
+little difficulties, and answering him with petulance. This the
+rejected lover took with most extreme patience, as though such a
+trifling annoyance had no effect in adding anything to his misery. He
+still held his purpose of going on the Saturday, and was still intent
+on work which was to be done before he went; but it seemed that he
+was satisfied to do everything now as a duty, and that the enjoyment
+of the thing, which had heretofore been so conspicuous, was over.
+
+At last they separated, and Clara, as was her wont, went up to her
+father's room. 'Papa,' she said, 'what is all this about Mr Belton?'
+
+'All what, my dear? what do you mean?'
+
+'He has asked me to be to be his wife; and has told me that he came
+with your consent.'
+
+'And why shouldn't he have my consent? What is there amiss with him?
+Why shouldn't you marry him if he likes you? You seemed, I thought,
+to be very fond of him.'
+
+This surprised Clara more than anything. She could hardly have told
+herself why, but she would have thought that such a proposition from
+her cousin would have made her father angry unreasonably angry angry
+with him for presuming to have such an idea; but now it seemed that
+he was going to be angry with her for not accepting her cousin out of
+hand.
+
+'Yes, papa; I am fond of him; but not like that. I did not expect
+that he would think of me in that way.'
+
+'But why shouldn't he think of you? It would be a very good marriage
+for you, as far as money is concerned.'
+
+'You would not have me marry any one for that reason would you,
+papa?'
+
+'But you seemed to like him. Well; of course I can't make you like
+him. I meant to do for the best; and when he came to me as he did, I
+thought he was behaving very handsomely, and very much like a
+gentleman.'
+
+'I am sure he would do that.'
+
+'And if I could have thought that this place would be your home when
+I am gone, it would have made me very happy very happy.'
+
+She now came and stood close to him and took his hand. 'I hope, papa,
+you do not make yourself uneasy about me. I shall do very well. I'm
+sure you can't want me to go away and leave you.'
+
+'How will you do very well? I'm sure I don't know. And if your aunt
+Winterfield means to provide for you, it would only be kind in her to
+let me know it, so that I might not have the anxiety always on my
+mind.'
+
+Clara knew well enough what was to be the disposition of her aunt's
+property, but she could not tell her father of that now. She almost
+felt that it was her duty to do so, but she could not bring herself
+to do it. She could only beg him not to be anxious on her behalf,
+making vague assurances that she would do very well. 'And are you
+determined not to change your mind about Will?' he said at last.
+
+'I shall not change my mind about that, papa, certainly,' she
+answered. Then he turned away from her, and she saw that he was
+displeased.
+
+When alone, she was forced to ask herself why it was that she was so
+certain. Alas! there could in truth be no doubt on that subject in
+her own mind. When she sat down, resolved to give herself an answer,
+there was no doubt. She could not love her cousin, Will Belton,
+because her heart belonged to Captain Aylmer.
+
+But she knew that she had received nothing in exchange for her heart.
+He had been kind to her on that journey to Taunton, when the agony
+arising from her brother's death had almost crushed her. He had often
+been kind to her on days before that so kind, so soft in his manners,
+approaching so nearly to the little tenderness of incipient
+love-making, that the idea of regarding him as her lover had of
+necessity forced itself upon her. But in nothing had he gone beyond
+those tendernesses, which need not imperatively be made to mean
+anything, though they do often mean so much. It was now two years
+since she had first thought that Captain Aylmer was the most perfect
+gentleman she knew, and nearly two years since Mrs Winterfield had
+expressed to her a hope that Captain Aylmer might become her husband.
+She had replied that such a thing was impossible as any girl would
+have replied; and had in consequence treated Captain Aylmer with all
+the coolness which she had been able to assume whenever she was in
+company with him in her aunt's presence. Nor was it natural to her to
+be specially gracious to a man under such trying circumstances, even
+when no Mrs Winterfield was there to behold. And so things had gone
+on. Captain Aylmer had now and again made himself very pleasant to
+her at certain trying periods of joy or trouble almost more than
+pleasant. But nothing had come of it, and Clara had told herself that
+Captain Aylmer had no special feeling in her favour. She had told
+herself this, ever since that journey together from Perivale to
+Taunton; but never till now had she confessed to herself what was her
+own case.
+
+She made a comparison between the two men. Her cousin Will was, she
+thought, the more generous, the more energetic perhaps by nature, the
+man of the higher gifts. In person he was undoubtedly the superior.
+He was full of noble qualities forgetful of self, industrious, full
+of resources, a very man of men, able to command, eager in doing work
+for others' good and his own a man altogether uncontaminated by the
+coldness and selfishness of the outer world. But he was rough,
+awkward, but indifferently educated, and with few of those tastes
+which to Clara Amedroz were delightful. He could not read poetry to
+her, he could not tell her of what the world of literature was doing
+now or of what it had done in times past. He knew nothing of the
+inner world of worlds which governs the world. She doubted whether he
+could have told her who composed the existing cabinet, or have given
+the name of a single bishop beyond the see in which his own parish
+was situated. But Captain Aylmer knew everybody, and had read
+everything, and understood, as though by instinct, all the movements
+of the world in which he lived.
+
+But what mattered any such comparison? Even though she should be able
+to prove to herself beyond the shadow of a doubt that her cousin Will
+was of the two the fitter to be loved the one more worthy of her
+heart no such proof could alter her position. Love does not go by
+worth. She did not love her cousin as she must love any man to whom
+she could give her hand and, alas! she did love that other man.
+
+On this night I doubt whether Belton did slumber with that solidity
+of repose which was usual to him. At any rate, before he came down in
+the morning he had found time for sufficient thought, and had brought
+himself to a resolution. He would not give up the battle as lost. To
+his thinking there was something weak and almost mean in abandoning
+any project which he had set before himself. He had been awkward, and
+he exaggerated to himself his own awkwardness. He had been hasty, and
+had gone about his task with inconsiderate precipitancy. It might be
+that he had thus destroyed all his chance of success. But, as he said
+to himself, 'he would never say die, as long as there was a puff of
+breath left in him.' He would not mope, and hang down his head, and
+wear the willow. Such a state of things would ill suit either the
+roughness or the readiness of his life. No! He would bear like a man
+the disappointment which had on this occasion befallen him, and would
+return at Christmas and once more try his fortune.
+
+At breakfast, therefore, the cloud had passed from his brow. When he
+came in he found Clara alone in the room, and he simply shook hands
+with her after his ordinary fashion. He said nothing of yesterday,
+and almost succeeded in looking as though yesterday had been in no
+wise memorable. She was not so much at her ease, but she also
+received some comfort from his demeanour. Mr Amedroz came down almost
+immediately, and Belton soon took an opportunity of saying that he
+would be back at Christmas if Mr Amedroz would receive him.
+
+'Certainly,' said the squire. 'I thought it had been all settled.'
+
+'So it was till I said a word yesterday which foolishly seemed to
+unsettle it. But I have thought it over again, and I find that I can
+manage it.'
+
+'We shall be so glad to have you!' said Clara.
+
+'And I shall be equally glad to come. They are already at work, sir,
+about the sheds.'
+
+'Yes; I saw the carts full of bricks go by,' said the squire,
+querulously. 'I didn't know there was to be any brickwork. You said
+you would have it made of deal slabs with oak posts.'
+
+'You must have a foundation, sir. I propose to carry the brickwork a
+foot and a half above the ground.'
+
+'I suppose you know best. Only that kind of thing is so very ugly.'
+
+'If you find it to be ugly after it is done, it shall be pulled down
+again.'
+
+'No it can never come down again.'
+
+'It can and it shall, if you don't like it. I never think anything of
+changes like that.'
+
+'I think they'll be very pretty!' said Clara.
+
+'I dare say,' said the squire,' but at any rate it won't make much
+difference to me. I shan't be here long to see them.'
+
+This was rather melancholy; but Belton bore up even against this,
+speaking cheery words and expressing bright hopes so that it seemed,
+both to Clara and her father, that he had in a great measure overcome
+the disappointment of the preceding day. It was probable that he was
+a man not prone to be deeply sensitive in such matters for any long
+period. The period now had certainly not been long, and yet Will
+Belton was alive again.
+
+Immediately after breakfast there occurred a little incident which
+was not without its effect upon them all. There came up on the drive
+immediately before the front door, under the custody of a boy, a cow.
+It was an Alderney cow, and any man or woman at all understanding
+cows would at once have perceived that this cow was perfect in her
+kind. Her eyes were mild, and soft, and bright. Her legs were like
+the legs of a deer; and in her whole gait and demeanour she almost
+gave the lie to her own name, asserting herself to have sprung from
+some more noble origin among the woods, than maybe supposed to be the
+origin of the ordinary domestic cow a useful animal, but heavy in its
+appearance, and seen with more pleasure at some little distance than
+at close quarters. But this cow was graceful in its movements, and
+almost tempted one to regard her as the far-off descendant of the elk
+or the antelope.
+
+'What's that?' said Mr Amedroz, who, having no cows of his own, was
+not pleased to see one brought up in that way before his hail door.
+'There's somebody's cow come here.'
+
+Clara understood it in a moment; but she was pained, and said
+nothing. Had the cow come without any such scene as that of
+yesterday, she would have welcomed the animal with all cordiality,
+and would have sworn to her cousin that the cow should be cherished
+for his sake. But after what had passed it was different. How was she
+to take any present from him now?
+
+But Belton faced the difficulty without any bashfulness or apparent
+regret. 'I told you I would give you a cow,' said he 'and here she
+is.'
+
+'What can she want with a cow?' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'I am sure she wants one very much. At any rate she won't refuse the
+present from me; will you, Clara?'
+
+What could she say? 'Not if papa will allow me to keep it.'
+
+'But we've no place to put it!' said the squire. 'We haven't got
+grass for it!'
+
+'There's plenty of grass,' said Belton. 'Come, Mr Amedroz; I've made
+a point of getting this little creature for Clara, and you mustn't
+stand in the way of my gratification.' Of course he was successful,
+and of course Clara thanked him with tears in her eyes.
+
+The next two days passed by without anything special to mark them,
+and then the cousin was to go. During the period of his visit he did
+not see Colonel Askerton, nor did he again see Mrs Askerton. He went
+to the cottage once, with the special object of returning the
+colonel's call; but the master was out, and he was not specially
+invited in to see the mistress. He said nothing more to Clara about
+her friends, but he thought of the matter more than once, as he was
+going about the place, and became aware that he would like to
+ascertain whether there was a mystery, and if so, what was its
+nature. He knew that he did not like Mrs Askerton, and he felt also
+that Mrs Askerton did not like him. This was, as he thought,
+unfortunate; for might it not be the case, that in the one matter
+which was to him of so much importance, Mrs Askerton might have
+considerable influence over Clara?
+
+During these days nothing special was said between him and Clara. The
+last evening passed over without anything to brighten it or to make
+it memorable. Mr Amedroz, in his passive, but gently querulous way,
+was sorry that Belton was going to leave him, as his cousin had been
+the creation of some new excitement for him, but he said nothing on
+the subject; and when the time for going to bed had come, he bade his
+guest farewell with some languid allusion to the pleasure which he
+would have in seeing him again at Christmas. Belton was to start very
+early in the morning before six, and of course he was prepared to
+take leave also of Clara. But she told him very gently, so gently
+that her father did not hear it, that she would be up to give him a
+cup of coffee before he went.
+
+'Oh no,' he said.
+
+'But I shall. I won't have you go without seeing you out of the
+door.'
+
+And on the following morning she was up before him. She hardly
+understood, herself, why she was doing this. She knew that it should
+be her object to avoid any further special conversation on that
+subject which they discussed up among the rocks. She knew that she
+could give him no comfort, and that he could give none to her. It
+would seem that he was willing to let the remembrance of the scene
+pass away, so that it should be as though it had never been; and
+surely it was not for her to disturb so salutary an arrangement! But
+yet she was up to bid him Godspeed as he went. She could not
+bear,--so she excused the matter to herself,--she could not bear to
+think that he should regard her as ungrateful. She knew all that he
+had done for them. She had perceived that the taking of the land, the
+building of the sheds, the life which he had contrived in so short a
+time to throw into the old place, had all come from a desire on his
+part to do good to those in whose way he stood by family arrangements
+made almost before his birth; and she longed to say to him one word of
+thanks. And had he not told her,--once in the heat of his
+disappointment; for then at that moment, as Clara had said to
+herself, she supposed that he must have been in some measure
+disappointed,--had he not even then told her that when she wanted a
+brother's care, a brother's care should be given to her by him? Was
+she not therefore bound to do for him what she would do for a
+brother?
+
+She, with her own hands, brought the coffee into the little breakfast
+parlour, and handed the cup into his hands. The gig, which had come
+overnight from Taunton, was not yet at the door, and there was a
+minute or two during which they must speak to each other. Who has not
+seen some such girl when she has come down early, without the full
+completeness of her morning toilet, and yet nicer, fresher, prettier
+to the eye of him who is so favoured, than she has ever been in more
+formal attire? And what man who has been so favoured has not loved
+her who has so favoured him, even though he may not previously have
+been enamoured as deeply as poor Will Belton?
+
+'This is so good of you,' he said.
+
+'I wish I knew how to be good to you,' she answered not meaning to
+trench upon dangerous ground, but feeling, as the words came from
+her, that she had done so. 'You have been so good to us, so very good
+to papa, that we owe you everything. I am so grateful to you for
+saying that you will come back at Christmas.'
+
+He had resolved that he would refrain from further love-making till
+the winter; but he found it very hard to refrain when so addressed.
+To take her in his arms, and kiss her twenty times, and swear that he
+would never let her go to claim her at once savagely as his own, that
+was the line of conduct to which temptation prompted him. How could
+she look at him so sweetly, how could she stand before him,
+ministering to him with all her pretty maidenly charms brought so
+close to him, without intending that he should love her? But he did
+refrain. 'Blood is thicker than water,' said he. 'That's the real
+reason why I first came.'
+
+'I understand that quite, and it is that feeling that makes you so
+good. But I'm afraid you are spending a great deal of money here and
+all for our sakes.'
+
+'Not at all. I shall get my money back again. And if I didn't, what
+then? I've plenty of money. It is not money that I want.'
+
+She could not ask him what it was that he did want, and she was
+obliged therefore to begin again. 'Papa will look forward so to the
+winter now.'
+
+'And so shall I.'
+
+'But you must come for longer then you won't go away at the end of a
+week? Say that you won't.'
+
+'I'll see about it. I can't tell quite yet. You'll write me a line to
+say when the shed is finished, won't you?'
+
+'That I will, and I'll tell you how Bessy goes on.' Bessy was the
+cow. 'I will be so very fond of her. She'll come to me for apples
+already.'
+
+Belton thought that he would go to her, wherever she might be, even
+if he were to get no apples. 'It's all cupboard love with them,' he
+said. 'I'll tell you what I'll do when I come, I'll bring you a dog
+that will follow you without thinking of apples.' Then the gig was
+heard on the gravel before the door, and Belton was forced to go. For
+a moment he reflected whether, as her cousin, it was not his duty to
+kiss her. It was a matter as to which he had doubt as is the case
+with many male cousins; but ultimately he resolved that if he kissed
+her at all he would not kiss her in that light, and so he again
+refrained. 'Goodbye,' he said, putting out his great hand to her.
+
+'Good-bye, Will, and God bless you.' I almost think he might have
+kissed her, asking himself no questions as to the light in which it
+was done.
+
+As he turned from her he saw the tears in her eyes; and as he sat in
+the gig, thinking of them, other tears came into his own. By heaven,
+he would have her yet! He was a man who had not read much of romance.
+To him all the imagined mysteries of passion had not been made common
+by the perusal of legions of love stories but still he knew enough of
+the game to be aware that women had been won in spite, as it were, of
+their own teeth. He knew that he could not now run away with her,
+taking her off by force; but still he might conquer her will by his
+own. As he remembered the tears in her eyes, and the tone of her
+voice, and the pressure of her hand, and the gratitude that had
+become tender in its expression, he could not but think that he would
+be wise to love her still. Wise or foolish, he did love her still;
+and it should not be owing to fault of his if she did not become his
+wife. As he drove along he saw little of the Quantock hills, little
+of the rich Somersetshire pastures, little of the early beauty of the
+August morning. He saw nothing but her eyes, moistened with bright
+tears, and before he reached Taunton he had rebuked himself with many
+revilings in that he had parted from her and not kissed her.
+
+Clara stood at the door watching the gig till it was out of
+sight,--watching it as well as her tears would allow. What a grand
+cousin he was! Had it not been a pity,--a thousand pities,--that
+grievous episode should have come to mar the brotherly love, the
+sisterly confidence, which might otherwise have been so perfect
+between them? But perhaps it might all be well yet. Clara knew, or
+thought that she knew, that men and women differed in their
+appreciation of love. She, having once loved, could not change. Of that
+she was sure. Her love might be fortunate or unfortunate. It might be
+returned, or it might simply be her own, to destroy all hope of
+happiness for her on earth. But whether it were this or that, whether
+productive of good or evil, the love itself could not be changed. But
+with men she thought it might be different. Her cousin, doubtless, had
+been sincere in the full sincerity of his heart when he made his offer.
+And had she accepted it,--had she been able to accept it,--she believed
+that he would have loved her truly and constantly. Such was his nature.
+But she also believed that love with him, unrequited love, would have
+no enduring effect, and that he had already resolved, with equal courage
+and wisdom, to tread this short-lived passion out beneath his feet. One
+night had sufficed to him for that treading out. As she thought of
+this the tears ran plentifully down her cheek; and going again to her
+room she remained there crying till it was time for her to wipe away
+the marks of her weeping, that she might go to her father.
+
+But she was very glad that Will bore it so well very glad! Her cousin
+was safe against love-making once again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ GOES TO PERIVALE
+
+It had been settled for some time past that Miss Amedroz was to go to
+Perivale for a few days in November. Indeed it seemed to be a
+recognized fact in her life that she was to make the journey from
+Belton to Perivale and back very often, as there prevailed an idea
+that she owed a divided duty. This was in some degree hard upon her,
+as she had very little gratification in these visits to her aunt. Had
+there been any intention on the part of Mrs Winterfield to provide
+for her, the thing would have been intelligible according to the
+usual arrangements which are made in the world on such matters; but
+Mrs Winterfield had scarcely a right to call upon her niece for
+dutiful attendance after having settled it with her own conscience
+that her property was all to go to her nephew. But Clara entertained
+no thought of rebelling, and had agreed to make the accustomed
+journey in November, travelling then, as she did on all such journeys,
+at her aunt's expense.
+
+Two things only occurred to disturb her tranquillity before she went,
+and they were not of much violence. Mr Wright, the clergyman, called
+at Belton Castle, and in the course of conversation with Mr Amedroz
+renewed one of those ill-natured rumours which had before been spread
+about Mrs Askerton. Clara did not see him, but she heard an account
+of it all from her father.
+
+'Does it mean, papa,' she said, speaking almost with anger, 'that you
+want me to give up Mrs Askerton?'
+
+'How can you be so unkind as to ask me such a question?' he replied.
+'You know how I hate to be bothered. I tell you what I hear, and then
+you can decide for yourself.'
+
+'But that isn't quite fair either, papa. That that man comes here--'
+
+'That man, as you call him, is the rector of the parish, and I've
+known him for forty years.'
+
+'And have never liked him, papa.'
+
+'I don't know much about liking anybody, my dear. Nobody likes me,
+and so why should I trouble myself?'
+
+'But, papa, it all amounts to this--that somebody has said that the
+Askertons are not Askertons at all, but ought to be called something
+else. Now we know that he served as Captain and Major Askerton for
+seven years in India and in fact it all means nothing. If I know
+anything, I know that he is Colonel Askerton.'
+
+'But do you know that she is his wife? That is what Mr Wright asks. I
+don't say anything. I think it's very indelicate talking about such
+things.'
+
+'If I am asked whether I have seen her marriage certificate,
+certainly I have not; nor probably did you ever do so as to any lady
+that you ever knew. But I know that she is her husband's wife, as we
+all of us know things of that sort. I know she was in India with him.
+I've seen things of hers marked with her name that she has had at
+least ten years.'
+
+'I don't know anything about it, my dear,' said Mr Amedroz, angrily.
+
+'But Mr Wright ought to know something about it before he says such
+things. And then this that he's saying now isn't the same that he
+said before.'
+
+'I don't know what he said before.'
+
+'He said they were both of them using a feigned name.'
+
+'It's nothing to me what name they use. I know I wish they hadn't
+come here, if I'm to be troubled about them in this way first by
+Wright and then by you.'
+
+'They have been very good tenants, papa.'
+
+'You needn't tell me that, Clara, and remind me about the shooting
+when you know how unhappy it makes me.'
+
+After this Clara said nothing more, and simply determined that Mr
+Wright and his gossip should have no effect upon her intimacy with
+Mrs Askerton. But not the less did she continue to remember what her
+cousin had said about Miss Vigo.
+
+And she had been ruffled a second time by certain observations which
+Mrs Askerton made to her respecting her cousin or rather by little
+words which were dropped on various occasions. It was very clear that
+Mrs Askerton did not like Mr Belton, and that she wished to prejudice
+Clara against him. 'It's a pity he shouldn't be a lover of yours,'
+the lady said, 'because it would be such a fine instance of Beauty
+and the Beast.' It will of course be understood that Mrs Askerton had
+never been told of the offer that had been made.
+
+'You don't mean to say that he's not a handsome man,' said Clara.
+
+'I never observe whether a man is handsome or not; but I can see very
+well whether he knows what to do with his arms and legs, or whether
+he has the proper use of his voice before ladies.' Clara remembered a
+word or two spoken by her cousin to herself, in speaking which he had
+seemed to have a very proper use of his voice. 'I know when a man is
+at ease like a gentleman, and when he is awkward like a--'
+
+'Like a what?' said Clara. 'Finish what you've got to say.'
+
+'Like a ploughboy, I was going to say,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I declare I think you have a spite against him, because he said you
+were like some Miss Vigo,' replied Clara, sharply. Mrs Askerton was
+on that occasion silenced, and she said nothing more about Mr Belton
+till after Clara had returned from Perivale.
+
+The journey itself from Belton to Perivale was always a nuisance, and
+was more so now than usual, as it was made in the disagreeable month
+of November. There was kept at the little inn at Redicote an old
+fly-so called which habitually made the journey to the Taunton
+railway-station, under the conduct of an old grey horse and an older
+and greyer driver, whenever any of the old ladies of the
+neighbourhood were minded to leave their homes. This vehicle usually
+travelled at the rate of five miles an hour; but the old grey driver
+was never content to have time allowed to him for the transit
+calculated upon such a rate of speed. Accidents might happen, and why
+should he be made, as he would plaintively ask, to drive the poor
+beast out of its skin? He was consequently always at Belton a full
+hour before the time, and though Clara was well aware of all this,
+she could not help herself. Her father was fussy and impatient, the
+man was fussy and impatient; and there was nothing for her but to go.
+On the present occasion she was taken off in this way the full sixty
+minutes too soon, and after four dreary hours spent upon the road,
+found herself landed at the Taunton station, with a terrible gulf of
+time to be passed before she could again proceed on her journey.
+
+One little accident had occurred to her. The old horse, while
+trotting leisurely along the level high road, had contrived to tumble
+down. Clara did not think very much of this, as the same thing had
+happened with her before; but, even with an hour or more to spare,
+there arises a question whether under such circumstances the train
+can be saved. But the grey old man reassured her. 'Now, miss,' said
+he, coming to the window, while he left his horse recumbent and
+apparently comfortable on the road, 'where'd you have been now, sure,
+if I hadn't a few minutes in hand for you?' Then he walked off to
+some neighbouring cottage, and having obtained assistance, succeeded
+in putting his beast again upon his legs. After that he looked once
+more in at the window. 'Who's right now, I wonder?' he said, with an
+air of triumph. And when he came to her for his guerdon at Taunton,
+he was evidently cross in not having it increased because of the
+accident.
+
+That hour at the Taunton station was terrible to her. I know of no
+hours more terrible than those so passed. The minutes will not go
+away, and utterly fail in making good their claim to be called
+winged. A man walks up and down the platform, and in that way obtains
+something of the advantage of exercise; but a woman finds herself
+bound to sit still within the dreary dullness of the waiting-room.
+There are, perhaps, people who under such circumstances can read, but
+they are few in number. The mind altogether declines to be active,
+whereas the body is seized by a spirit of restlessness to which delay
+and tranquillity are loathsome. The advertisements on the walls are
+examined, the map of some new Eden is studied some Eden in which an
+irregular pond and a church are surrounded by a multiplicity of
+regular villas and shrubs till the student feels that no
+consideration of health or economy would induce him to live there.
+Then the porters come in and out, till each porter has made himself
+odious to the sight. Everything is hideous, dirty, and disagreeable;
+and the mind wanders away, to consider why station-masters do not
+more frequently commit suicide. Clara Amedroz had already got beyond
+this stage, and was beginning to think of herself rather than of the
+station-master, when at last there sounded, close to her ears, the
+bell of promise, and she knew that the train was at hand.
+
+At Taunton there branched away from the main line that line which was
+to take her to Perivale, and therefore she was able to take her own
+place quietly in the carriage when she found that the down-train
+from London was at hand. This she did, and could then watch with
+equanimity, while the travelers from the other train went through the
+penance of changing their seats. But she had not been so watching for
+many seconds when she saw Captain Frederic Aylmer appear upon the
+platform. Immediately she sank back into her corner and watched no
+more. Of course he was going to Perivale; but why had not her aunt
+told her that she was to meet him? Of course she would be staying in
+the same house with him, and her present small attempt to avoid him
+would thus be futile. The attempt was made; but nevertheless she was
+probably pleased when she found that it was made in vain. He came at
+once to the carriage in which she was sitting, and had packed his
+coats, and dressing-bag, and desk about the carriage before he had
+discovered who was his fellow-traveller 'How do you do, Captain
+Aylmer?' she said, as he was about to take his seat.
+
+'Miss Amedroz! Dear me; how very odd! I had not the slightest
+expectation of meeting you here. The pleasure is of course the
+greater.'
+
+'Nor I of seeing you. Mrs Winterfield has not mentioned to me that
+you were coming to Perivale.'
+
+'I didn't know it myself till the day before yesterday. I'm going to
+give an account of my stewardship to the good-natured Perivalians who
+sent me to Parliament. I'm to dine with the Mayor tomorrow, and as
+some big-wig has come in his way who is going to dine with him also,
+the thing has been got up in a hurry. But I'm delighted to find that
+you are to be with us.'
+
+'I generally go to my aunt about this time of the year.'
+
+'It is very good-natured of you.' Then he asked after her father, and
+she told him of Mr Belton's visit, telling him nothing as the reader
+will hardly require to be told of Mr Belton's offer. And so, by
+degrees, they fell into close and intimate conversation.
+
+'I am so glad, for your father's sake!' said the captain, with
+sympathetic voice, speaking still of Mr Belton's visit.
+
+'That's what I feel, of course.'
+
+'I is just as it should be, as he stands in that position to the
+property. And so he is a nice sort of fellow, is he?
+
+'Nice is no word for him. He is perfect!'
+
+'Dear me! This is terrible! You remember that they hated some old
+Greek patriot when they could find no fault in him?'
+
+'I'll defy you to hate my cousin Will.'
+
+'What sort of looking man is he?'
+
+'Extremely handsome at least I should say so.'
+
+'Then I certainly must hate him. And clever?'
+
+'Well not what you would call clever. He is very clever about fields
+and cattle.'
+
+'Come, there is some relief in that.'
+
+'But you must not mistake me. He is clever; and then there's a way
+about him of doing everything just as he likes it, which is
+wonderful. You feel quite sure that he'll become master of
+everything.'
+
+'But I do not feel at all sure that I should like him better for
+that.'
+
+'But he doesn't meddle in things that he doesn't understand. And then
+he is so generous! His spending all that money down there is only
+done because he thinks it will make the place pleasanter to papa.'
+
+'Has he got plenty of money?'
+
+'Oh, plenty! At least, I think so. He says that he has.'
+
+'The idea of any man owning that he had got plenty of money! What a
+happy mortal! And then to be handsome, and omnipotent, and to
+understand cattle and fields! One would strive to emulate him rather
+than envy him, had not one learned to acknowledge that it is not
+given to every one to get to Corinth.'
+
+'You may laugh at him, but you'd like him if you knew him.'
+
+'One never can be sure of that from a lady's account of a man. When a
+man talks to me about another man, I can generally tell whether I
+should like him or not particularly if I know the man well who is
+giving the description; but it is quite different when a woman is the
+describer.'
+
+'You mean that you won't take my word?'
+
+'We see with different eyes in such matters. I have no doubt your
+cousin is a worthy man and as prosperous a gentleman as the Thane of
+Cawdor in his prosperous days but probably if he and I came together
+we shouldn't have a word to say to each other.'
+
+Clara almost hated Captain Aylmer for speaking as he did, and yet she
+knew that it was true. Will Belton was not an educated man, and were
+they two to meet in her presence the captain and the farmer she felt
+that she might have to blush for her cousin. But yet he was the
+better man of the two. She knew that he was the better man of the
+two, though she knew also that she could not love him as she loved
+the other.
+
+Then they changed the subject of their conversation, and discussed
+Mrs Winterfield, as they had often done before. Captain Aylmer had
+said that he should return to London on the Saturday, the present day
+being Tuesday, and Clara accused him of escaping always from the real
+hard work of his position. 'I observe that you never stay a Sunday at
+Perivale,' she said.
+
+'Well not often. Why should I? Sunday is just the day that people
+like to be at home.'
+
+'I should have thought it would not have made much difference to a
+bachelor in that way.'
+
+'But Sunday is a day that one specially likes to pass after one's own
+fashion.'
+
+'Exactly and therefore you don't stay with my aunt. I understand it
+all completely.'
+
+'Now you mean to be ill-natured!'
+
+'I mean to say that I don't like Sundays at Perivale at all, and that
+I should do just as you do if I had the power. But women,--women,
+that is, of my age,--are such slaves! We are forced to give an
+obedience for which we can see no cause, and for which we can
+understand no necessity. I couldn't tell my aunt that I meant to go
+away on Saturday.'
+
+'You have no business which makes imperative calls upon your time.'
+
+'That means that I can't plead pretended excuses. But the true reason
+is that we are dependent.'
+
+'There is something in that, I suppose.'
+
+'Not that I am dependent on her. But my position generally is
+dependent, and I cannot assist myself.'
+
+Captain Aylmer found it difficult to make any answer to this, feeling
+the subject to be one which could hardly be discussed between him and
+Miss Amedroz. He not unnaturally looked to be the heir of his aunt's
+property, and any provision made out of that property for Clara would
+so far lessen that which would come to him. For anything that he
+knew, Mrs Winterfield might leave everything she possessed to her
+niece. The old lady had not been open and candid to him whom she
+meant to favour in her will, as she had been to her to whom no such
+favour was to be shown. But Captain Aylmer did know, with tolerable
+accuracy, what was the state of affairs at Belton, and was aware that
+Miss Amedroz had no prospect of maintenance on which to depend,
+unless she could depend on her aunt. She was now pleading that she
+was not dependent on that lady, and Captain Aylmer felt that she was
+wrong. He was a man of the world, and was by no means inclined to
+abandon any right that was his own; but it seemed to him that he was
+almost bound to say some word to show that in his opinion Clara
+should hold herself bound to comply with her aunt's requirements.
+
+'Dependence is a disagreeable word,' he said; and one never quite
+knows what it means.'
+
+'If you were a woman you'd know. It means that I must stay at
+Perivale on Sundays, while you can go up to London or down to
+Yorkshire. That's what it means.'
+
+'What you do mean, I think, is this that you owe a duty to your aunt,
+the performance of which is not altogether agreeable. Nevertheless it
+would be foolish in you to omit it.'
+
+'It isn't that not that at all. It would not be foolish, not in your
+sense of the word, but it would be wrong. My aunt has been kind to
+me, and therefore I am bound to her for this service. But she is kind
+to you also, and yet you are not bound. That's why I complain. You
+sail always under false pretences, and yet you think you do your
+duty. You have to see your lawyer which means going to your club; or
+to attend to your tenants which means hunting and shooting.'
+
+'I haven't got any tenants.'
+
+'You know very well that you could remain over Sunday without doing
+any harm to anybody only you don't like going to church three times,
+and you don't like hearing my aunt read a sermon afterwards. Why
+shouldn't you stay, and I go to the club?'
+
+'With all my heart, if you can manage it.'
+
+'But I can't; we ain't allowed to have clubs, or shooting, or to have
+our own way in anything, putting forward little pretences about
+lawyers.'
+
+'Come, I'll stay if you'll ask me.'
+
+'I'm sure I won't do that. In the first place you'd go to sleep, and
+then she would be offended; and I don't know that your sufferings
+would make mine any lighter. I'm not prepared to alter the ways of
+the world, but feel myself entitled to grumble at them sometimes.'
+
+Mrs Winterfield inhabited a large brick house in the centre of the
+town. It had a long frontage to the street; for there was not only
+the house itself, with its three square windows on each side of the
+door, and its seven windows over that, and again its seven windows in
+the upper story but the end of the coach-house also abutted on the
+street, on which was the family clock, quite as much respected in
+Perivale as was the town-clock; and between the coach-house and the
+mansion there was the broad entrance into the yard, and the entrance
+also to the back door. No Perivalian ever presumed to doubt that Mrs
+Winterfield's house was the most important house in the town. Nor did
+any stranger doubt it on looking at the frontage. But then it was in
+all respects a town house to the eye that is, an English town house,
+being as ugly and as respectable as unlimited bricks and mortar could
+make it. Immediately opposite to Mrs Winterfield lived the leading
+doctor and a retired builder, so that the lady's eye was not hurt by
+any sign of a shop. The shops, indeed, came within a very few yards
+of her on either side; but as the neighbouring shops on each side
+were her own property, this was not unbearable. To me, had I lived
+there, the incipient growth of grass through some of the stones which
+formed the margin of the road would have been altogether unendurable.
+There is no sign of coming decay which is so melancholy to the eye as
+any which tells of a decrease in the throng of men. Of men or horses
+there was never any throng now in that end of Perivale. That street
+had formed part of the main line of road from Salisbury to Taunton,
+and coaches, wagons, and posting-carriages had been frequent on it;
+but now, alas it was deserted. Even the omnibuses from the
+railway-station never came there unless they were ordered to call at
+Mrs Winterfield's door. For Mrs Winterfield herself, this desolation
+had, I think, a certain melancholy attraction. It suited her tone of
+mind and her religious views that she should be thus daily reminded
+that things of this world were passing away and going to destruction.
+She liked to have ocular proof that grass was growing in the highways
+under mortal feet, and that it was no longer worth man's while to
+renew human flags in human streets. She was drawing near to the
+pavements which would ever be trodden by myriads of bright sandals,
+and which yet would never be worn, and would be carried to those
+jewelled causeways on which no weed could find a spot for its useless
+growth.
+
+Behind the house there was a square prim garden, arranged in
+parallelograms, tree answering to tree at every corner, round which
+it was still her delight to creep when the weather permitted. Poor
+Clara! How much advice she had received during these creepings, and
+how often had she listened to inquiries as to the schooling of the
+gardener's children. Mrs Winterfield was always unhappy about her
+gardener. Serious footmen are very plentiful, and even coachmen are
+to be found who, at a certain rate of extra payment, will be punctual
+at prayer time, and will promise to read good little books; but
+gardeners, as a class, are a profane people, who think themselves
+entitled to claim liberty of conscience, and who will not submit to
+the domestic despotism of a serious Sunday. They live in cottages by
+themselves, and choose to have an opinion of their own on church
+matters. Mrs Winterfield was aware that she ought to bid high for
+such a gardener as she wanted. A man must be paid well who will
+submit to daily inquiries as to the spiritual welfare of himself, his
+wife, and family. But even though she did bid high, and though she
+paid generously, no gardener would stop with her. One conscientious
+man attempted to bargain for freedom from religion during the six
+unimportant days of the week, being strong, and willing therefore to
+give up his day of rest; but such liberty could not be allowed to
+him, and he also went. 'He couldn't stop,' he said, 'in justice to
+the greenhouses, when missus was so constant down upon him about his
+sprittual backsliding. And after all, where did he backslide? It was
+only a pipe of tobacco with the babby in his arms, instead of that
+darned evening lecture.'
+
+Poor Mrs Winterfield! She had been strong in her youth, and had
+herself sat through evening lectures with a fortitude which other
+people cannot attain. And she was strong too in her age, with the
+strength of a martyr, submitting herself with patience to wearinesses
+which are insupportable to those who have none of the martyr spirit.
+The sermons of Perivale were neither bright, nor eloquent, nor
+encouraging. All the old vicar or the young curate could tell she had
+heard hundreds of times. She knew it all by heart, and could have
+preached their sermons to them better than they could preach them to
+her. It was impossible that she could learn anything from them: and
+yet she would sit there thrice a day, suffering from cold in winter,
+from cough in spring, from heat in summer, and from rheumatism in
+autumn; and now that her doctor had forbidden her to go more than
+twice, recommending her to go only once, she really thought that she
+regarded the prohibition as a grievance. Indeed, to such as her, that
+expectation of the jewelled causeway, and of the perfect pavement
+that shall never be worn, must be everything. But if she was
+right--right as to herself and others,--then why has the world been
+made so pleasant? Why is the fruit of the earth so sweet; and the
+trees,--why are they so green; and the mountains so full of glory? Why
+are women so lovely? and why is it that the activity of man's mind is
+the only sure forerunner of man's progress? In listening thrice a day
+to outpourings from the clergyman at Perivale, there certainly was no
+activity of mind.
+
+Now, in these days, Mrs Winterfield was near to her reward. That she
+had ensured that I cannot doubt. She had fed the poor, and filled the
+young full with religious teachings perhaps not wisely, and in her
+own way only too well, but yet as her judgment had directed her. She
+had cared little for herself forgiving injuries done to her, and not
+forgiving those only which she thought were done to the Lord. She had
+lived her life somewhat as the martyr lived, who stood for years on
+his pillar unmoved, while his nails grew through his flesh. So had
+she stood, doing, I fear, but little positive good with her large
+means but thinking nothing of her own comfort here, in comparison
+with the comfort of herself and others in the world to which she was
+going.
+
+On this occasion her nephew and niece reached her together; the prim
+boy, with the white cotton gloves and the low four-wheeled carriage,
+having been sent down to meet Clara. For Mrs Winterfield was a lady
+who thought it unbecoming that her niece though only an adopted niece
+should come to her door in an omnibus. Captain Aylmer had driven the
+four-wheeled carriage from the station, dispossessing the boy, and
+the luggage had been confided to the public conveyance.
+
+'It is very fortunate that you should come together,' said Mrs
+Winterfield. 'I didn't know when to expect you, Fred. Indeed, you
+never say at what hour you'll come.'
+
+'I think it safer to allow myself a little margin, aunt, because one
+has so many things to do.'
+
+'I suppose it is so with a gentleman,' said Mrs Winterfield. After
+which Clara looked at Captain Aylmer, but did not betray any of her
+suspicions. 'But I knew Clara would come by this train,' continued
+the old lady; 'so I sent Tom to meet her. Ladies always can be
+punctual; they can do that at any rate.' Mrs Winterfield was one of
+those women who have always believed that their own sex is in every
+respect inferior to the other.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+CAPTAIN AYLMER MEETS HIS CONSTITUENTS
+
+On the first evening of their visit Captain Aylmer was very attentive
+to his aunt. He was quite alive to the propriety of such attentions,
+and to their expediency; and Clara was amused as she watched him
+while he sat by her side, by the hour together, answering little
+questions and making little remarks suited to the temperament of the
+old lady's mind. She, herself, was hardly called upon to join in the
+conversation on that evening, and as she sat and listened, she could
+not but think that Will Belton would have been less adroit, but that
+he would also have been more straightforward. And yet why should not
+Captain Aylmer talk to his aunt? Will Belton would also have talked to
+his aunt if he had one, but then he would have talked his own talk,
+and not his aunt's talk. Clara could hardly make up her mind whether
+Captain Aylmer was or was not a sincere man. On the following day
+Aylmer was out all the morning, paying visits among his constituents,
+and at three o'clock he was to make his speech in the town-hall.
+Special places in the gallery were to be kept for Mrs Winterfield and
+her niece, and the old woman was quite resolved that she would be
+there. As the day advanced she became very fidgety, and at length she
+was quite alive to the perils of having to climb up the town-hall
+stairs; but she persevered, and at ten minutes before three she was
+seated in her place.
+
+'I suppose they will begin with prayer,' she said to Clara. Clara,
+who knew nothing of the manner in which things were done at such
+meetings, said that she supposed so. A town councillor's wife who sat
+on the other side of Mrs Winterfield here took the liberty of
+explaining that as the captain was going to talk politics there would
+be no prayers. 'But they have prayers in the Houses of Parliament,'
+said Mrs Winterfield, with much anger. To this the town councillor's
+wife, who was almost silenced by the great lady's wrath, said that
+indeed she did not know. After this Mrs Winterfield continued to hope
+for the best, till the platform was filled and the proceedings had
+commenced. Then she declared the present men of Perivale to be a
+godless set, and expressed herself very sorry that her nephew had
+ever had anything to do with them. 'No good can come of it, my dear,'
+she said. Clara from the beginning had feared that no good would come
+of her aunt's visit to the town-hall.
+
+The business was put on foot at once, and with some little
+flourishing at the commencement, Captain Aylmer made his speech;--the
+same speech which we have all heard and read so often, specially
+adapted to the meridian of Perivale. He was a Conservative, and of
+course he told his hearers that a good time was coming; that he and
+his family were really about to buckle themselves to the work, and
+that Perivale would hear things that would surprise it. The malt tax
+was to go, and the farmers were to have free trade in beer,--the
+arguments from the other side having come beautifully round in their
+appointed circle and old England was to be old England once again. He
+did the thing tolerably well, as such gentlemen usually do, and
+Perivale was contented with its Member, with the exception of one
+Perivalian. To Mrs Winterfield, sitting up there and listening with
+all her ears, it seemed that he had hitherto omitted all allusion to
+any subject that was worthy of mention. At last he said some word
+about the marriage and divorce court, condemning the iniquity of the
+present law, to which Perivale had opposed itself violently by
+petition and general meetings; and upon hearing this Mrs Winterfield
+had thumped with her umbrella, and faintly cheered him with her weak
+old voice. But the surrounding Perivalians had heard the cheer, and
+it was repeated backward and forwards through the room, till the
+Member's aunt thought that it might be her nephew's mission to annul
+that godless Act of Parliament and restore the matrimonial bonds of
+England to their old rigidity. When Captain Aylmer came out to hand
+her up to her little carriage, she patted him, and thanked him, and
+encouraged him; and on her way home she congratulated herself to
+Clara that she should have such a nephew to leave behind in her
+place.
+
+Captain Aylmer was dining with the Mayor on that evening, and Mrs
+Winterfield was therefore able to indulge herself in talking about
+him. 'I don't see much of young men, of course,' she said; 'but I do
+not even hear of any that are like him.' Again Clara thought of her
+cousin Will. Will was not at all like Frederic Aylmer; but was he not
+better? And yet, as she thought thus, she remembered that she had
+refused her cousin Will because she loved that very Frederic Aylmer
+whom her mind was thus condemning.
+
+'I'm sure he does his duty as a Member of Parliament very well,' said
+Clara.
+
+'That alone would not be much; but when that is joined to so much
+that is better, it is a great deal. I am told that very few of the
+men in the House now are believers at all.'
+
+'Oh, aunt!'
+
+'It is terrible to think of, my dear.'
+
+'But, aunt; they have to take some oath, or something of that sort,
+to show that they are Christians.'
+
+'Not now, my dear. They've done away with all that since we had Jew
+members. An atheist can go into Parliament now; and I'm told that
+most of them are that, or nearly as bad. I can remember when no
+Papist could sit in Parliament. But they seem to me to be doing away
+with everything. It's a great comfort to me that Frederic is what he
+is.'
+
+'I'm sure it must be, aunt.'
+
+Then there was a pause, during which, however, Mrs Winterfield gave
+no sign that the conversation was to be considered as being over.
+Clara knew her aunt's ways so well, that she was sure something more
+was coming, and therefore waited patiently, without any thought of
+taking up her book. 'I was speaking to him about you yesterday,' Mrs
+Winterfield said at last.
+
+'That would not interest him very much.'
+
+'Why not? Do you suppose he is not interested in those I love?
+Indeed, it did interest him; and he told me what I did not know
+before, and what you ought to have told me.'
+
+Clara now blushed, she knew not why, and became agitated. 'I don't
+know that I have kept anything from you that I ought to have told,'
+she said.
+
+'He says that the provision made for you by your father has all been
+squandered.'
+
+'If he used that word he has been very unkind,' said Clara, angrily.
+
+'I don't know what word he used, but he was not unkind at all; he
+never is. I think he was very generous.
+
+'I do not want his generosity, aunt,'
+
+'That is nonsense, my dear. If he has told me the truth, what have
+you to depend on?'
+
+'I don't want to depend on anything. I hate hearing about it.'
+
+'Clara, I wonder you can talk in that way. If you were only seventeen
+it would be very foolish; but at your age it is inexcusable. When I
+am gone, and your father is gone, who is to provide for you? Will
+your cousin do it Mr Belton, who is to have the property?'
+
+'Yes, he would if I would let him of course I would not let him. But,
+aunt, pray do not go on. I would sooner have to starve than talk
+about it at all.'
+
+There was another pause; but Clara again knew that the conversation
+was not over; and she knew also that it would be vain for her to
+endeavour to begin another subject. Nor could she think of anything
+else to say, so much was she agitated.
+
+'What makes you suppose that Mr Belton would be so liberal?' asked
+Mrs Winterfield.
+
+'I don't know. I can't say. He is the nearest relation I shall have;
+and of all the people I ever knew he is the best, and the most
+generous, and the least selfish. When he came to us papa was quite
+hostile to him disliking his very name; but when the time came, papa
+could not bear to think of his going, because he had been so good.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Well, aunt.'
+
+'I hope you know my affection for you.'
+
+'Of course I do, aunt; and I hope you trust mine for you also.'
+
+'Is there anything between you and Mr Belton besides cousinship?'
+
+'Nothing.'
+
+'Because if I thought that, my trouble would of course be at an end.'
+
+'There is nothing but pray do not lot me be a trouble to you.' Clara,
+for a moment, almost resolved to tell her aunt the whole truth; but
+she remembered that she would be treating her cousin badly if she
+told the story of his rejection.
+
+There was another short period of silence, and then Mrs Winterfield
+went on. 'Frederic thinks that I should make some provision for you
+by will. That, of course, is the same as though he offered to do it
+himself. I told him that it would be so, and I read him my will last
+night. He said that that made no difference, and recommended me to
+add a codicil. I asked him how much I ought to give you, and he said
+fifteen hundred pounds. There will be as much as that after burying
+me without burden to the estate. You must acknowledge that he has
+been very generous.'
+
+But Clara, in her heart, did not at all thank Captain Aylmer for his
+generosity. She would have had everything from him, or nothing. It
+was grievous to her to think that she should owe to him a bare
+pittance to keep her out of the workhouse to him who had twice seemed
+to be on the point of asking her to share everything with him. She
+did not love her cousin Will as she loved him; but her cousin Will's
+assurance to her that he would treat her with a brother's care was
+sweeter to her by far than Frederic Aylmer's well-balanced counsel to
+his aunt on her behalf. In her present mood, too, she wanted no one
+to have forethought for her; she desired no provision; for her, in
+the discomfiture of heart, there was consolation in the feeling that
+when she should find herself alone in the world, she would have been
+ill-treated by her friends all round her. There was a charm in the
+prospect of her desolation of which she did not wish to be robbed by
+the assurance of some seventy pounds a year, to be given to her by
+Captain Frederic Aylmer. To be robbed of one's grievance is the last
+and foulest wrong a wrong under which the most enduring temper will
+at last yield and become soured by which the strongest back will be
+broken. 'Well, my dear,' continued Mrs Winterfield, when Clara made
+no response to this appeal for praise.
+
+'It is so hard for me to say anything about it, aunt. What can I say
+but that I don't want to be a burden to any one?'
+
+'That is a position which very few women can attain, that is, very
+few single women.'
+
+'I think it would be well if all single women were strangled by the
+time they are thirty,' said Clara with a fierce energy which
+absolutely frightened her aunt.
+
+'Clara! how can you say anything so wicked so abominably wicked?'
+
+'Anything would be better than being twitted in this way. How can I
+help it that I am not a man and able to work for my bread? But I am
+not above being a housemaid, and so Captain Aylmer shall find. I'd
+sooner be a housemaid, with nothing but my wages, than take the money
+which you say he is to give me. It will be of no use, aunt, for I
+shall not take it.'
+
+'It is I that am to leave it to you. It is not to be a present from
+Frederic.'
+
+'It is the same thing, aunt. He says you are to do it; and you told
+me just now that it was to come out of his pocket.'
+
+'I should have done it myself long ago, had you told me all the truth
+about your father's affairs.'
+
+'How was I to tell you? I would sooner have bitten my tongue out. But
+I will tell you the truth now. If I had known that all this was to be
+said to me about money, and that our poverty was to be talked over
+between you and Captain Aylmer, I would not have come to Perivale. I
+would rather that you should be angry with me and think that I had
+forgotten you.'
+
+'You would not say that, Clara, if you remembered that this will
+probably be your last visit to me.'
+
+'No, no; it will not be the last. But do not talk about these things.
+And it will be so much better that I should be here when he is not
+here.'
+
+'I had hoped that when I died you might both be with me together as
+husband and wife.'
+
+'Such hopes never come to anything.'
+
+'I still think that he would wish it.'
+
+'That is nonsense, aunt. It is indeed, for neither of us wish it.' A
+lie on such a subject from a woman under such circumstances is hardly
+to be considered a lie at all. It is spoken with no mean object, and
+is the only bulwark which the woman has ready at her need to cover
+her own weakness.
+
+'From what he said yesterday,' continued Mrs Winterfield, 'I think it
+is your own fault.'
+
+'Pray pray do not talk in that way. It cannot be matter of any fault
+that two people do not want to marry each other.'
+
+'Of course I asked him no positive question. It would be indelicate
+even in me to have done that. But he spoke as though he thought very
+highly of you.'
+
+'No doubt he does. And so do I of Mr Possitt.'
+
+'Mr Possitt is a very excellent young man,' said Mrs Winterfield,
+gravely. Mr Possitt was, indeed, her favourite curate of Perivale,
+and always dined at the house on Sundays between services, when Mrs
+Winter-field was very particular in seeing that he took two glasses
+of her best port wine to support him. 'But Mr Possitt has nothing but
+his curacy.'
+
+'There is no danger, aunt, I can assure you.'
+
+'I don't know what you call danger; but Frederic seemed to think that
+you are always sharp with him. You don't want to quarrel with him, I
+hope, because I love him better than any one in the world?'
+
+'Oh, aunt, what cruel things you say to me without thinking of them!'
+
+'I do not mean to be cruel, but I will say nothing more about him. As
+I told you before that I had not thought it expedient to leave away
+any portion of my little property from Frederic believing, as I did
+then, that the money intended for you by your father was still
+remaining it is best that you should now know that I have at last
+learnt the truth, and that I will at once see my lawyer about making
+the change.'
+
+'Dear aunt, of course I thank you.'
+
+'I want no thanks, Clara. I humbly strive to do what I believe to be
+my duty. I have never felt myself to be more than a steward of my
+money. That I have often failed in my stewardship I know well for in
+what duties do we not all fail?' Then she gently laid herself back in
+her arm-chair, closing her eyes, while she kept fast clasped in her
+hands the little book of daily devotion which she had been striving
+to read when the conversation had been commenced. Clara knew then
+that nothing more was to be said, and that she was not at present to
+interrupt her aunt. From her posture, and the closing of her eyelids,
+Mrs Winterfield might have been judged to be asleep; but Clara could
+see the gentle motion of her lips, and was aware that her aunt was
+solacing herself with prayer.
+
+Clara was angry with herself, and angry with all the world. She knew
+that the old lady who was sitting then before her was very good; and
+that all this that had now been said had come from pure goodness, and
+a desire that strict duty might be done; and Clara was angry with
+herself in that she had not been more ready with her thanks and more
+demonstrative with her love and gratitude. Mrs Winterfield was
+affectionate as well as good, and her niece's coldness, as the niece
+well knew, had hurt her sorely. But still what could Clara have done
+or said? She told herself that it was beyond her power to burst out
+into loud praises of Captain Aylmer; and of such nature was the
+gratitude which Mrs Winterfield had desired. She was not grateful to
+Captain Aylmer, and wanted nothing that was to come from his
+generosity. And then her mind went away to that other portion of her
+aunt's discourse. Could it be possible that this man was in truth
+attached to her, and was repelled simply by her own manner? She was
+aware that she had fallen into a habit of fighting with him, of
+sparring against him with words about indifferent things, and calling
+his conduct in question in a manner half playful and half serious.
+Could it be the truth that she was thus robbing herself of that which
+would be to her as to herself she had frankly declared the one
+treasure which she would desire? Twice, as has been said before,
+words had seemed to tremble on his lips which might have settled the
+question for her for ever; and on both occasions, as she knew, she
+herself had helped to laugh off the precious word that had been
+coming. But had he been thoroughly in earnest in earnest as she would
+have him to be no laugh would have deterred him from his purpose.
+Could she have laughed Will Belton out of his declaration?
+
+At last the lips ceased to move, and she knew that her aunt was in
+truth asleep. The poor old lady hardly ever slept at night; but
+nature, claiming something of its due, would give her rest such as
+this in her arm-chair by the fire-side. They were sitting in a large
+double drawing-room upstairs, in which there were, as was customary
+with Mrs Winterfield in winter, two fires; and the candles were in
+the back-room, while the two ladies sat in that looking out into the
+street. This Mrs Winterfield did to save her eyes from the candles,
+and yet to be within reach of light if it were wanted. And Clara also
+sat motionless in the dark, careful not to disturb her aunt, and
+desirous of being with her when she should awake. Captain Aylmer had
+declared his purpose of being home early from the Mayor's dinner, and
+the ladies were to wait for his arrival before tea was brought to
+them. Clara was herself almost asleep when the door was opened, and
+Captain Aylmer entered the room.
+
+'H--sh!' she said, rising gently from her chair, and putting up her
+finger. He saw her by the dull light of the fire, and closed the door
+without a sound. Clara then crept into the back-room and he followed
+her with a noiseless step. 'She did not sleep at all last night,'
+said Clara; 'and now the unusual excitement of the day has fatigued
+her, and I think it is better not to wake her.' The rooms were large,
+and they were able to place themselves at such a distance from the
+sleeper that their low words could hardly disturb her.
+
+'Was she very tired when she got home? 'he asked.
+
+'Not very. She has been talking much since that.'
+
+'Has she spoken about her will to you?'
+
+'Yes she has.'
+
+'I thought she would.' Then he was silent, as though he expected that
+she would speak again on that matter. But she had no wish to discuss
+her aunt's will with him, and therefore, to break the silence, asked
+him some trifling question. 'Are you not home earlier than you
+expected?
+
+'It was very dull, and there was nothing more to be said. I did come
+away early, and perhaps have given affront. I hope you will accept
+the compliment implied.'
+
+'Your aunt will, when she wakes. She will be delighted to find you
+here.'
+
+'I am awake,' said Mrs Winterfield. 'I heard Frederic come in. It is
+very good of him to come so soon. Clara, my dear, we will have tea.'
+
+During tea, Captain Aylmer was called upon to give an account of the
+Mayor's feast how the rector had said grace before dinner, and Mr
+Possitt had done so after dinner, and how the soup had been
+uneatable. 'Dear me!' said Mrs Winterfield. 'And yet his wife was
+housekeeper formerly in a family that lived very well!' The Mrs
+Winterfields of this world allow themselves little spiteful pleasures
+of this kind, repenting of them, no doubt, in those frequent moments
+in which they talk to their friends of their own terrible vilenesses.
+Captain Aylmer then explained that his own health had been drunk, and
+his aunt desired to know whether, in returning thanks, he had been
+able to say anything further against that wicked Divorce Act of
+Parliament. This her nephew was constrained to answer with a
+negative, and so the conversation was carried on till tea was over.
+She was very anxious to hear every word that he could be made to
+utter as to his own doings in Parliament, and as to his doings in
+Perivale, and hung upon him with that wondrous affection which old
+people with warm hearts feel for those whom they have selected as
+their favourites. Clara saw it all, and knew that her aunt was almost
+doting.
+
+'I think I'll go up to bed now, my dears,' said Mrs Winterfield, when
+she had taken her cup of tea. 'I am tired with those weary stairs in
+the Town-hall, and I shall be better in my own room.' Clara offered
+to go with her, but this attendance her aunt declined as she did
+always. So the bell was rung, and the old maid-servant walked off
+with her mistress, and Miss Amedroz and Captain Aylmer were left
+together.
+
+'I don't think she will last long,' said Captain Aylmer, soon after
+the door was closed.
+
+'I should be sorry to believe that; but she is certainly much
+altered.'
+
+'She has great courage to keep her up and a feeling that she should
+not give way, but do her duty to the last. In spite of all that,
+however, I can see how changed she is since the summer. Have you ever
+thought how sad it will be if she should be alone when the day
+comes?'
+
+'She has Martha, who is more to her now than any one else unless it
+is you.'
+
+'You could not remain with her over Christmas, I suppose?'
+
+'Who, I? What would my father do? Papa is as old, or nearly as old,
+as my aunt.'
+
+'But he is strong.'
+
+'He is very lonely. He would be more lonely than she is, for he has
+no such servant as Martha to be with him. Women can do better than
+men, I think, when they come to my aunt's age.'
+
+From this they got into a conversation as to the character of the
+lady with whom they were both so nearly connected, and, in spite of
+all that Clara could do to prevent it, continual references were made
+by Captain Aylmer to her money and will, and the need of an addition
+to that will on Clara's behalf. At last she was driven to speak out.
+'Captain Aylmer,' she said, 'the subject is so distasteful to me,
+that I must ask you not to speak about it.'
+
+'In my position I am driven to think about it.'
+
+'I cannot, of course, help your thoughts; but I can assure you that
+they are unnecessary.'
+
+'It seems to me so hard that there should be such a gulf between you
+and me.' This he said after he had been silent for a while; and as he
+spoke he looked away from her at the fire.
+
+'I don't know that there is any particular gulf,' she replied.
+
+'Yes, there is. And it is you that make it. Whenever I attempt to
+speak to you as a friend you draw yourself off from me, and shut
+yourself up. I know that it is not jealousy.'
+
+'Jealousy, Captain Aylmer!'
+
+'Jealousy with my aunt, I mean.'
+
+'No, indeed.'
+
+'You are infinitely too proud for that; but I am sure that a stranger
+seeing it would think that it was so.'
+
+'I don't know what it is that I do or that I ought not to do. But all
+my life everything that I have done at Perivale has always been
+wrong.'
+
+'It would have been so natural that you and I should be friends.'
+
+'If we are enemies, Captain Aylmer, I don't know it.'
+
+'But if ever I venture to speak of your future life you always repel
+me as though you were determined to let me know that it should not be
+a matter of care to me.'
+
+'That is exactly what I am determined to let you know. You are, or
+will be, a rich man, and you have everything the world can give you.
+I am, or shall be, a very poor woman.'
+
+'Is that a reason why I should not be interested in your welfare?'
+
+'Yes the best reason in the world. We are not related to each other,
+though we have a common connexion in dear Mrs Winterfield. And
+nothing, to my idea, can be more objectionable than any sort of
+dependence from a woman of my age on a man of yours there being no
+real tie of blood between them. I have spoken very plainly, Captain
+Aylmer, for you have made me do it.'
+
+'Very plainly,' he said.
+
+'If I have said anything to offend you, I beg your pardon; but I was
+driven to explain myself.'
+
+Then she got up and took her bed-candle in her hand.
+
+'You have not offended me,' he said, as he also rose.
+
+'Good-night, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+He took her hand and kept it. 'Say that we are friends.'
+
+'Why should we not be friends?'
+
+'There is no reason on my part why we should not be the dearest
+friends,' he said. 'Were it not that I am so utterly without
+encouragement, I should say the very dearest.' He still held her
+hand, and was looking into her face as he spoke. For a moment she
+stood there, bearing his gaze, as though she expected some further
+words to be spoken. Then she withdrew her hand, and again saying, in
+a clear voice, 'Good-night, Captain Aylmer,' she left the room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+CAPTAIN AYLMER'S PROMISE TO HIS AUNT
+
+What had Captain Aylmer meant by telling her that they might be the
+dearest friends by saying so much as that, and then saying no more?
+Of course Clara asked herself that question as soon as she was alone
+in her bedroom, after leaving Captain Aylmer below. And she made two
+answers to herself two answers which were altogether distinct and
+contradictory one of the other. At first she decided that he had said
+so much and no more because he was deceitful because it suited his
+vanity to raise hopes which he had no intention of fulfilling because
+he was fond of saying soft things which were intended to have no
+meaning. This was her first answer to herself. But in her second she
+accused herself as much as before she had accused him. She had been
+cold to him, unfriendly, and harsh. As her aunt had told her, she
+spoke sharp words to him, and repulsed the kindness which he offered
+her. What right had she to expect from him a declaration of love when
+she was studious to stop him at every avenue by which he might
+approach it? A little management on her side would, she almost knew,
+make things right. But then the idea of any such management
+distressed her nay, more, disgusted her. The management, if any were
+necessary, must come from him. And it was manifest enough that if he
+had any strong wishes in this matter he was not a good manager. Her
+cousin, Will Belton, knew how to manage much better.
+
+On the next morning, however, all her thoughts respecting Captain
+Aylmer were dissipated by tidings which Martha brought to her
+bedside. Her aunt was ill. Martha was afraid that her mistress was
+very ill. She did not dare to send specially for the doctor on her
+own responsibility, as Mrs Winterfield had strong and peculiar
+feelings about doctors' visits, and had on this very morning declined
+to be so visited. On the next day the doctor would come in the usual
+course of things, for she had submitted for some years back to such
+periodical visitings; but she had desired that nothing might be done
+out of the common way. Martha, however, declared that if she were
+alone with her mistress the doctor would be sent for; and she now
+petitioned for aid from Clara. Clara was, of course, by her aunt's
+bedside in a few minutes, and in a few minutes more the doctor from
+the other side of the way was there also.
+
+It was ten o'clock before Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz met at
+breakfast, and they had before that been together in Mrs
+Winterfield's room. The doctor had told Captain Aylmer that his aunt
+was very ill very ill, dangerously ill. She had been wrong to go into
+such a place as the cold, unaired Town-hall, and that, too, in the
+month of November; and the fatigue had also been too much for her.
+Mrs Winterfield, too, had admitted to Clara that she know herself to
+be very ill. 'I felt it coming on me last night,' she said, 'when I
+was talking to you; and I felt it still more strongly when I left you
+after tea. I have lived long enough. God's will be done.' At that
+moment, when she said she had lived long enough, she forgot her
+intention with reference to her will. But she remembered it before
+Clara had left the room. 'Tell Frederic', she said, 'to send at once
+for Mr Palmer.' Now Clara knew that Mr Palmer was the attorney, and
+resolved that she would give no such message to Captain Aylmer. But
+Mrs Winterfield sent for her nephew, who had just left her, and
+herself gave her orders to him. In the course of the morning there
+came tidings from the attorney's office that Mr Palmer was away from
+Perivale, that he would be back on the morrow, and that he would of
+course wait on Mrs Winterfield immediately on his return.
+
+Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz discussed nothing but their aunt's
+state of health that morning over the breakfast-table. Of course,
+under such circumstances in the house, there was no further immediate
+reference made to that offer of dearest friendship. It was clear to
+them both that the doctor did not expect that Mrs Winterfield would
+again leave her bed; and it was clear to Clara also that her aunt was
+of the same opinion.
+
+'I shall hardly be able to go home now,' she said.
+
+'It will be kind of you if you can remain.'
+
+'And you?'
+
+'I shall remain over the Sunday. If by that time she is at all
+better, I will run up to town and come down again before the end of
+the week. I know you don't believe it, but a man really has some
+things which he must do.'
+
+'I don't disbelieve you, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'But you must write to me daily if I do go.'
+
+To this Clara made no objection and she must write also to some one
+else. She must let her cousin know how little chance there was that
+she would be at home at Christmas, explaining to him at the same time
+that his visit to her father would on that account be all the more
+welcome.
+
+'Are you going to her now?' he asked, as Clara got up immediately
+after breakfast. 'I shall be in the house all the morning, and if you
+want me you will of course send for me.'
+
+'She may perhaps like to see you.'
+
+'I will come up every now and again. I would remain there altogether,
+only I should be in the way.' Then he got a newspaper and made
+himself comfortable over the fire, while she went up to her weary
+task in her aunt's room.
+
+Neither on that day nor on the next did the lawyer come, and on the
+following morning all earthly troubles were over with Mrs
+Winterfield. It was early on the Sunday morning that she died, and
+late on the Saturday evening Mr Palmer had sent up to say that he had
+been detained at Taunton, but that he would wait on Mrs Winterfield
+early on the Monday morning. On the Friday the poor lady had said
+much on the subject, but had been comforted by an assurance from her
+nephew that the arrangement should be carried out exactly as she
+wished it, whether the codicil was or was not added to the will. To
+Clara she said nothing more on the subject, nor at such a time did
+Captain Aylmer feel that he could offer her any assurance on the
+matter. But Clara knew that the will was not altered; and though at
+the time she was not thinking much about money, she had,
+nevertheless, very clearly made up her own mind as to her own
+conduct. Nothing should induce her to take a present of fifteen
+hundred pounds or, indeed, of as many pence from Captain Aylmer.
+During those hours of sickness in the house they had been much thrown
+together, and no one could have been kinder or more gentle to her
+than he had been. He had come to call her Clara, as people will do
+when joined together in such duties, and had been very pleasant as
+well as affectionate in his manner with her. It had seemed to her
+that he also wished to take upon himself the cares and love of an
+adopted brother. But as an adopted brother she would have nothing to
+do with him. The two men whom she liked best in the world would
+assume each the wrong place; and between them both she felt that she
+would be left friendless.
+
+On the Saturday afternoon they had both surmised how it was going to
+be with Mrs Winterfield, and Captain Aylmer had told Mr Palmer that
+he feared his coming on the Monday would be useless. He explained
+also what was required, and declared that he would be at once ready
+to make good the deficiency in the will Mr Palmer seemed to think
+that this would be better even than the making of a codicil in the
+last moments of the lady's life; and, therefore, he and Captain
+Aylmer were at rest on that subject.
+
+During the greater part of the Saturday night both Clara and Captain
+Aylmer remained with their aunt; and once when the morning was almost
+there, and the last hour was near at hand, she had said a word or two
+which both of them had understood, in which she implored her darling
+Frederic to take a brother's care of Clara Amedroz. Even in that
+moment Clara had repudiated the legacy, feeling sure in her heart
+that Frederic Aylmer was aware what was the nature of the care which
+he ought to owe, if he would consent to owe any care to her. He
+promised his aunt that he would do as she desired him, and it was
+impossible that Clara should then, aloud, repudiate the compact. But
+she said nothing, merely allowing her hand to rest with his beneath
+the thin, dry hand of the dying woman. To her aunt, however, when for
+a moment they were alone together, she showed all possible affection,
+with thanks and tears, and warm kisses, and prayers for forgiveness
+as to all those matters in which she had offended. 'My pretty one my
+dear,' said the old woman, raising her hand on to the head of the
+crouching girl, who was hiding her moist eyes on the bed. Never
+during her life had her aunt appeared to her in so loving a mood as
+now, when she was leaving it. Then, with some eager impassioned
+words, in which she pronounced her ideas of what should be the
+religious duties of a woman, Mrs Winterfield bade farewell to her
+niece. After that, she had a longer interview with her nephew, and
+then it seemed that all worldly cares were over with her.
+
+The Sunday was passed in all that blackness of funeral grief which is
+absolutely necessary on such occasions. It cannot be said that either
+Clara or Captain Aylmer were stricken with any of that agony of woe
+which is produced on us by the death of those whom we have loved so
+well that we cannot bring ourselves to submit to part with them. They
+were both truly sorry for their aunt, in the common parlance of the
+world; but their sorrow was of that modified sort which does not numb
+the heart and make the surviving sufferer feel that there never can
+be a remedy. Nevertheless, it demanded sad countenances, few words,
+and those spoken hardly above a whisper; an absence of all amusement
+and almost of all employment, and a full surrender to the trappings
+of woe. They two were living together without other companion in the
+big house sitting down together to dinner and to tea; but on this day
+hardly a dozen words were spoken between them, and those dozen were
+spoken with no purport. On the Monday Captain Aylmer gave orders for
+the funeral, and then went away to London, undertaking to be back on
+the day before the last ceremony. Clara was rather glad that he
+should be gone, though she feared the solitude of the big house. She
+was glad that he should be gone, as she found it impossible to talk
+to him with ease to herself. She knew that he was about to assume
+some position as protector or quasi guardian over her in conformity
+with her aunt's express wish, and she was quite resolved that she
+would submit to no such guardianship from his hands. That being so,
+the shorter period there might be for any such discussion the better.
+
+The funeral was to take place on the Saturday, and during the four
+days that intervened she received two visits from Mr Possitt. Mr
+Possitt was very discreet in what he said, and Clara was angry with
+herself for not allowing his words to have any avail with her. She
+told herself that they were commonplace; but she told herself, also,
+after his first visit, that she had no right to expect anything else
+but commonplace words. How often are men found who can speak words on
+such occasions that are not commonplaces that really stir the soul,
+and bring true comfort to the listener? The humble listener may
+receive comfort even from commonplace words; but Clara was not
+humble, and rebuked herself for her own pride. On the second occasion
+of his coming she did endeavour to receive him with a meek heart, and
+to accept what he said with an obedient spirit. But the struggle
+within her bosom was hard, and when he bade her to kneel and pray
+with him, she doubted for a moment between rebellion and hypocrisy.
+But she had determined to be meek, and so hypocrisy carried the hour.
+
+What would a clergyman say on such an occasion if the object of his
+solicitude were to decline the offer, remarking that prayer at that
+moment did not seem to be opportune; and that, moreover, he, the
+person thus invited, would like, first of all, to know what was to be
+the special object of the proposed prayer, if he found that he could,
+at the spur of the moment, bring himself at all into a fitting mood
+for the task? Of him who would decline, without argument, the
+clergyman would opine that he was simply a reprobate. Of him who
+would propose to accompany an hypothetical acceptance with certain
+stipulations, he would say to himself that he was a stiff-necked
+wrestler against grace, whose condition was worse than that of the
+reprobate. Men and women, conscious that they will be thus judged,
+submit to the hypocrisy, and go down upon their knees unprepared,
+making no effort, doing nothing while they are there, allowing their
+consciences to be eased if they can only feel themselves numbed into
+some ceremonial awe by the occasion. So it was with Clara, when Mr
+Possitt, with easy piety, went through the formula of his devotion,
+hardly ever having realized to himself the fact that of all works in
+which man can engage himself, that of prayer is the most difficult.
+
+'It is a sad loss to me,' said Mr Possitt, as he sat for half an hour
+with Clara, after she had thus submitted herself. Mr Possitt was a
+weakly, pale-faced little man, who worked so hard in the parish that
+on every day, Sundays included, he went to bed as tired in all his
+bones as a day labourer from the fields 'a very great loss. There are
+not many now who understand what a clergyman has to go through, as
+our dear friend did.' If he was mindful of his two glasses of port
+wine on Sundays, who could blame him?
+
+'She was a very kind woman, Mr Possitt.'
+
+'Yes, indeed and so thoughtful! That she will have an exceeding great
+reward, who can doubt? Since I knew her she always lived as a saint
+upon earth. I suppose there's nothing known as to who will live in
+this house, Miss Amedroz?'
+
+'Nothing I should think.'
+
+'Captain Aylmer won't keep it in his own hands?'
+
+'I cannot tell in the least; but as he is obliged to live in London
+because of Parliament, and goes to Yorkshire always in the autumn, he
+can hardly want it.
+
+'I suppose not. But it will be a sad loss,--a sad loss to have this
+house empty. Ah!--I shall never forget her kindness to me. Do you know,
+Miss Amedroz,'--and as he told his little secret he became beautifully
+confidential;--'do you know, she always used to send me ten guineas at
+Christmas to help me along. She understood, as well as any one, how
+hard it is for a gentleman to live on seventy pounds a year. You will
+not wonder that I should feel that I've had a loss.' It is hard for a
+gentleman to live upon seventy pounds a year; and it is very hard,
+too, for a lady to live upon nothing a year, which lot in life fate
+seemed to have in store for Miss Amedroz.
+
+On the Friday evening Captain Aylmer came back, and Clara was in
+truth glad to see him. Her aunt's death had been now far enough back
+to admit of her telling Martha that she would not dine till Captain
+Aylmer had come, and to allow her to think somewhat of his comfort.
+People must eat and drink even when the grim monarch is in the house;
+and it is a relief when they first dare to do so with some attention
+to the comforts which are ordinarily so important to them. For
+themselves alone women seldom care to exercise much trouble in this
+direction; but the presence of a man at once excuses and renders
+necessary the ceremony of a dinner. So Clara prepared for the
+arrival, and greeted the corner with some returning pleasantness of
+manner. And he, too, was pleasant with her, telling her of his plans,
+and speaking to her as though she were one of those whom it was
+natural that he should endeavour to interest in his future welfare.
+
+'When I come back tomorrow,' he said, 'the will must be opened and
+read. It had better be done here.' They were sitting over the fire in
+the dining-room, after dinner, and Clara knew that the coming back to
+which he alluded was his return from the funeral. But she made no
+answer to this, as she wished to say nothing about her aunt's will.
+'And after that,' he continued, 'you had better let me take you out.'
+
+'I am very well,' she said. 'I do not want any special taking out.'
+
+'But you have been confined to the house a whole week.'
+
+'Women are accustomed to that, and do not feel it as you would.
+However, I will walk with you if you'll take me.'
+
+'Of course I'll take you. And then we must settle our future plans.
+Have you fixed upon any day yet for returning? Of course, the longer
+you stay, the kinder you will be.'
+
+'I can do no good to any one by staying.'
+
+'You do good to me but I suppose I'm nobody. I wish I could tell what
+to do about this house. Dear, good old woman! I know she would have
+wished that I should keep it in my own hands, with some idea of
+living here at some future time but of course I shall never live
+here.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'Would you like it yourself?'
+
+'I am not Member of Parliament for Perivale, and should not be the
+leading person in the town. You would be a sort of king here; and
+then, some day, you will have your mother's property as well as your
+aunt's; and you would be near to your own tenants.'
+
+'But that does not answer my question. Could you bring yourself to
+live here even if it were your own?'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'Because it is so deadly dull because it has no attraction whatever
+because of all lives it is the one you would like the least. No one
+should live in a provincial town but they who make their money by
+doing so.'
+
+'And what are the wives and daughters of such people to do and
+especially their widows? I have no doubt I could live here very
+happily if I had anybody near me that I liked. I should not wish to
+have to depend altogether on Mr Possitt for society.'
+
+'And you would find him about the best.'
+
+'Mr Possitt has been with me twice whilst you were away, and he, too,
+asked what you meant to do about the house.'
+
+'And what did you say?'
+
+'What could I say? Of course I said I did not know. I suppose he was
+meditating whether you would live here and ask him to dinner on
+Sundays!'
+
+'Mr Possitt is a very good sort of man,' said the captain, gravely
+for Captain Aylmer, in the carrying out of his principles, always
+spoke seriously of everything connected with the Church in Perivale.
+
+'And quite worthy to be asked to dinner on Sundays,' said Clara. 'But
+I did not give him any hope. How could I? Of course I knew that you
+would not live here, though I did not tell him so.'
+
+'No; I don't suppose I shall. But I see very plainly that you think I
+ought to do so.'
+
+'I've the old-fashioned idea as to a man's living near to his own
+property; that is all. No doubt it was good for other people in
+Perivale, besides Mr Possitt, that my dear aunt lived here; and if
+the house is shut up, or let to some stranger, they will feel her
+loss the more. But I don't know that you are bound to sacrifice
+yourself to them.'
+
+'If I were to marry,' said Captain Aylmer, very slowly and in a low
+voice, 'of course I should have to think of my wife's wishes.'
+
+'But if your wife, when she accepted you, knew that you were living
+here, she would hardly take upon herself to demand that you should
+give up your residence.'
+
+'She might find it very dull.'
+
+'She would make her own calculations as to that before she accepted
+you.'
+
+'No doubt but I can't fancy any woman taking a man who was tied by
+his leg to Perivale. What do people do who live in Perivale?'
+
+'Earn their bread.'
+
+'Yes that's just what I said. But I shouldn't earn mine here.'
+
+'I have the feeling I spoke of very strongly about papa's place,'
+said Clara, changing the conversation suddenly. 'I very often think
+of the future fate of Belton Castle when papa shall have gone. My
+cousin has got his house at Plaistow, and I don't suppose he'd live
+there.'
+
+'And where will you go?' he asked.
+
+As soon as she had spoken, Clara regretted her own imprudence in
+having ventured to speak upon her own affairs. She had been well
+pleased to hear him talk of his plans, and had been quite resolved
+not to talk of her own. But now, by her own speech, she had set him
+to make inquiries as to her future life. She did not at first answer
+the question; but he repeated it. 'And where will you live yourself?'
+
+'I hope I may not have to think of that for some time to come yet.'
+
+'It is impossible to help thinking of such things.'
+
+'I can assure you that I haven't thought about it; but I suppose I
+shall endeavour to to I don't know what I shall endeavour to do.'
+
+'Will you come and live at Perivale?'
+
+'Why here more than anywhere else?
+
+'In this house I mean.'
+
+'That would suit me admirably would it not? I'm afraid Mr Possitt
+would not find me a good neighbour. To tell the truth, I think that
+any lady who lives here alone ought to be older than I am. The
+Penvalians would not show to a young woman that sort of respect which
+they have always felt for this house.'
+
+'I didn't mean alone,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+Then Clara got up and made some excuse for leaving him, and there was
+nothing more said between them nothing, at least, of moment, on that
+evening. She had become uneasy when he asked her whether she would
+like to live in his house at Perivale. But afterwards, when he
+suggested that she was to have some companion with her there, she
+felt herself compelled to put an end to the conversation. And yet she
+knew that this was always the way, both with him and with herself. He
+would say things which would seem to promise that in another minute
+he would be at her feet, and then he would go no farther. And she,
+when she heard those words though in truth size would have had him at
+her feet if she could would draw away, and recede, and forbid him as
+it were to go on. But Clara continued to make her comparisons, and
+knew well that her cousin Will would have gone on in spite of any
+such forbiddings.
+
+On that night, however, when she was alone, she could console herself
+with thinking how right she had been. In that front bedroom, the door
+of which was opposite to her own, with closed shutters, in the
+terrible solemnity of lifeless humanity, was still lying the body of
+her aunt! What would she have thought of herself if at such a moment
+she could have listened to words of love, and promised herself as a
+wife while such an inmate was in the house? She little knew that he,
+within that same room, had pledged himself, to her who was now lying
+there waiting for her last removal had pledged himself, just seven
+days since, to make the offer which, when he was talking to her, she
+was always half hoping and half fearing!
+
+He could have meant nothing else when he told her that he had not
+intended to suggest that she should live there alone in that great
+house at Perivale. She could not hinder herself from thinking of
+this, unfit as was the present moment for any such thoughts. How was
+it possible that she should not speculate on the subject, let her
+resolutions against any such speculation be ever so strong? She had
+confessed to herself that she loved the man, and what else could she
+wish but that he also should love her? But there came upon her some
+faint suspicion some glimpse of what was almost a dream that he
+might possibly in this matter be guided rather by duty than by love.
+It might be that he would feel himself constrained to offer his hand
+to her constrained by the peculiarity of his position towards her. If
+so should she discover that such were his motives there would be no
+doubt as to the nature of her answer.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+SHOWING HOW CAPTAIN AYLMER KEPT HIS PROMISE
+
+The next day was necessarily very sad. Clara had declared her
+determination to follow her aunt to the churchyard, and did so,
+together with Martha, the old servant. There were three or four
+mourning coaches, as family friends came over from Taunton, one or
+two of whom were to be present at the reading of the will. How
+melancholy was the occasion, and how well the work was done; how
+substantial and yet how solemn was the luncheon, spread after the
+funeral for the gentlemen; and how the will was read, without a word
+of remark, by Mr Palmer, need hardly be told here. The will contained
+certain substantial legacies to servants the amount to that old
+handmaid Martha being so great as to produce a fit of fainting, after
+which the old handmaid declared that if ever there was, by any
+chance, an angel of light upon the earth, it was her late mistress;
+and yet Martha had had her troubles with her mistress; and there was
+a legacy of two hundred pounds to the gentleman who was called upon
+to act as co-executor with Captain Aylmer. Other clause in the will
+there was none, except that one substantial clause which bequeathed
+to her well-beloved nephew, Frederic Folliott Aylmer, everything of
+which the testatrix died possessed. The will had been made at some
+moment in which Clara's spirit of independence had offended her aunt,
+and her name was not mentioned. That nothing should have been left to
+Clara was the one thing that surprised the relatives from Taunton who
+were present. The relatives from Taunton, to give them their due,
+expected nothing for themselves; but as there had been great doubt as
+to the proportions in which the property would be divided between the
+nephew and adopted niece, there was aroused a considerable excitement
+as to the omission of the name of Miss Amedroz an excitement which
+was not altogether unpleasant. When people complain of some cruel
+shame, which does not affect themselves personally, the complaint is
+generally accompanied by an unexpressed and unconscious feeling of
+satisfaction.
+
+On the present occasion, when the will had been read and refolded,
+Captain Aylmer, who was standing on the rug near the fire, spoke a
+few words. His aunt, he said, had desired to add a codicil to the
+will, of the nature of which Mr Palmer was well aware. She had
+expressed her intention to leave fifteen hundred pounds to her niece,
+Miss Amedroz; but death had come upon her too quickly to enable her
+to perform her purpose. Of this intention on the part of Mrs
+Winterfield, Mr Palmer was as well aware as himself; and he mentioned
+the subject now, merely with the object of saying that, as a matter
+of course, the legacy to Miss Amedroz was as good as though the
+codicil had been completed. On such a question as that there could
+arise no question as to legal right; but he understood that the legal
+claim of Miss Amedroz, under such circumstances, was as void as his
+own. It was therefore no affair of generosity on his part. Then there
+was a little buzz of satisfaction on the part of those present, and
+the meeting was broken up.
+
+A certain old Mrs. Folliott, who was cousin to everybody concerned,
+had come over from Taunton to see how things were going. She had
+always been at variance with Mrs Winterfield, being a woman who loved
+cards and supper parties, and who had throughout her life stabled her
+horses in stalls very different to those used by the lady of
+Perivale. Now this Mrs Folliott was the first to tell Clara of the
+will. Clara, of course, was altogether indifferent. She had known for
+months past that her aunt had intended to leave nothing to her, and
+her only hope had been that she might be left free from any
+commiseration or remark on the subject. But Mrs Folliott, with sundry
+shakings of the head, told her how her aunt had omitted to name her
+and then told her also of Captain Aylmer's generosity. 'We all did
+think, my dear,' said Mrs Folliott, 'that she would have done better
+than that for you, or at any rate that she would not have left you
+dependent on him.' Captain Aylmer's horses were also supposed to be
+stabled in strictly Low Church stalls, and were therefore regarded by
+Mrs Folliott with much dislike.
+
+'I and my aunt understood each other perfectly,' said Clara.
+
+'I dare say. But if so, you really were the only person that did
+understand her. No doubt what she did was quite right, seeing that
+she was a saint; but we sinners would have thought it very wicked to
+have made such a will, and then to have trusted to the generosity of
+another person after we were dead.'
+
+'But there is no question of trusting to any one's generosity, Mrs
+Folliott.'
+
+'He need not pay you a shilling, you know, unless he likes it.'
+
+'And he will not be asked to pay me a shilling.'
+
+'I don't suppose he will go back after what he has said publicly.'
+
+'My dear Mrs Folliott,' said Clara earnestly, 'pray do not let us
+talk about it. It is quite unnecessary. I never expected any of my
+aunt's property, and knew all along that it was to go to Captain
+Aylmer,--who, indeed, was Mrs Winterfield's heir naturally. Mrs
+Winterfield was not really my aunt, and I had no claim on her.'
+
+'But everybody understood that she was to provide for you.'
+
+'As I was not one of the everybodies myself, it will not signify.'
+Then Mrs Folliott retreated, having, as she thought, performed her
+duty to Clara, and contented herself henceforth with abusing Mrs
+Winterfield's will in her own social circles at Taunton.
+
+On the evening of that day, when all the visitors were gone and the
+house was again quiet, Captain Aylmer thought it expedient to explain
+to Clara the nature of his aunt's will, and the manner in which she
+would be allowed to inherit under it the amount of money which her
+aunt had intended to bequeath to her. When she became impatient and
+objected to listen to him, he argued with her, pointing out to her
+that this was a matter of business to which it was now absolutely
+necessary that she should attend. 'It may be the case,' he said,
+'and, indeed, I hope it will, that no essential difference will be
+made by it except that it will gratify you to know how careful she
+was of your interests in her last moments. But you are bound in duty
+to learn your own position; and I, as her executor, am bound to
+explain it to you. But perhaps you would rather discuss it with Mr
+Palmer.'
+
+'Oh no save me from that.'
+
+'You must understand, then, that I shall pay over to you the sum of
+fifteen hundred pounds as soon as the will has been proved.'
+
+'I understand nothing of the kind. I know very well that if I were to
+take it, I should be accepting a present from you, and to that I
+cannot consent.'
+
+'But, Clara--'
+
+'It is no good, Captain Aylmer. Though I don't pretend to understand
+much about law, I do know that I can have no claim to anything that
+is not put into the will; and I won't have what I could not claim. My
+mind is quite made up, and I hops I mayn't be annoyed about it.
+Nothing is more disagreeable than having to discuss money matters.'
+
+Perhaps Captain Aylmer thought that the having no money matters to
+discuss might be even more disagreeable. 'Well,' he said, 'I can only
+ask you to consult any friend whom you can trust upon the matter. Ask
+your father, or Mr Belton, and I have no doubt that either of them
+will tell you that you are as much entitled to the legacy as though
+it had been written in the will.'
+
+'On such a matter, Captain Aylmer, I don't want to ask anybody. You
+can't pay me the money unless I choose to take it, and I certainly
+shall not do that.' Upon hearing this he smiled, assuming, as Clara
+fancied that he was sometimes wont to do, a look of quiet
+superiority; and then, for that time, he allowed the subject to be
+dropped between them.
+
+But Clara knew that she must discuss it at length with her father,
+and the fear of that discussion made her unhappy. She had already
+written to say that she would return home on the day but one after
+the funeral, and had told Captain Aylmer of her purpose. So very
+prudent a man as he of course could not think it right that a young
+lady should remain with him, in his house, as his visitor; and to her
+decision on this point he had made no objection. She now heartily
+wished that she had named the day after the funeral, and that she had
+not been deterred by her dislike of making a Sunday journey. She
+dreaded this day, and would have been very thankful if he would have
+left her and gone back to London. But he intended, he said, to remain
+at Perivale throughout the next week, and she must endure the day as
+best she might be able. She wished that it were possible to ask Mr
+Possitt to his accustomed dinner; but she did not dare to make the
+proposition to the master of the house. Though Captain Aylmer had
+declared Mr Possitt to be a very worthy man, Clara surmised that he
+would not be anxious to commence that practice of a Sabbatical dinner
+so soon after his aunt's decease. The day, after all, would be but
+one day, and Clara schooled herself into a resolution to bear it with
+good humour.
+
+Captain Aylmer had made a positive promise to his aunt on her
+deathbed that he would ask Clara Amedroz to be his wife, and he had
+no more idea of breaking his word than he had of resigning the whole
+property which had been left to him. Whether Clara would accept him
+he had much doubt. He was a man by no means brilliant, not naturally
+self-confident, nor was he, perhaps, to be credited with the
+possession of high principles of the finest sort; but he was clever,
+in the ordinary sense of the word, knowing his own interest, knowing,
+too, that that interest depended on other things besides money; and
+ha was a just man, according to the ordinary rules of justice in the
+world. Not for the first time, when he was sitting by the bedside of
+his dying aunt, had he thought of asking Clara to marry him. Though
+he had never hitherto resolved that he would do so though he had
+never till then brought himself absolutely to determine that he would
+take so important a step he had pondered over it often, and was aware
+that he was very fond of Clara. He was, in truth, as much in love
+with her as it was in his nature to be in love. He was not a man to
+break his heart for a girl nor even to make a strong fight for a
+wife, as Belton was prepared to do. If refused once, he might
+probably ask again having some idea that a first refusal was not
+always intended to mean much and he might possibly make a third
+attempt, prompted by some further calculation of the same nature. But
+it might be doubted whether, on the first, second, or third occasion,
+he would throw much passion into his words; and those who knew him
+well would hardly expect to see him die of a broken heart, should he
+ultimately be unsuccessful.
+
+When he had first thought of marrying Miss Amedroz he had imagined
+that she would have shared with him his aunt's property, and indeed
+such had been his belief up to the days of the last illness of Mrs
+Winterfield. The match therefore had recommended itself to him as
+being prudent as well as pleasant; and though his aunt had never
+hitherto pressed the matter upon him, he had understood what her
+wishes were. When she first told him, three or four days before her
+death, that her property was left altogether to him, and then, on
+hearing how totally her niece was without hope of provision from her
+father, had expressed her desire to give a sum of money to Clara, she
+had spoken plainly of her desire but she had not on that occasion
+asked him for any promise. But afterwards, when she knew that she was
+dying, she had questioned him as to his own feelings, and he, in his
+anxiety to gratify her in her last wishes, had given her the promise
+which she was so anxious to hear. He made no difficulty in doing so.
+It was his own wish as well as hers. In a money point of view he
+might no doubt now do better; but then money was not everything. He
+was very fond of Clara, and felt that if she would accept him he
+would be proud of his wife. She was well born and well educated, and
+it was the proper sort of thing for him to do. No doubt he had some
+idea, seeing how things had now arranged themselves, that he would be
+giving much more than he would get; and perhaps the manner of his
+offer might be affected by that consideration; but not on that
+account did he feel at all sure that he would be accepted. Clara
+Amedroz was a proud girl perhaps too proud. Indeed, it was her fault.
+If her pride now interfered with her future fortune in life, it
+should be her fault, not his. He would do his duty to her and to his
+aunt he would do it perseveringly and kindly; and then, if she
+refused him, the fault would not be his.
+
+Such, I think, was the state of Captain Aylmer's mind when he got up
+on the Sunday morning, resolving that he would on that day make good
+his promise. And it must be remembered, on his behalf, that he would
+have prepared himself for his task with more animation if he had
+hitherto received warmer encouragement. He had felt himself to be
+repulsed in the little efforts which he had already made to please
+the lady, and had no idea whatever as to the true state of her
+feelings. Had he known what she knew, he would, I think, have been
+animated enough, and gone to his task as happy and thriving a lover
+as any. But he was a man somewhat diffident of himself, though
+sufficiently conscious of the value of the worldly advantages which
+he possessed and he was, perhaps, a little afraid of Clara, giving
+her credit for an intellect superior to his own.
+
+He had promised to walk with her on the Saturday after the reading of
+the will, intending to take her out through the gardens down to a
+farm, now belonging to himself, which lay at the back of the town,
+and which was held by an old widow who had been senior in life to her
+late landlady; but no such walk had been possible, as it was dark
+before the last of the visitors from Taunton had gone. At breakfast
+on Sunday he again proposed the walk, offering to take her
+immediately after luncheon. 'I suppose you will not go to church?' he
+said.
+
+'Not today. I could hardly bring myself to do it today.'
+
+'I think you are right. I shall go. A man can always do these things
+sooner than a lady can. But you will come out afterwards?' To this
+she assented, and then she was left alone throughout the morning. The
+walk she did not mind. That she and Captain Aylmer should walk
+together was all very well. They might probably have done so had Mrs
+Winterfield been still alive. It was the long evening afterwards that
+she dreaded the long winter evening, in which she would have to sit
+with him as his guest, and with him only. She could not pass these
+hours without talking to him, and she felt that she could not talk to
+him naturally and easily. It would, however, be but for once, and she
+would bear it.
+
+They went together down to the house of Mrs Partridge, the tenant,
+and made their kindly speeches to the old woman. Mrs Partridge
+already knew that Captain Aylmer was to be her landlord, but having
+hitherto seen more of Miss Amedroz than of the captain, and having
+always regarded her landlady's niece as being connected irrevocably
+with the property, she addressed them as though the estate were a
+joint affair.
+
+'I shan't be here to trouble you long that I shan't, Miss Clara,'
+said the old woman.
+
+'I am sure Captain Aylmer would be very sorry to lose you,' replied
+Clara, speaking loud, and close to the poor woman's ear, for she was
+deaf.
+
+'I never looked to live after she was gone, Miss Clara never. No more
+I didn't. Deary deary! And I suppose you'll be living at the big
+house now; won't ye?'
+
+'The big house belongs to Captain Aylmer, Mrs Partridge.' She was
+driven to bawl out her words, and by no means liked the task. Then
+Captain Aylmer said something, but his speech was altogether lost.
+
+'Oh it belongs to the captain, do it? They told me that was the way
+of the will; but I suppose it's all one.'
+
+'Yes; it's all one,' said Captain Aylmer, gaily.
+
+'It's not exactly all one, as you call it,' said Clara, attempting to
+laugh, but still shouting at the top of her voice.
+
+'Ah I don't understand; but I hope you'll both live there together
+and I hope you'll be as good to the poor as she that is gone. Well,
+well; I didn't ever think that I should be still here, while she is
+lying under the stones up in the old church!'
+
+Captain Aylmer had determined that he would ask his question on the
+way back from the farm, and now resolved that he might as well begin
+with some allusion to Mrs Partridge's words about the house. The
+afternoon was bright and cold, and the lane down to the farmhouse had
+been dried by the wind, so that the day was pleasant for walking. 'We
+might as well go on to the bridge,' he said, as they left the
+farm-yard. 'I always think that Perivale church looks better from
+Creevy bridge than any other point.' Perivale church stood high in
+the centre of the town, on an eminence, and was graced with a spire
+which was declared by the Perivalians to be preferable to that of
+Salisbury in proportion, though it was acknowledged to be somewhat
+inferior to it in height. The little river Creevy, which ran through
+a portion of the suburbs of the town, and which, as there seen, was
+hardly more than a ditch, then sloped away behind Creevy Grange, as
+the farm of Mrs Partridge was called, and was crossed by a small
+wooden bridge, from which there was a view, not only of the church,
+but of all that side of the hill on which Mrs Winterfield's large
+brick house stood conspicuously.
+
+So they walked down to Creevy bridge, and, when there, stood leaning
+on the parapet and looking back upon the town.
+
+'How well I know every house and spot in the place as I see them from
+here,' he said.
+
+'A good many of the houses are your own or will be some day; and
+therefore you should know them.'
+
+'I remember, when I used to be here as a boy fishing, I always
+thought Aunt Winterfield's house was the biggest house in the
+county.'
+
+'It can't be nearly so large as your father's house in Yorkshire.'
+
+'No; certainly it is not. Aylmer Park is a large place; but the house
+does not stretch itself out so wide as that; nor does it stand on the
+side of a hill so as to show out its proportions with so much
+ostentation. The coach-house and the stables, and the old brewhouse,
+seem to come half way down the hill. And when I was a boy I had much
+more respect for my aunt's red-brick house in Perivale than I had for
+Aylmer Park.'
+
+'And now it's your own.'
+
+'Yes; now it's my own and all my respect for it is gone. I used to
+think the Creevy the best river in England for fish; but I wouldn't
+give a sixpence now for all the perch I ever caught in it.'
+
+'Perhaps your taste for perch is gone also.'
+
+'Yes; and my taste for jam. I never believed in the store-room at
+Aylmer Park as I did in my aunt's store-room here.'
+
+'I don't doubt but what it is full now.'
+
+'I dare say; but I shall never have the curiosity even to inquire.
+Ah, dear I wish I knew what to do about the house.'
+
+'You won't sell it, I suppose?'
+
+'Not if I could either live in it, or let it. It would be wrong to
+let it stand idle.'
+
+'But you need not decide quite at once.'
+
+'That's just what I want to do. I want to decide at once.'
+
+'Then I'm sure I cannot advise you. It seems to me very unlikely that
+you should come and live here by yourself. It isn't like a
+country-house exactly.'
+
+'I shan't live there by myself certainly. You heard what Mrs
+Partridge said just now.'
+
+'What did Mrs Partridge say?'
+
+'She wanted to know whether it belonged to both of us, and whether it
+was not all one. Shall it be all one, Clara?'
+
+She was leaning over the rail of the bridge as he spoke, with her
+eyes fixed on the slowly moving water. When she heard his words she
+raised her face and looked full upon him. She was in some sort
+prepared for the moment, though it would be untrue to say that she
+had now expected it. Unconsciously she had made some resolve that if
+ever the question were put to her by him, she would not be taken
+altogether off her guard; and now that the question was put to her,
+she was able to maintain her composure. Her first feeling was one of
+triumph as it must be in such a position to any woman who has already
+acknowledged to herself that she loves the man who then asks her to
+be his wife. She looked up into Captain Aylmer's face and his eye
+almost quailed beneath hers. Even should he be triumphant, he was not
+perfectly assured that his triumph would be a success.
+
+'Shall what be all one?' she asked.
+
+'Shall it be in your house and my house? Can you tell me that you
+will love me and be my wife?' Again she looked at him, and he
+repeated his question. 'Clara, can you love me well enough to take me
+for your husband?'
+
+'I can,' she said. Why should she hesitate, and play the coy girl,
+and pretend to any doubts in her mind which did not exist there? She
+did love him, and had so told herself with much earnestness. To him,
+while his words had been doubtful while he had simply played at
+making love to her, she had given no hint of the state of her
+affections. She had so carried herself before him as to make him
+doubt whether success could be possible for him. But now why should
+she hesitate now? It was as she had hoped or as she had hardly dared
+to hope. He did love her. 'I can,' she said; and then, before he
+could speak again, she repeated her words with more emphasis. 'Indeed
+I can; with all my heart.'
+
+As regarded herself, she was quite equal to the occasion; but had she
+known more of the inner feelings of men and women in general, she
+would have been slower to show her own. What is there that any man
+desires any man or any woman that does not lose half its value when
+it is found to be easy of access and easy of possession? Wine is
+valued by its price, not its flavour. Open your doors freely to Jones
+and Smith, and Jones and Smith will not care to enter them. Shut your
+doors obdurately against the same gentlemen, and they will use all
+their little diplomacy to effect an entrance. Captain Aylmer, when he
+heard the hearty tone of the girl's answer, already began almost to
+doubt whether it was wise on his part to devote the innermost bin of
+his cellar to wine that was so cheap.
+
+Not that he had any idea of receding. Principle, if not love,
+prevented that. 'Then the question about the house is decided,' he
+said, giving his hand to Clara as he spoke.
+
+'I don't care a bit about the house now,' she answered.
+
+'That's unkind.'
+
+'I am thinking so much more of you of you and of myself. What does an
+old house matter?'
+
+'It's in very good repair,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'You must not laugh at me,' she said; and in truth he was not
+laughing at her. 'What I mean is that anything about a house is
+indifferent to me now. It is as though I had got all that I want in
+the world. Is it wrong of me to say so?'
+
+'Oh, dear, no not wrong at all. How can it be wrong?' He did not tell
+her that he also had got all he wanted; but his lack of enthusiasm in
+this respect did not surprise her, or at first even vex her. She had
+always known him to be a man careful of his words knowing their value
+not speaking with hurried rashness as would her dear cousin Will. And
+she doubted whether, after all, such hurried words mean as much as
+words which are slower and calmer. After all his heat in love and
+consequent disappointment, Will Belton had left her apparently well
+contented. His fervour had been short-lived. She loved her cousin
+dearly, and was so very glad that his fervour had been short-lived!
+
+'When you asked me, I could but tell you the truth,' she said,
+smiling at him.
+
+The truth is very well, but he would have liked it better had the
+truth come to him by slower degrees. When his aunt had told him to
+marry Clara Amedroz, he had been at once reconciled to the order by a
+feeling on his own part that the conquest of Clara would not be too
+facile. She was a woman of value, not to be snapped up easily or by
+any one. So he had thought then; but he began to fancy now that he
+had been wrong in that opinion.
+
+The walk back to the house was not of itself very exciting, though to
+Clara it was a short period of unalloyed bliss. No doubt had then
+come upon her to cloud her happiness, and she was 'wrapped up in
+measureless content.' It was well that they should both be silent at
+such a moment. Only yesterday had been buried their dear old friend
+the friend who had brought them together, and been so anxious for
+their future happiness! And Clara Amedroz was not a young girl, prone
+to jump out of her shoes with elation because she had got a lover.
+She could be steadily happy without many immediate words about her
+happiness. When they reached the house, and were once more together
+in the drawing-room, she again gave him her hand, and was the first
+to speak. And you; are you contented?' she asked. Who does not know
+the smile of triumph with which a girl asks such a question at such a
+moment as that?
+
+'Contented? well yes; I think I am,' he said.
+
+But even those words did not move her to doubt. 'If you are,' she
+said,' I am. And now I will leave you till dinner, that you may think
+over what you have done.'
+
+'I had thought about it before, you know,' he replied. Then he
+stooped over her and kissed her. It was the first time he had done
+so; but his kiss was as cold and proper as though they had been man
+and wife for years! But it sufficed for her, and she went to her room
+as happy as a queen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MISS AMEDROZ IS TOO CANDID BY HALF
+
+Clara, when she left her accepted lover in the drawing-room and went
+up to her own chamber, had two hours for consideration before she
+would see him again and she had two hours for enjoyment. She was very
+happy. She thoroughly believed in the man who was to be her husband,
+feeling confident that he possessed those qualities which she thought
+to be most necessary for her married happiness. She had quizzed him
+at times, pretending to make it matter of accusation against him that
+his life was not in truth all that his aunt believed it to be but had
+it been more what Mrs Winterfield would have wished, it would have
+been less to Clara's taste. She liked his position in the world; she
+liked the feeling that he was a man of influence; perhaps she liked
+to think that to some extent he was a man of fashion. He was not
+handsome, but he looked always like a gentleman. He was well
+educated, given to reading, prudent, steady in his habits, a man
+likely to rise in the world; and she loved him. I fear the reader by
+this time may have begun to think that her love should never have
+been given to such a man. To this accusation I will make no plea at
+present, but I will ask the complainant whether such men are not
+always loved. Much is said of the rashness of women in giving away
+their hearts wildly; but the charge when made generally is, I think,
+an unjust one. I am more often astonished by the prudence of girls
+than by their recklessness. A woman of thirty will often love well
+and not wisely; but the girls of twenty seem to me to like propriety
+of demeanour, decency of outward life, and a competence. It is, of
+course, good that it should be so; but if it is so, they should not
+also claim a general character for generous and passionate
+indiscretion, asserting as their motto that Love shall still be Lord
+of All. Clara was more than twenty; but she was not yet so far
+advanced in age as to have lost her taste for decency of demeanour
+and propriety of life. A Member of Parliament, with a small house
+near Eaton Square, with a moderate income, and a liking for
+committees, who would write a pamphlet once every two years, and read
+Dante critically during the recess, was, to her, the model for a
+husband. For such a one she would read his blue books, copy his
+pamphlets, and learn his translations by heart. She would be safe in
+the hands of such a man, and would know nothing of the miseries which
+her brother had encountered. Her model may not appear, when thus
+described, to be a very noble one; but I think it is the model most
+approved among ladies of her class in England.
+
+She made up her mind on various points during those two hours of
+solitude. In the first place, she would of course keep her purpose of
+returning home on the following day. It was not probable that Captain
+Aylmer would ask her to change it; but let him ask ever so much it
+must not be changed. She must at once have the pleasure of telling
+her father that all his trouble about her would now be over; and
+then, there was the consideration that her further sojourn in the
+house, with Captain Aylmer as her lover, would hardly be more proper
+than it would have been had he not occupied that position. And what
+was she to say if he pressed her as to the time of their marriage?
+Her aunt's death would of course be a sufficient reason why it should
+be delayed for some few months; and, upon the whole, she thought it
+would be best to postpone it till the next session of Parliament
+should have nearly expired. But she would be prepared to yield to
+Captain Aylmer, should he name any time after Easter. It was clearly
+his intention to keep up the house in Perivale as his country
+residence. She did not like Perivale or the house, but she would say
+nothing against such am arrangement. Indeed, with what face could she
+do so? She was going to bring nothing to the common account
+absolutely nothing but herself! As she thought of this her love grew
+warmer, and she hardly knew how sufficiently to testify to herself
+her own gratitude and affection.
+
+She became conscious, as she was preparing herself for dinner, of
+some special attention to her toilet. She was more than ordinarily
+careful with her hair, and felt herself to be aware of an anxiety to
+look her best. She had now been for some time so accustomed to dress
+herself in black, that in that respect her aunt's death had made no
+difference to her. Deep mourning had ceased from habit to impress her
+with any special feeling of funereal solemnity. But something about
+herself, or in the room, at last struck her with awe, bidding her
+remember how death had of late been busy among those who had been her
+dearest and nearest friends; and she sat down, almost frightened at
+her own heartlessness, in that she was allowing herself to be happy
+at such a time. Her aunt had been carried away to her grave only
+yesterday, and her brother's death had occurred under circumstances
+of peculiar distress within the year and yet she was happy,
+triumphant almost lost in the joy of her own position! She remained
+for a while in her chair, with her black dress hanging across her
+lap, as she argued with herself as to her own state of mind. Was it a
+sign of a hard heart within her, that she could be happy at such a
+time? Ought the memory of her poor brother to have such an effect
+upon her as to make any joy of spirits impossible to her? Should she
+at the present moment be so crushed by her aunt's demise, as to be
+incapable of congratulating herself upon her own success? Should she
+have told him, when he asked her that question upon the bridge, that
+there could be no marrying or giving in marriage between them, no
+talking on such a subject in days so full of sorrow as these? I do
+not know that she quite succeeded in recognizing it as a truth that
+sorrow should be allowed to bar out no joy that it does not bar
+out of absolute necessity by its own weight, without reference
+to conventional ideas; that sorrow should never, under any
+circumstances, be nursed into activity, as though it were a thing in
+itself divine or praiseworthy. I do not know that she followed out
+her arguments till she had taught herself that it is the Love that is
+divine the Love which, when outraged by death or other severance,
+produces that sorrow which man would control if he were strong
+enough, but which he cannot control by reason of the weakness of his
+humanity. I doubt whether so much as this made itself plain to her,
+as she sat there before her toilet table, with her sombre dress
+hanging from her hands on to the ground. But something of the
+strength of such reasoning was hers. Knowing herself to be full of
+joy, she would not struggle to make herself believe that it behoved
+her to be unhappy. She told herself that she was doing what was good
+for others as well as for herself what would be very good for her
+father, and what should be good, if it might be within her power to
+make it so, for him who was to be her husband. The blackness of the
+cloud of her brother's death would never altogether pass away from
+her. It had tended, as she knew well, to make her serious, grave, and
+old, in spite of her own efforts to the contrary. The cloud had been
+so black with her that it had nearly lost for her the prize which was
+now her own. But she told herself that that blackness was an injury
+to her, and not a benefit, and that it had now become a duty to her
+for his sake, if not for her own to dispel its shadows rather than
+encourage them. She would go down to him full of joy, though not full
+of mirth, and would confess to him frankly, that in receiving the
+assurance of his love, she had received everything that had seemed to
+have any value for her in the world.
+
+Hitherto she had been independent she had specially been careful to
+show to him her resolve to be independent of him. Now she would put
+aside all that, and let him know that she recognized in him her lord
+and master as well as husband. To her father had been left no
+strength on which she could lean, and she had been forced therefore
+to trust to her own strength. Now she would be dependent on him who
+was to be her husband. As heretofore she had rejected his offers of
+assistance almost with disdain, so now would she accept them without
+scruple, looking to him to be her guide in all things, putting from
+her that carping spirit in which she had been wont to judge of his
+actions, and believing in him as a wife should believe in her
+husband.
+
+Such were the resolutions which Clara made in the first hour of
+solitude which came to her after her engagement; and they would have
+been wise resolutions but for this flaw that the stronger was
+submitting itself to the weaker, the greater to the less, the more
+honest to the less honest, that which was nearly true to that which
+was in great part false. The theory of man and wife that special
+theory in accordance with which the wife is to bend herself in loving
+submission before her husband is very beautiful; and would be good
+altogether if it could only be arranged that the husband should be
+the stronger and the greater of the two. The theory is based upon
+that hypothesis and the hypothesis sometimes fails of confirmation.
+In ordinary marriages the vessel rights itself, and the stronger and
+the greater takes the lead, whether clothed in petticoats, or in
+coat, waistcoat, and trousers; but there sometimes comes a terrible
+shipwreck, when the woman before marriage has filled herself full
+with ideas of submission, and then finds that her golden-headed god
+has got an iron body and feet of clay.
+
+Captain Aylmer, when he was left alone, had also something to think
+about; and as there were two hours left for such thought before he
+would again meet Clara, and as he had nothing else with which to
+occupy himself during those two hours, he again strolled down to the
+bridge on which he had made his offer. He strolled down there,
+thinking that he was thinking, but hardly giving much mind to his
+thoughts, which he allowed to run away with themselves as they
+listed. Of course he was going to be married. That was a thing
+settled. And he was perfectly satisfied with himself in that he had
+done nothing in a hurry, and could accuse himself of no folly even if
+he had no great cause for triumph. He had been long thinking that he
+should like to have Clara Amedroz for his wife long thinking that he
+would ask her to marry him; and having for months indulged such
+thoughts, he could not take blame to himself for having made to his
+aunt that deathbed promise which she had exacted. At the moment in
+which she asked him the question he was himself anxious to do the
+thing she desired of him. How then could he have refused her? And,
+having given the promise, it was a matter of course with him to
+fulfil it. He was a man who would have never respected himself again
+would have hated himself for ever, had he failed to keep a promise
+from which no living being could absolve him. He had been right
+therefore to make the promise, and having made it, had been right to
+keep it, and to do the thing at once. And Clara was very good and
+very wise, and sometimes looked very well, and would never disgrace
+him; and as she was in worldly matters to receive much and give
+nothing, she would probably be willing to make herself amenable to
+any arrangements as to their future mode of life which he might
+propose. In respect of this matter he was probably thinking of
+lodgings for himself in London during the parliamentary session,
+while she remained alone in the big red house upon which his eyes
+were fixed at the time. There was much of convenience in all this,
+which might perhaps atone to him for the sacrifice which he was
+undoubtedly making of himself. Had marriage simply been of itself a
+thing desirable, he could doubtless have disposed of himself to
+better advantage. His prospects, present fortune, and general
+position were so favourable, that he might have dared to lift his
+expectations, in regard both to wealth and rank, very high. The
+Aylmers were a considerable people, and he, though a younger brother,
+had much more than a younger brother's portion. His seat in
+Parliament was safe; his position in society was excellent and
+secure; he was exactly so placed that marriage with a fortune was the
+only thing wanting to put the finishing coping-stone to his edifice
+that, and perhaps also the useful glory of having some Lady Mary or
+Lady Emily at the top of his table. Lady Emily Aylmer? Yes it would
+have sounded better, and there was a certain Lady Emily who might
+have suited. Now, as some slight regrets stole upon him gently, he
+failed to remember that this Lady Emily had not a shilling in the
+world.
+
+Yes; some faint regrets did steal upon him, though he went on telling
+himself that he had acted rightly. His stars, which were generally
+very good to him, had not perhaps on this occasion been as good as
+usual. No doubt he had to a certain degree become encumbered with
+Clara Amedroz. Had not the direct and immediate leap with which she
+had come into his arms shown him somewhat too plainly that one word
+of his mouth tending towards matrimony had been regarded by her as
+being too valuable to be lost? The fruit that falls easily from the
+tree, though it is ever the best, is never valued by the gardener.
+Let him have well-nigh broken his neck in gathering it, unripe and
+crude, from the small topmost boughs of the branching tree, and the
+pippin will be esteemed by him as invaluable. On that morning, as
+Captain Aylmer had walked home from church, he had doubted much what
+would be Clara's answer to him. Then the pippin was at the end of the
+dangerous bough. Now it had fallen to his feet, and he did not
+scruple to tell himself that it was his and always might have been
+his as a matter of course. Well, the apple had come of a good kind,
+and, though there might be specks upon it, though it might not be fit
+for any special glory of show or pride of place among the dessert
+service, still it should be garnered and used, and no doubt would be
+a very good apple for eating. Having so concluded, Captain Aylmer
+returned to the house, washed his hands, changed his boots, and went
+down to the drawing-room just as dinner was ready.
+
+She came up to him almost radiant with joy, and put her hand upon his
+arm. 'Martha did not know but what you were here,' she said, 'and
+told them to put dinner on the table.'
+
+'I hope I have not kept you waiting.'
+
+'Oh, dear, no. And what if you did? Ladies never care about things
+getting cold. It is gentlemen only who have feelings in such matters
+as that.'
+
+'I don't know that there is much difference; but, however--' Then they
+were in the dining-room, and as the servant remained there during
+dinner, there was nothing in their conversation worth repeating.
+After dinner they still remained down stairs, seating themselves on
+the two sides of the fire, Clara having fully resolved that she would
+not on such an evening as this leave Captain Aylmer to drink his
+glass of port wine by himself.
+
+'I suppose I may stay with you, mayn't I?' she said.
+
+'Oh, dear, yes; I'm sure I'm very much obliged. I'm not at all wedded
+to solitude.' Then there was a slight pause.
+
+'That's lucky,' she said 'as you have made up your mind to be wedded
+in another sort of way.' Her voice as she spoke was very low, but
+there was a gentle ring of restrained joyousness in it which ought to
+have gone at once to his heart and made him supremely blessed for the
+time.
+
+'Well yes,' he answered. 'We are in for it now, both of us are we
+not? I hope you have no misgivings about it, Clara.'
+
+'Who? I? I have misgivings! No, indeed. I have no misgivings,
+Frederic; no doubts, no scruples, no alloy in my happiness. With me
+it is all as I would have it be. Ah; you haven't understood why it
+has been that I have seemed to be harsh to you when we have met.'
+
+'No, I have not,' said he. This was true; but it is true also that it
+would have been well that he should be kept in his ignorance. She was
+minded, however, to tell him everything, and therefore she went on.
+
+'I don't know how to tell you; and yet, circumstanced as we are now,
+it seems that I ought to tell you everything.'
+
+'Yes, certainly; I think that,' said Aylmer. He was one of those men
+who consider themselves entitled to see, hear, and know every little
+detail of a woman's conduct, as a consequence of the circumstances of
+his engagement, and who consider themselves shorn of their privilege
+if anything be kept back. If any gentleman had said a soft word to
+Clara eight years ago, that soft word ought to be repeated to him
+now. I am afraid that these particular gentlemen sometimes hear some
+fibs; and I often wonder that their own early passages in the
+tournays of love do not warn them that it must be so. When James has
+sat deliciously through all the moonlit night with his arm round
+Mary's waist and afterwards sees Mary led to the altar by John, does
+it not occur to him that some John may have also sat with his arm
+round Anna's waist that Anna whom he is leading to the altar? These
+things should not be inquired into too curiously; but the curiosity
+of some men on such matters has no end. For the most part, women like
+telling only they do not choose to be pressed beyond their own modes
+of utterance. 'I should like to know that I have your full
+confidence,' said he.
+
+'You have got my full confidence,' she replied.
+
+'I mean that you should tell me anything that there is to be told.'
+
+'It was only this, that I had learned to love you before I thought
+that my love would be returned.'
+
+'Oh was that it?' said Captain Aylmer, in a tone which seemed to
+imply something like disappointment.
+
+'Yes. Fred; that was It. And how could I, under such circumstances,
+trust myself to be gentle with you, or to look to you for assistance?
+How could I guess then all that I know now?'
+
+'Of course you couldn't.'
+
+'And therefore I was driven to be harsh. My aunt used to speak to me
+about it.'
+
+'I don't wonder at that, for she was very anxious that we should be
+married.'
+
+Clara for a moment felt herself to be uncomfortable as she heard
+these words, half perceiving that they implied some instigation on
+the part of Mrs Winterfield. Could it be that Captain Aylmer's offer
+had been made in obedience to a promise? 'Did you know of her
+anxiety?' she asked.
+
+'Well yes; that is to say, I guessed it. It was natural enough that
+the same idea should come to her and to me too. Of course, seeing us
+so much thrown together, she could not but think of our being married
+as a chance upon the cards.'
+
+'She used to tell me that I was harsh to you abrupt, she called it.
+But what could I do? I'll tell you, Fred, how I first found out that
+I really cared for you. What I tell you now is of course a secret;
+and I should speak of it to no one under any circumstances but those
+which unite us two together. My Cousin Will, when he was at Belton,
+made me an offer.'
+
+'He did, did he? You did not tell me that when you were saying all
+those fine things in his praise in the railway carriage.'
+
+Of course I did not. Why should I? I wasn't bound to tell you my
+secrets then, sir.'
+
+'But did he absolutely offer to you?'
+
+'Is there anything so wonderful in that? But, wonderful or not, he
+did.'
+
+'And you refused him?'
+
+'I refused him certainly.'
+
+'It wouldn't have been a bad match, if all that you say about his
+property is true.'
+
+'If you come to that, it would have been a very good match; and
+perhaps you think I was silly to decline it?'
+
+'I don't say that.'
+
+'Papa thought so but, then, I couldn't tell papa the whole truth, as
+I can tell it to you now, Captain Aylmer. I couldn't tell dear papa
+that my heart was not my own to give to my Cousin Will; nor could I
+give Will any such reason. Poor Will! I could only say to him bluntly
+that I wouldn't have him.'
+
+'And you would, if it hadn't been hadn't been for me.'
+
+'Nay, Fred; there you tax me too far. What might have come of my
+heart if you hadn't fallen in my way, who can say? I love Will Belton
+dearly, and hope that you may do so--'
+
+'I must see him first.'
+
+'Of course;--but, as I was saying, I doubt whether, under any
+circumstances, he would have been the man I should have chosen for a
+husband. But as it was,--it was impossible. Now you know it all, and I
+think that I have been very frank with you.'
+
+'Oh! very frank.' He would not take her little jokes, nor understand
+her little prettinesses. That he was a man not prone to joking she
+knew well, but still it went against the grain with her to find that
+he was so very hard in his replies to her attempts.
+
+It was not easy for Clara to carry on the conversation after this, so
+she proposed that they should go upstairs into the drawing-room. Such
+a change even as that would throw them into a different way of
+talking, and prevent the necessity of any further immediate allusion
+to Will Belton. For Clara was aware, though she hardly knew why, that
+her frankness to her future husband had hardly been successful, and
+she regretted that she had on this occasion mentioned her cousin's
+name. They went upstairs and again sat themselves in chairs over the
+fire; but for a while conversation did not seem to come to them
+freely. Clara felt that it was now Captain Aylmer's turn to begin,
+and Captain Aylmer felt that he wished he could read the newspaper.
+He had nothing in particular that he desired to say to his lady-love.
+That morning, as he was shaving himself, he had something to say that
+was very particular as to which he was at that moment so nervous,
+that he had cut himself slightly through the trembling of his hand.
+But that had now been said, and he was nervous no longer. That had
+now been said, and the thing settled so easily, that he wondered at
+his own nervousness. He did not know that there was anything that
+required much further immediate speech. Clara had thought somewhat of
+the time which might be proposed for their marriage, making some
+little resolves, with which the reader is already acquainted; but no
+ideas of this kind presented themselves to Captain Aylmer. He had
+asked his cousin to be his wife, thereby making good his promise to
+his aunt. There could be no further necessity for pressing haste.
+Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
+
+It is not to be supposed that the thriving lover actually spoke to
+himself in such language as that or that he confessed to himself that
+Clara Amedroz was an evil to him rather than a blessing. But his
+feelings were already so far tending in that direction, that he was
+by no means disposed to make any further promise, or to engage
+himself in closer connexion with matrimony by the mention of any
+special day. Clara, finding that her companion would not talk without
+encouragement from her, had to begin again, and asked all those
+natural questions about his family, his brother, his sister, his home
+habits, and the old house in Yorkshire, the answers to which must be
+so full of interest to her. But even on these subjects he was dry,
+and in-disposed to answer with the full copiousness of free
+communication which she desired. And at last there came a question
+and an answer a word or two on one side, and then a word or two on
+the other, from which Clara got a wound which was very sore to her.
+
+'I have always pictured to myself,' she said 'your mother as a woman
+who has been very handsome.'
+
+'She is still a handsome woman, though she is over sixty.'
+
+'Tall, I suppose?'
+
+'Yes, tall, and with something of of what shall I say dignity, about
+her.'
+
+'She is not grand, I hope?'
+
+'I don't know what you call grand.'
+
+'Not grand in a bad sense I'm sure she is not that. But there are
+some ladies who seem to stand so high above the level of ordinary
+females as to make us who are ordinary quite afraid of them.'
+
+'My mother is certainly not ordinary,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'And I am,' said Clara, laughing. 'I wonder what she'll say to me or,
+rather, what she will think of me.' Then there was a moment's
+silence, after which Clara, still laughing, went on. 'I see, Fred,
+that you have not a word of encouragement to give me about your
+mother.'
+
+'She is rather particular,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+Then Clara drew herself up, and ceased to laugh. She had called
+herself ordinary with that half-insincere depreciation of self which
+is common to all of us when we speak of our own attributes, but which
+we by no means intend that they who hear us shall accept as strictly
+true, or shall re-echo as their own approved opinions. But in this
+instance Captain Aylmer, though he had not quite done that, had done
+almost as bad.
+
+'Then I suppose I had better keep out of her way,' said Clara, by no
+means laughing as she spoke.
+
+'Of course when we are married you must go and see her.'
+
+'You do not, at any rate, promise me a very agreeable visit, Fred.
+But I dare say I shall survive it. After all, it is you that I am to
+marry, and not your mother; and as long as you are not majestic to
+me, I need not care for her majesty.'
+
+'I don't know what you mean by majesty.'
+
+'You must confess that you speak of her as of something very
+terrible.'
+
+'I say that she is particular and so she is. And as my respect for
+her opinion is equal to my affection for her person, I hope that you
+will make a great effort to gain her esteem.'
+
+'I never make any efforts of that kind. If esteem doesn't come
+without efforts it isn't worth having.'
+
+'There I disagree with you altogether but I especially disagree with
+you as you are speaking about my mother, and about a lady who is to
+become your own mother-in-law. I trust that you will make such
+efforts, and that you will make them successfully. Lady Aylmer is not
+a woman who will give you her heart at once, simply because you have
+become her son's wife. She will judge you by your own qualities and
+will not scruple to condemn you should she see cause.'
+
+Then there was a longer silence, and Clara's heart was almost in
+rebellion even on this, the first day of her engagement. But she
+quelled her high spirit, and said no further word about Lady Aylmer.
+Nor did she speak again till she had enabled herself to smile as she
+spoke.
+
+'Well, Fred,' she said, putting her hand upon his arm, 'I'll do my
+best, and woman can do no more. And now I'll say good-night, for I
+must pack for tomorrow's journey before I go to bed.' Then he kissed
+her with a cold, chilling kiss and she left him for the night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ RETURNS HOME
+
+Clara was to start by a train leaving Perivale at eight on the
+following morning, and therefore there was not much time for
+conversation before she went. During the night she had endeavoured so
+to school herself as to banish from her breast all feelings of anger
+against her lover, and of regret as regarded herself. Probably, as
+she told herself, she had made more of what he had said than he had
+intended that she should do; and then, was it not natural that he
+should think much of his mother, and feel anxious as to the way in
+which she might receive his wife. As to that feeling of anger on her
+own part, she did get quit of it; but the regret was not to be so
+easily removed. It was not only what Captain Aylmer had said about
+his mother that clung to her, doing much to quench her joy; but there
+had been a coldness in his tone to her throughout the evening which
+she recognized almost unconsciously, and which made her heart heavy
+in spite of the joy which she repeatedly told herself ought to be her
+own. And she also felt though she was not clearly aware that she did
+so that his manner towards her had become less affectionate, less
+like that of a lover, since the honest tale she had told him of her
+own early love for him. She should have been less honest, and more
+discreet; less bold, and more like in her words to the ordinary run
+of women. She had known this as she was packing last night, and she
+told herself that it was so as she was dressing on this her last
+morning at Perivale. That frankness of hers had not been successful,
+and she regretted that she had not imposed on herself some little
+reticence or even a little of that coy pretence of indifference which
+is so often used by ladies when they are wooed. She had been boldly
+honest, and had found her honesty to be bad policy. She thought, at
+least, that she had found its policy to be bad. Whether in truth it
+may not have been very good have been the best policy in the world
+tending to give her the first true intimation which she had ever yet
+received of the real character of the man who was now so much to her
+that is altogether another question.
+
+But it was clearly her duty to make the best of her present
+circumstances, and she went down-stairs with a smiling face and with
+pleasant words on her tongue. When she entered the breakfast-room
+Captain Aylmer was there; but Martha was there also, and her pleasant
+words were received indifferently in the presence of the servant.
+When the old woman was gone, Captain Aylmer assumed a grave face, and
+began a serious little speech which he had prepared. But he broke
+down in the utterance of it, and was saying things very different
+from what he had intended before he had completed it.
+
+'Clara,' he began, 'what occurred between us yesterday is a source of
+great satisfaction to me.'
+
+'I am glad of that, Frederick,' said she, trying to be a little less
+serious than her lover.
+
+'Of very great satisfaction,' he continued; 'and I cannot but think
+that we were justified by the circumstances of our position in
+forgetting for a time the sad solemnity of the occasion. When I
+remember that it was but the day before yesterday that I followed my
+dear old aunt to the grave, I am astonished to think that yesterday I
+should have made an offer of marriage.'
+
+What could be the good of his talking in this strain? Clara, too, had
+had her own misgivings on the same subject little qualms of
+conscience that had come to her as she remembered her old friend in
+the silent watches of the night; but such thoughts were for the
+silent watches, and not for open expression in the broad daylight.
+But he had paused, and she must say something.
+
+'One's excuse to oneself is this that she would have wished it so.'
+
+'Exactly. She would have wished it. Indeed she did wish it, and
+therefore--' He paused in what he was saying, and felt himself to be
+on difficult ground. Her eye was full upon him, and she waited for a
+moment or two as though expecting that he would finish his words. But
+as he did not go on, she finished them for him.
+
+'And therefore you sacrificed your own feelings.' Her heart was
+becoming sore, and she was unable to restrain the utterance of her
+sarcasm.
+
+'Just so,' said he; 'or, rather, not exactly that. I don't mean that
+I am sacrificed; for, of course, as I have just now said, nothing as
+regards myself can be more satisfactory. But yesterday should have
+been a solemn day to us; and as it was not--'
+
+'I thought it very solemn.'
+
+'What I mean is that I find an excuse in remembering that I was doing
+what she asked me to do.'
+
+'What she asked you to do, Fred?'
+
+'What I had promised, I mean.'
+
+'What you had promised? I did not hear that before.' These last words
+were spoken in a very low voice, but they went direct to Captain
+Aylmer's ears.
+
+'But you have heard me declare,' he said, 'that as regards myself
+nothing could be more satisfactory.'
+
+'Fred,' she said, 'listen to me for a moment. You and I engaged
+ourselves to each other yesterday as man and wife.'
+
+'Of course we did.'
+
+'Listen to me, dear Fred. In doing that there was nothing in my mind
+unbefitting the sadness of the day. Even in death we must think of
+life, and if it were well for you and me that we should be together
+it would surely have been but a foolish ceremony between us to have
+abstained from telling each other that it would be so because my aunt
+had died last week. But it may be, and I think it is the case, that
+the feelings arising from her death have made us both too
+precipitate.'
+
+'I don't understand how that can be.'
+
+'You have been anxious to keep a promise made to her, without
+considering sufficiently whether in doing so you would secure your
+own happiness; and I--'
+
+'I don't know about you, but as regards myself I must be considered
+to be the best judge.'
+
+'And I have been too much in a hurry in believing that which I wished
+to believe.'
+
+'What do you mean by all this, Clara?'
+
+'I mean that our engagement shall be at an end; not necessarily so
+for always. But that as an engagement binding us both, it shall for
+the present cease to exist. You shall be again free--'
+
+'But I don't choose to be free.'
+
+'When you think of it you will find it best that it should be so. You
+have performed your promise honestly, even though at a sacrifice to
+yourself. Luckily for you for both of us, I should say the full truth
+has come out; and we can consider quietly what will be best for us to
+do, independently of that promise. We will part, therefore, as dear
+friends but not as engaged to each other as man and wife.'
+
+'But we are engaged, and I will not hear of its being broken.'
+
+'A lady's word, Fred, is always the most potential before marriage;
+and you must therefore yield to me in this matter. I am sure your
+judgment will approve of my decision when you think of it. There
+shall be no engagement between us. I shall consider myself quite free
+free to do as I please altogether; and you, of course, will be free
+also.'
+
+'If you please, of course it must be so.'
+
+'I do please, Fred.'
+
+'And yesterday, then, is to go for nothing.'
+
+'Not exactly. It cannot go for nothing with me. I told you too many
+of my secrets for that. But nothing that was done or said yesterday
+is to be held as binding upon either of us.'
+
+'And you made up your mind to that last night?'
+
+'It is at any rate made up to that now. Come I shall have to go
+without my breakfast if I do not eat it at once. Will you have your
+tea now, or wait and take it comfortably when I am gone?'
+
+Captain Aylmer breakfasted with her, and took her to the station, and
+saw her off with all possible courtesy and attention, and then he
+walked back by himself to his own great house in Perivale. Not a word
+more had been said between him and Clara as to their engagement, and
+he recognized it as a fact that he was no longer bound to her as her
+future husband. Indeed, he had no power of not recognizing the fact,
+so decided had been her language, and so imperious her manner It had
+been of no avail that he had said that the engagement should stand.
+She had told him that her voice was to be the more potential, and he
+had felt that it was so. Well might it not be best for him that it
+should be so? He had kept his promise to his aunt, and had done all
+that lay in his power to make Clara Amedroz his wife. If she chose to
+rebel against her own good fortune simply because he spoke to her a
+few words which seemed to him to be fitting, might it not be well for
+him to take her at her word?
+
+Such were his first thoughts; but as the day wore on with him,
+something more generous in his nature came to his aid, and something
+also that was akin to real love. Now that she was no longer his own,
+he again felt a desire to have her. Now that there would be again
+something to be done in winning her, he was again stirred by a man's
+desire to do that something. He ought not to have told her of the
+promise. He was aware that what he had said on that point had been
+dropped by him accidentally, and that Clara's resolution after that
+had not been unnatural. He would, therefore, give her another chance,
+and resolved before he went to bed that night that he would allow a
+fortnight to pass away, and would then write to her, renewing his
+offer with all the strongest declarations of affection which he would
+be enabled to make.
+
+Clara on her way home was not well satisfied with herself or with her
+position. She had had great joy, during the few hours of joy which
+had been hers, in thinking of the comfort which her news would give
+to her father. He would be released from all further trouble on her
+account by the tidings which she would convey to him by the tidings
+which she had intended to convey to him. But now the story which she
+would have to tell would by no means be comfortable. She would have
+to explain to him that her aunt had left no provision for her, and
+that would be the beginning and the end of her story. As for those
+conversations about the fifteen hundred pounds of them she would say
+nothing. When she reflected on what had taken place between herself
+and Captain Aylmer she was more resolved than ever that she would not
+touch any portion of that money or of any money that should come from
+him. Nor would she tell her father anything of the marriage
+engagement which had been made on one day and unmade on the next. Why
+should she add to his distress by showing him what good things might
+have been hers had she only had the wit to keep them? No; she would
+tell her father simply of the will, and then comfort him in his
+affliction as best she might.
+
+As regarded her position with Captain Aylmer, the more she thought of
+it the more sure she became that everything was over in that quarter.
+She had, indeed, told him that such need not necessarily be the
+case,--but this she had done in her desire at the moment to mitigate the
+apparent authoritativeness of her own decision, rather than with any
+idea of leaving the matter open for further consideration. She was
+sure that Captain Aylmer would be glad of a means of escape, and that
+he would not again place himself in the jeopardy which the promise
+exacted from him by his aunt had made so nearly fatal to him. And for
+herself, though she still loved the man,--so loved him that she lay
+back in the corner of her carriage weeping behind her veil as she
+thought of what she had lost,--still she would not take him, though he
+should again press his suit upon her with all the ardour at his
+command. No, indeed. No man should ever be made to regard her as a
+burden imposed upon him by an extorted promise! What;--let a man
+sacrifice himself to a sense of duty on her behalf! And then she
+repeated the odious words to herself, till she came to think that it
+had fallen from his lips and not from her own.
+
+In writing to her father from Perivale, she had merely told him of
+Mrs Winterfield's death and of her own intended return. At the
+Taunton station she met the well-known old fly and the well-known old
+driver, and was taken home in the accustomed manner. As she drew
+nearer to Belton the sense of her distress became stronger and
+stronger, till at last she almost feared to meet her father. What
+could she say to him when he should repeat to her, as he would be
+sure to do, his lamentation as to her future poverty?
+
+On arriving at the house she learned that he was upstairs in his
+bedroom. He had been ill, the servant said, and though he was not now
+in bed, he had not come down-stairs. So she ran up to his room, and
+finding him seated in an old arm-chair by the fire-side, knelt down
+at his feet, as she took his hand and asked him as to his health.
+
+'What has Mrs Winterfield done for you in her will?' These were the
+first words he spoke to her.
+
+'Never mind about wills now, papa. I want you to tell me of
+yourself.'
+
+'Nonsense, Clara. Answer my question.'
+
+'Oh, papa, I wish you would not think so much about money for me.'
+
+'Not think about it? Why am I not to think about it? What else have I
+got to think of? Tell me at once, Clara, what she has done. You ought
+to have written to me directly the will was made known.'
+
+There was no help for her, and the terrible word must be spoken. 'She
+has left her property to Captain Aylmer, papa; and I must say that I
+think she is right.'
+
+'You do not mean everything?'
+
+'She has provided for her servants.'
+
+'And has made no provision for you?'
+
+'No, papa.'
+
+'Do you mean to tell me that she has left you nothing, absolutely
+nothing?' The old man's manner was altogether altered as he asked the
+question; and there came over his face so unusual a look of energy,--of
+the energy of anger,--that Clara was frightened, and knew not how to
+answer him with that tone of authority which she was accustomed to
+use when she found it necessary to exercise control over him. 'Do you
+mean to say that there is nothing,--nothing?' And as he repeated the
+question he pushed her away from his knees and stood up with an
+effort, leaning against the back of his chair.
+
+'Dear papa, do not let this distress you.'
+
+'But is it so? Is there in truth nothing?'
+
+'Nothing, papa. Remember that she was not really my aunt.'
+
+'Nonsense, child! nonsense! How can you talk such trash to me as
+that? And then you tell me not to distress myself! I am to know that
+you will be a beggar in a year or two probably in a few months and
+that is not to distress me! She has been a wicked woman!'
+
+'Oh, papa, do not say that.'
+
+'A wicked woman. A very wicked woman. It is always so with those who
+pretend to be more religious than their neighbours. She has been a
+very wicked woman, alluring you into her house with false hopes.'
+
+'No, papa no; I must contradict you. She had given me no grounds for
+such hope.'
+
+'I say she had even though she may not have made a promise. I say she
+had. Did not everybody think that you were to have her money?'
+
+'I don't know what people may have thought. Nobody has had any right
+to think about it at all.'
+
+'That is nonsense, Clara. You know that I expected it that you
+expected it yourself.'
+
+'No no, no!'
+
+'Clara how can you tell me that?'
+
+'Papa, I knew that she intended to leave me nothing. She told me so
+when I was there in the spring.'
+
+'She told you so?'
+
+'Yes, papa. She told me that Frederic Aylmer was to have all her
+property. She explained to me everything that she meant to do, and I
+thought that she was right.'
+
+'And why was not I told when you came home?'
+
+'Dear papa!'
+
+'Dear papa, indeed. What is the meaning of dear papa? Why have I been
+deceived?'
+
+'What good could I do by telling you? You could not change it.'
+
+'You have been very undutiful; and as for her, her wickedness and
+cruelty shock me shock me. They do, indeed. That she should have
+known your position, and had you with her always and then have made
+such a will as that! Quite heartless! She must have been quite
+heartless.'
+
+Clara now began to find that she must in justice to her aunt's memory
+tell her father something more. And yet it would be very difficult to
+tell him anything that would not bring greater affliction upon him,
+and would not also lead her into deeper trouble. Should it come to
+pass that her aunt's intention with reference to the fifteen hundred
+pounds was mentioned, she would be subjected to an endless
+persecution as to the duty of accepting that money from Captain
+Aylmer. But her present feelings would have made her much prefer to
+beg her bread upon the roads than accept her late lover's generosity.
+And then again, how could she explain to her father Mrs Winterfield's
+mistake about her own position without seeming to accuse her father
+of having robbed her? But nevertheless she must say something, as Mr
+Amedroz continued to apply that epithet of heartless to Mrs
+Winterfield, going on with it in a low droning tone, that was more
+injurious to Clara's ears than the first full energy of his anger.
+
+'Heartless quite heartless shockingly heartless shockingly
+heartless!'
+
+'The truth is, papa,' Clara said at last, 'that when my aunt told me
+about her will, she did not know but what I had some adequate
+provision from my own family.'
+
+'Oh, Clara!'
+
+'That is the truth, papa for she explained the whole thing to me. I
+could not tell her that she was mistaken, and thus ask for her
+money.'
+
+'But she knew everything about that poor wretched boy.' And now the
+father dropped back into his chair, and buried his face in his hands.
+
+When he did this Clara again knelt at his feet. She felt that she had
+been cruel, and that she had defended her aunt at the cost of her own
+father. She had, as it were, thrown in his teeth his own imprudence,
+and twitted him with the injuries which he had done to her. 'Papa,'
+she said, 'dear papa, do not think about it at all. What is the use?
+After all, money is not everything. I care nothing for money. If you
+will only agree to banish the subject altogether, we shall be so
+comfortable.'
+
+'How is it to be banished?'
+
+'At any rate we need not speak of it. Why should we talk on a subject
+which is simply uncomfortable, and which we cannot mend?'
+
+'Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!' And now he swayed himself backwards and
+forwards in his chair, bewailing his own condition and hers, and his
+past imprudence, while the tears ran down his checks. She still knelt
+there at his feet, looking up into his face with loving, beseeching
+eyes, praying him to be comforted, and declaring that all would still
+be well if he would only forget the subject, or, at any rate, cease
+to speak of it. But still he went on wailing, complaining of his lot
+as a child complains, and refusing all consolation. 'Yes; I know,'
+said he, 'it has all been my fault. But how could I help it? What was
+I to do?'
+
+'Papa, nobody has said that anything was your fault; nobody has
+thought so.'
+
+'I never spent anything on myself--never, never; and yet,--and
+yet,--and yet--!'
+
+'Look at it with more courage, papa. After all, what harm will it be
+if I should have to go out and earn my own bread like any other young
+woman? I am not afraid.'
+
+At last he wept himself into an apathetic tranquillity, as though he
+had at present no further power for any of the energy of grief; and
+she left him while she went about the house and learned how things
+had gone on during her absence. It seemed, from the tidings which the
+servant gave her, that he had been ill almost since she had been
+gone. He had, at any rate, chosen to take his meals in his own room,
+and as far as was remembered, had not once left the house since she
+had been away. He had on two or three occasions spoken of Mr Belton,
+appearing to be anxious for his coming, and asking questions as to
+the cattle and the work that was still going on about the place; and
+Clara, when she returned to his room, tried to interest him again
+about her cousin. But he had in truth been too much distressed by the
+ill news as to Mrs Winterfield's will to be able to rally himself,
+and the evening that was spent up in his room was very comfortless to
+both of them. Clara had her own sorrows to bear as well as her
+father's, and could take no pleasant look out into the world of her
+own circumstances. She had gained her lover merely to lose him and
+had lost him under circumstances that were very painful to her
+woman's feeling. Though he had been for one night betrothed to her as
+her husband, he had never loved her. He had asked her to be his wife
+simply in fulfilment of a death-bed promise! The more she thought of
+it the more bitter did the idea of it become to her. And she could
+not also but think of her cousin. Poor Will! He, at any rate, had
+loved her, though his eagerness in love had been, as she told
+herself, but short-lived. As she thought of him, it seemed but the
+other day that he had been with her up on the rock in the park but as
+she thought of Captain Aylmer, to whom she had become engaged only
+yesterday, and from whom she had separated herself only that morning,
+she felt that an eternity of time had passed since she had parted
+from him.
+
+On the following day, a dull, dark, melancholy day, towards the end
+of November, she went out to saunter about the park, leaving her
+father still in his bedroom, and after a while made her way down to
+the cottage. She found Mrs Askerton as usual alone in the little
+drawing-room, sitting near the window with a book in her hand; but
+Clara knew at once that her friend had not been reading that she had
+been sitting there looking out upon the clouds, with her mind fixed
+upon things far away. The general cheerfulness of this woman had
+often been cause of wonder to Clara, who knew how many of her hours
+were passed in solitude; but there did occasionally come upon her
+periods of melancholy in which she was unable to act up to the
+settled rule of her life, and in which she would confess that the
+days and weeks and months were too long for her.
+
+'So you are back,' said Mrs Askerton, as soon as the first greeting
+was over.
+
+'Yes; I am back.'
+
+'I supposed you would not stay there long after the funeral.'
+
+'No; what good could I do?'
+
+'And Captain Aylmer is still there, I suppose?'
+
+'I left him at Perivale.'
+
+There was a slight pause, as Mrs Askerton hesitated before she asked
+her next question. 'May I be told anything about the will?' she said.
+
+'The weary will! If you knew how I hated the subject you would not
+ask me. But you must not think I hate it because it has given me
+nothing.'
+
+'Given you nothing?'
+
+'Nothing! But that does not make me hate it. It is the nature of the
+subject that is so odious. I have now told you all everything that
+there is to be told, though we were to talk for a week. If you are
+generous you will not say another word about it.'
+
+'But I am so sorry.'
+
+'There that's it. You won't perceive that the expression of such
+sorrow is a personal injury to me. I don't want you to be sorry.'
+
+'How am I to help it?'
+
+'You need not express it. I don't come pitying you for supposed
+troubles. You have plenty of money; but if you were so poor that you
+could eat nothing but cold mutton, I shouldn't condole with you as to
+the state of your larder. I should pretend to think that poultry and
+piecrust were plentiful with you.'
+
+'No, you wouldn't, dear not if I were as dear to you as you are to
+me.'
+
+'Well, then, be sorry; and let there be an end of it. Remember how
+much of all this I must of necessity have to go through with poor
+papa.'
+
+'Ah, yes; I can believe that.'
+
+'And he is so far from well. Of course you have not seen him since I
+have been gone.'
+
+'No; we never see him unless he comes up to the gate there.' Then
+there was another pause for a moment. And what about Captain Aylmer?'
+asked Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Well what about him?'
+
+'He is the heir now?'
+
+'Yes he is the heir.'
+
+'And that is all?'
+
+'Yes; that is all. What more should there be? The poor old house at
+Perivale will be shut up, I suppose.'
+
+'I don't care about the old house much, as it is not to be your
+house.'
+
+'No it is not to be my house certainly.'
+
+'There were two ways in which it might have become yours.'
+
+'Though there were ten ways, none of those ways have come my way,'
+said Clara.
+
+'Of course I know that you are so close that though there were
+anything to tell you would not tell it.'
+
+'I think I would tell you anything that was proper to be told; but
+now there is nothing proper or improper.'
+
+'Was it proper or improper when Mr Belton made an offer to you as I
+knew he would do of course; as I told you that he would? Was that so
+improper that it could not be told?'
+
+Clara was aware that the tell-tale colour in her face at once took
+from her the possibility of even pretending that the allegation was
+untrue, and that in any answer she might give she must acknowledge
+the fact. 'I do not think,' she said, 'that it is considered fair to
+gentlemen to tell such stories as that.'
+
+'Then I can only say that the young ladies I have known are generally
+very unfair.'
+
+'But who told you?'
+
+'Who told me? My maid. Of course she got it from yours. Those things
+are always known.'
+
+'Poor Will!'
+
+'Poor Will, indeed. He is coming here again, I hear, almost
+immediately, and it needn't be "poor Will" unless you like it. But as
+for me, I am not going to be an advocate in his favour. I tell you
+fairly that I did not like what little I saw of poor Will.'
+
+'I like him of all things.'
+
+'You should teach him to be a little more courteous in his demeanour
+to ladies; that is all. I will tell you something else, too, about
+poor Will but not now. Some other day I will tell you something of
+your Cousin Will.'
+
+Clara did not care to ask any questions as to this something that was
+to be told, and therefore took her leave and went away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MR WILLIAM BELTON TAKES A WALK IN THE COUNTRY
+
+Clara Amedroz had made one great mistake about her cousin, Will
+Belton, when she came to the conclusion that she might accept his
+proffered friendship without any apprehension that the friend would
+become a lover; and she made another, equally great, when she
+convinced herself that his love had been as short-lived as it had
+been eager. Throughout his journey back to Plaistow, he had thought
+of nothing else but his love, and had resolved to persevere, telling
+himself sometimes that he might perhaps be successful, and feeling
+sure at other times that he would encounter renewed sorrow and
+permanent disappointment but equally resolved in either mood that he
+would persevere. Not to persevere in pursuit of any desired object
+let the object be what it might was, to his thinking, unmanly, weak,
+and destructive of self-respect. He would sometimes say of himself,
+joking with other men, that if he did not succeed in this or that
+thing, he could never speak to himself again. To no man did he talk
+of his love in such a strain as this; but there was a woman to whom
+he spoke of it; and though he could not joke on such a matter, the
+purport of what he said showed the same feeling. To be finally
+rejected, and to put up with such rejection, would make him almost
+contemptible in his own eyes.
+
+This woman was his sister, Mary Belton. Something has been already
+said of this lady, which the reader may perhaps remember. She was a
+year or two older than her brother, with whom she always lived, but
+she had none of those properties of youth which belonged to him in
+such abundance. She was, indeed, a poor cripple, unable to walk
+beyond the limits of her own garden, feeble in health, dwarfed in
+stature, robbed of all the ordinary enjoyments of life by physical
+deficiencies, which made even the task of living a burden to her. To
+eat was a pain, or at best a trouble. Sleep would not comfort her in
+bed, and weariness during the day made it necessary that the hours
+passed in bed should be very long. She was one of those whose lot in
+life drives us to marvel at the inequalities of human destiny, and to
+inquire curiously within ourselves whether future compensation is to
+be given.
+
+It is said of those who are small and crooked-backed in their bodies,
+that their minds are equally cross-grained and their tempers as
+ungainly as their stature. But no one had ever said this of Mary
+Belton. Her friends, indeed, were very few in number; but those who
+knew her well loved her as they knew her, and there were three or
+four persons in the world who were ready at all times to swear that
+she was faultless. It was the great happiness of her life that among
+those three or four her own brother was the foremost. Will Belton's
+love for his sister amounted almost to veneration, and his devotion
+to her was so great, that in all the affairs of his life he was
+prepared to make her comfort one of his first considerations. And
+she, knowing this, had come to fear that she might be an embargo on
+his prosperity, and a stumbling-block in the way of his success. It
+had occurred to her that he would have married earlier in life if she
+had not been, as it were, in his way; and she had threatened him
+playfully,--for she could be playful,--that she would leave him if he
+did not soon bring a mistress to Plaistow Hall. 'I will go to uncle
+Robert,' she had said. Now uncle Robert was the clergyman in
+Lincolnshire of whom mention has been made, and he was among those
+two or three who believed in Mary Belton with an implicit faith,--as
+was also his wife. 'I will go to uncle Robert, Will, and then you
+will be driven to get a wife.'
+
+'If my sister ever leaves my house, whether there be a wife in it or
+not,' Will had answered, 'I will never put trust in any woman again.'
+
+Plaistow Manor-house or Hall was a fine brick mansion, built in the
+latter days of Tudor house architecture, with many gables and
+countless high chimneys very picturesque to the eye, but not in all
+respects comfortable as are the modern houses of the well-to-do
+squirearchy of England. And, indeed, it was subject to certain
+objectionable characteristics which in some degree justified the
+scorn which Mr Amedroz intended to throw upon it when he declared it
+to be a farm-house. The gardens belonging to it were large and
+excellent; but they did not surround it, and allowed the farm
+appurtenances to come close up to it on two sides. The door which
+should have been the front door, opening from the largest room in the
+house, which had been the hall and which was now the kitchen, led
+directly into the farm-yard. From the farther end of this farm-yard a
+magnificent avenue of elms stretched across the home pasture down to
+a hedge which crossed it at the bottom. That there had been a road
+through the rows of trees or, in other words, that there had in truth
+been an avenue to the house on that side was, of course, certain. But
+now there was no vestige of such road, and the front entrance to
+Plaistow Hall was by a little path across the garden from a modern
+road which had been made to run cruelly near to the house. Such was
+Plaistow Hall, and such was its mistress. Of the master, the reader,
+I hope, already knows so much as to need no further description.
+
+As Belton drove himself home from the railway station late on that
+August night, he made up his mind that he would tell his sister all
+his story about Clara Amedroz. She had ever wished that he should
+marry, and now he had made his attempt. Little as had been her
+opportunity of learning the ways of men and women from experience in
+society, she had always seemed to him to know exactly what every one
+should do in every position of life. And she would be tender with
+him, giving him comfort even if she could not give him hope. Moreover
+Mary might be trusted with his secret; for Belton felt, as men always
+do feel, a great repugnance to have it supposed that his suit to a
+woman had been rejected. Women, when they have loved in vain, often
+almost wish that their misfortune should be known. They love to
+talk about their wounds mystically,--telling their own tales under
+feigned names, and extracting something of a bitter sweetness out of
+the sadness of their own romance. But a man, when he has been
+rejected,--rejected with a finality that is acknowledged by
+himself,--is unwilling to speak or hear a word upon the subject, and
+would willingly wash the episode out from his heart if it were
+possible.
+
+But not on that his first night would he begin to speak of Clara
+Amedroz. He would not let his sister believe that his heart was too
+full of the subject to allow of his thinking of other matters. Mary
+was still up, waiting for him when he arrived, with tea, and cream,
+and fruit ready for him. 'Oh, Mary!' he said, 'why are you not in
+bed? You know that I would have come to you upstairs.' She excused
+herself, smiling, declaring that she could not deny herself the
+pleasure of being with him for half an hour on his first return from
+his travels. 'Of course I want to know what they are like,' she said.
+
+'He is a nice-looking old man,' said Will 'and she is a nice-looking
+young woman.'
+
+'That is graphic and short, at any rate.'
+
+'And he is weak and silly, but she is strong and--and--and--'
+
+'Not silly also, I hope?'
+
+'Anything but that. I should say she is very clever.'
+
+'I'm afraid you don't like her, Will.'
+
+'Yes, I do.'
+
+'Really?'
+
+'Yes; really.'
+
+'And did she take your coming well?'
+
+'Very well. I think she is much obliged to me for going.'
+
+'And Mr Amedroz?'
+
+'He liked my coming too very much.'
+
+'What after that cold letter?
+
+'Yes, indeed. I shall explain it all by degrees. I have taken a lease
+of all the land, and I'm to go back at Christmas; and as to the old
+gentleman he'd have me live there altogether if I would.'
+
+'Why, Will?'
+
+'Is it not odd? I'm so glad I didn't make up my mind not to go when I
+got that letter. And yet I don't know.' These last words he added
+slowly, and in a low voice, and Mary at once knew that everything was
+not quite as it ought to be.
+
+'Is there anything wrong, Will?'
+
+'No, nothing wrong; that is to say, there is nothing to make me
+regret that I went. I think I did some good to them.'
+
+'It was to do good to them that you went there.'
+
+'They wanted to have some one near them who could be to them as one
+of their own family. He is too old too much worn out to be capable of
+managing things; and the people there were, of course, robbing him. I
+think I have put a stop to that.'
+
+'And you are to go again at Christmas?'
+
+'Yes; they can do without me at my uncle's, and you will be there. I
+have taken the land, and already bought some of the stock for it, and
+am going to buy more.'
+
+'I hope you won't lose money, Will.'
+
+'No not ultimately, that is. I shall get the place in good condition,
+and I shall have paid myself when he goes, in that way, if in no
+other. Besides, what's a little money? I owe it to them for robbing
+her of her inheritance.'
+
+'You do not rob her, Will.'
+
+'It is hard upon her, though.'
+
+'Does she feel it hard?'
+
+'Whatever may be her feelings on such a matter, she is a woman much
+too proud to show them.'
+
+'I wish I knew whether you liked her or not.'
+
+'I do like her I love her better than any one in the world; better
+even than you, Mary; for I have asked her to be my wife.'
+
+'Oh, Will!'
+
+'And she has refused me. Now you know the whole of it the whole
+history of what I have done while I have been away.' And he stood up
+before her, with his thumbs thrust into the arm-holes of his
+waistcoat, with something serious and almost solemn in his gait, in
+spite of a smile which played about his mouth.
+
+'Oh, Will!'
+
+'I meant to have told you, of course, Mary to have told you
+everything; but I did not mean to tell it to-night; only it has
+somehow fallen from me. Out of the full heart the mouth speaks, they
+say.'
+
+'I never can like her if she refuses your love.'
+
+'Why not? That is unlike you, Mary. Why should she be bound to love
+me because I love her?'
+
+'Is there any one else, Will?'
+
+'How can I tell? I did not ask her. I would not have asked her for
+the world, though I would have given the world to know.'
+
+'And she is so very beautiful?'
+
+'Beautiful! It isn't that so much though she is beautiful. But but I
+can't tell you why but she is the only girl that I ever saw who would
+suit me for a wife. Oh, dear!'
+
+'My own Will!'
+
+'But I'm not going to keep you up all night, Mary. And I'll tell you
+something else; I'm not going to break my heart for love. Arid I'll
+tell you something else again; I'm not going to give it up yet. I
+believe I've been a fool. Indeed, I know I've been a fool. I went
+about it just as if I were buying a horse, and had told the seller
+that that was my price he might take it or leave it. What right had I
+to suppose that any girl was to be had in that way; much less such a
+girl as Clara Amedroz?'
+
+'It would have been a great match for her.'
+
+'I'm not so sure of that, Mary. Her education has been different from
+mine, and it may well be that she should marry above me. But I swear
+I will not speak another word to you to-night. Tomorrow, if you're
+well enough, I'll talk to you all day.' Soon after that he did get
+her to go up to her room, though, of course, he broke that oath of
+his as to not speaking another word. After that he walked out by
+moonlight round the house, wandering about the garden and farm-yard,
+and down through the avenue, having in his own mind some pretence of
+the watchfulness of ownership, but thinking little of his property
+and much of his love. Here was a thing that he desired with all his
+heart, but it seemed to be out of his reach absolutely out of his
+reach. He was sick and weary with a feeling of longing sick with that
+covetousness wherewith Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth. What was
+the world to him if he could not have this thing on which he had set
+his heart? He had told his sister that he would not break his heart;
+and so much, he did not doubt, would be true. A man or woman with a
+broken heart was in his estimation a man or woman who should die of
+love; and he did not look for such a fate as that. But he experienced
+the palpable misery of a craving emptiness within his breast, and did
+believe of himself that he never could again be in comfort unless he
+could succeed with Clara Amedroz. He stood leaning against one of the
+trees, striking his hands together, and angry with himself at the
+weakness which had reduced him to such a state. What could any man be
+worth who was so little master of himself as he had now become?
+
+After awhile he made his way back through the farm-yard, and in at
+the kitchen door, which he locked and bolted; and then, throwing
+himself down into a wooden armchair which always stood there, in the
+corner of the huge hearth, he took a short pipe from the mantelpiece,
+filled it with tobacco, and lighting it almost unconsciously, began
+to smoke with vehemence.
+
+Plaistow Hall was already odious to him, and he longed to be back at
+Belton, which he had left only that morning. Yes, on that very
+morning she had brought to him his coffee, looking sweetly into his
+face so sweetly as she ministered to him. And he might then well have
+said one word more in pleading his suit, if he had not been too
+awkward to know what that word should be. And was it not his own
+awkwardness that had brought him to this state of misery? What right
+had he to suppose that any girl should fall in love with such a one
+as he at first sight without a moment's notice to her own heart? And
+then, when he had her there, almost in his arms, why had he let her
+go without kissing her? It seemed to him now that if he might have
+once kissed her, even that would have been a comfort to him in his
+present affliction. 'D----tion!' he said at last, as he jumped to his
+feet and kicked the chair on one side, and threw the pipe among the
+ashes. I trust it will be understood that he addressed himself, and
+not his lady-love, in this uncivil way 'D----tion!' Then when the chair
+had been well kicked out of his way, he took himself up to bed. I
+wonder whether Clara's heart would have been hardened or softened
+towards him had she heard the oath, and understood all the thoughts
+and motives which had produced it.
+
+On the next morning poor Mary Belton was too ill to come down-stairs;
+and as her brother spent his whole day out upon the farm, remaining
+among reapers and wheat stacks till nine o'clock in the evening,
+nothing was said about Clara on that day. Then there came a Sunday,
+and it was a matter of course that the subject of which they both
+were thinking should be discussed. Will went to church, and, as was
+their custom on Sundays, they dined immediately on his return. Then,
+as the afternoon was very warm, he took her out to a favourite seat
+she had in the garden, and it became impossible that they could
+longer abstain.
+
+'And you really mean to go again at Christmas?' she asked.
+
+'Certainly I shall I promised.'
+
+'Then I am sure you will.'
+
+'And I must go from time to time because of the land I have taken.
+Indeed there seems to be an understanding that I am to manage the
+property for Mr Amedroz.'
+
+'And does she wish you to go?'
+
+'Yes she says so.'
+
+'Girls, I believe, think sometimes that men are indifferent in their
+love. They suppose that a man can forget it at once when he is not
+accepted, and that things can go on just as before.'
+
+'I suppose she thinks so of me,' said Belton wofully.
+
+'She must either think that, or else be willing to give herself the
+chance of learning to like you better.'
+
+'There's nothing of that, I'm sure. She's as true as steel.'
+
+'But she would hardly want you to go there unless she thought you
+might overcome either your love or her indifference. She would not
+wish you to be there that you might be miserable.'
+
+'Before I had asked her to be my wife I had promised to be her
+brother. And so I will, if she should ever want a brother. I am not
+going to desert her because she will not do what I want her to do, or
+be what I want her to be. She understands that. There is to be no
+quarrel between us.'
+
+'But she would be heartless if she were to encourage you to be with
+her simply for the assistance you may give her, knowing at the same
+time that you could not be happy in her presence.'
+
+'She is not heartless.'
+
+'Then she must suppose that you are.'
+
+'I dare say she doesn't think that I care much about it. When I told
+her, I did it all of a heap, you see; and I fancy she thought I was
+just mad at the time.'
+
+'And did you speak about it again?'
+
+'No; not a word. I shouldn't wonder if she hadn't forgotten it before
+I went away.'
+
+'That would be impossible.'
+
+'You wouldn't say so if you knew how it was done. It was all over in
+half an hour; and she had given me such an answer that I thought I
+had no right to say anything more about it. The morning when I left
+her she did seem to be kinder.'
+
+'I wish I knew whether she cares for any one else.'
+
+'Ah! I so often think of that. But I couldn't ask her, you know. I
+had no right to pry into her secrets. When I came away, she got up to
+see me off; and I almost felt tempted to carry her into the gig and
+drive her off.'
+
+'I don't think that would have done, Will.'
+
+'I don't suppose anything will do. We all know what happens to the
+child who cries for the top brick of the chimney. The child has to do
+without it. The child goes to bed and forgets it; but I go to bed
+and can't forget it.'
+
+'My poor Will!'
+
+Then he got up and shook himself, and stalked about the garden always
+keeping within a few yards of his sister's chair and carried on a
+strong battle within his breast, struggling to get the better of the
+weakness which his love produced, though resolved that the love
+itself should be maintained.
+
+'I wish it wasn't Sunday,' he said at last, 'because then I could go
+and do something. If I thought that no one would see me, I'd fill a
+dung-cart or two, even though it is Sunday. I'll tell you what I'll
+go and take a walk as far as Denvir Sluice; and I'll be back to tea.
+You won't mind?'
+
+'Denvir Sluice is eight miles off.'
+
+'Exactly I'll be there and back in something over three hours.'
+
+'But, Will there's a broiling sun.'
+
+'It will do me good. Anything that will take something out of me is
+what I want. I know I ought to stay and read to you; but I couldn't
+do it. I've got the fidgets inside, if you know what that means. To
+have the big hay-rick on fire, or something of that sort, is what
+would do me most good.'
+
+Then he started, and did walk to Denvir Sluice and back in three
+hours. The road from Plaistow Hall to Denvir Sluice was not in itself
+interesting. It ran through a perfectly flat country, without a tree.
+For the greater part of the way it was constructed on the top of a
+great bank by the side of a broad dike, and for five miles its course
+was straight as a line. A country walk less picturesque could hardly
+be found in England. The road, too, was very dusty, and the sun was
+hot above Belton's head as he walked. But nevertheless, he
+persevered, going on till he struck his stick against the waterfall
+which was called Denvir Sluice, and then returned not once slackening
+his pace, and doing the whole distance at a rate somewhat above five
+miles an hour. They used to say in the nursery that cold pudding is
+good to settle a man's love; but the receipt which Belton tried was a
+walk of sixteen miles, along a dusty road, after dinner, in the
+middle of an August day.
+
+I think it did him some good. When he got back he took a long draught
+of home-brewed beer, and then went up stairs to dress himself.
+
+'What a state you are in,' Mary said to him when he showed himself
+for a moment in the sitting-room.
+
+'I did it from milestone to milestone in eleven minutes, backwards
+and forwards, all along the five-mile reach.'
+
+Then Mary knew from his answer that the exercise had been of service
+to him, perceiving that he had been able to take an interest in his
+own prowess as a walker.
+
+'I only hope you won't have a fever,' she said.
+
+'The people who stand still are they who get fevers,' he answered.
+'Hard work never does harm to any one. If John Bowden would walk his
+five miles an hour on a Sunday afternoon he wouldn't have the gout so
+often.'
+
+John Bowden was a neighbour in the next parish, and Mary was
+delighted to find that her brother could take a pride in his
+performance.
+
+By degrees Miss Belton began to know with some accuracy the way in
+which Will had managed his affairs at Belton Castle, and was enabled
+to give him salutary advice.
+
+'You see, Will,' she said, 'ladies are different from men in this,
+that they cannot allow themselves to be in love so suddenly.'
+
+'I don't see how a person is to help it. It isn't like jumping into a
+river, which a person can do or not, just as he pleases.'
+
+'But I fancy it is something like jumping into a river, and that a
+person can help it. What the person can't help is being in when the
+plunge has once been made.'
+
+'No, by George! There's no getting out of that river.'
+
+'And ladies don't take the plunge till they've had time to think what
+may come after it. Perhaps you were a little too sudden with our
+Cousin Clara?'
+
+'Of course I was. Of course I was a fool, and a brute too.'
+
+'I know you were not a brute, and I don't think you were a fool; but
+yet you were too sudden. You see a lady cannot always make up her
+mind to love a man, merely because she is asked all in a moment. She
+should have a little time to think about it before she is called upon
+for an answer.'
+
+'And I didn't give her two minutes.'
+
+'You never do give two minutes to anyone do you, Will? But you'll be
+back there at Christmas, and then she will have had time to turn it
+over in her mind.'
+
+'And you think that I may have a chance?'
+
+'Certainly you may have a chance.'
+
+'Although she was so sure about it?'
+
+'She spoke of her own mind and her own heart as she knew them then.
+But it depends chiefly on this, Will whether there is any one else.
+For anything we know, she may be engaged now.'
+
+'Of course she may.' Then Belton speculated on the extreme
+probability of such a contingency; arguing within his own heart that
+of course every unmarried man who might see Clara would want to marry
+her, and that there could not but be some one whom even she would be
+able to love.
+
+When he had been home about a fortnight, there came a letter to him
+from Clara, which was a great treasure to him. In truth, it simply
+told him of the completion of the cattle-shed, of her father's
+health, and of the milk which the little cow gave; but she signed
+herself his affectionate cousin, and the letter was very gratifying
+to him. There were two lines of a postscript, which could not but
+flatter him: 'Papa is so anxious for Christmas, that you may be here
+again and so, indeed, am I also.' Of course it will be understood
+that this was written before Clara's visit to Perivale, and before
+Mrs Winterfield's death. Indeed, much happened in Clara's history
+between the writing of that letter and Will Belton's winter visit to
+the Castle.
+
+But Christmas came at last, all too slowly for Will and he started on
+his journey. On this occasion he arranged to stay a week in London,
+having a lawyer there whom he desired to see; and thinking, perhaps,
+that a short time spent among the theatres might assist him in his
+love troubles.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MR WILLIAM BELTON TAKES A WALK IN LONDON
+
+At the time of my story there was a certain Mr Green, a worthy
+attorney, who held chambers in Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, much
+to the profit of himself and family and to the profit and comfort
+also of a numerous body of clients a man much respected in the
+neighbourhood of Chancery Lane, and beloved, I do not doubt, in the
+neighbourhood of Bushey, in which delightfully rural parish he was
+possessed of a genteel villa and ornamental garden. With Mr Green's
+private residence we shall, I believe, have no further concern; but
+to him at his chambers in Stone Buildings I must now introduce the
+reader of these memoirs. He was a man not yet forty years of age,
+with still much of the salt of youth about him, a pleasant companion
+as well as a good lawyer, and one who knew men and things in London,
+as it is given to pleasant clever fellows, such as Joseph Green, to
+know them. Now Mr Green and his father before him had been the legal
+advisers of the Amedroz family, and our Mr Joseph Green had had but a
+bad time of it with Charles Amedroz in the last years of that
+unfortunate young man's life. But lawyers endure these troubles,
+submitting themselves to the extravagances, embarrassments, and even
+villainy of the bad subjects among their clients' families, with a
+good-humoured patience that is truly wonderful. That, however, was
+all over now as regarded Mr Green and the Amedrozes, and he had
+nothing further to do but to save for the father what relics of the
+property he might secure. And he was also legal adviser to our friend
+Will Belton, there having been some old family connexion among them,
+and had often endeavoured to impress upon his old client at Belton
+Castle his own strong conviction that the heir was a generous fellow,
+who might be trusted in everything. But this had been taken amiss by
+the old squire, who, indeed, was too much disposed to take all things
+amiss and to suspect everybody. 'I understand,' he had said to his
+daughter. 'I know all about it. Belton and Mr Green have been dear
+friends always. I can't trust my own lawyer any longer.' In all which
+the old squire showed much ingratitude. It will, however, be
+understood that these suspicions were rife before the time of
+Belton's visit to the family estate.
+
+Some four or five days before Christmas there came a visitor to Mr
+Green with whom the reader is acquainted, and who was no less a man
+than the Member for Perivale. Captain Aylmer, when Clara parted from
+him on the morning of her return to Belton Castle, had resolved that
+he would repeat his offer of marriage by letter. A month had passed
+by since then, and he had not as yet repeated it. But his intention
+was not altered. He was a deliberate man, who did not do such things
+quite as quickly as his rival, and who upon this occasion had thought
+it prudent to turn over more than once in his mind all that he
+proposed to do. Nor had he as yet taken any definite steps as to that
+fifteen hundred pounds which he had promised to Clara in her aunt's
+name, and which Clara had been, and was, so unwilling to receive. He
+had now actually paid it over, having purchased government stock in
+Clara's name for the amount, and had called upon Mr Green, in order
+that that gentleman, as Clara's lawyer, might make the necessary
+communication to her.
+
+'I suppose there's nothing further to be done?' asked Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Nothing further by me,' said the lawyer. 'Of course I shall write to
+her, and explain that she must make arrangements as to the interest.
+I am very glad that her aunt thought of her in her last moments.'
+
+'Mrs Winterfield would have provided for her before, had she known
+that everything had been swallowed up by that unfortunate young man.'
+
+'All's well that ends well. Fifteen hundred pounds are better than
+nothing.'
+
+'Is it not enough?' said the captain, blushing.
+
+'It isn't for me to have an opinion about that, Captain Aylmer. It
+depends on the nature of her claim; and that again depends on the
+relative position of the aunt and niece when they were alive
+together.'
+
+'You are aware that Miss Amedroz was not Mrs Winterfield's niece?'
+
+'Do not think for a moment that I am criticizing the amount of the
+legacy. I am very glad of it, as, without it, there was literally no
+provision,--no provision at all.'
+
+'You will write to herself?'
+
+'Oh yes, certainly to herself. She is a better man of business than
+her father and then this is her own, to do as she likes with it.'
+
+'She can't refuse it, I suppose?'
+
+'Refuse it!'
+
+'Even though she did not wish to take it, it would be legally her
+property, just as though it had been really left by the will?'
+
+'Well; I don't know. I dare say you could have resisted the payment.
+But that has been made now, and there seems to be an end of it.'
+
+At this moment a clerk entered the room and handed a card to his
+employer. 'Here's the heir himself,' said Mr Green.
+
+'What heir?
+
+'Will Belton the heir of the property which Mr Amedroz holds.'
+Captain Aylmer had soon explained that he was not personally
+acquainted with Mr William Belton; but, having heard much about him,
+declared himself anxious to make the acquaintance. Our friend Will,
+therefore, was ushered into the room, and the two rivals for Clara's
+favour were introduced to each other. Each had heard much of the
+other, and each had heard of the other from the same person. But
+Captain Aylmer knew much more as to Belton than Belton knew in
+respect to him. Aylmer knew that Belton had proposed to Clara and had
+been rejected; and he knew also that Belton was now again going down
+to Somersetshire.
+
+'You are to spend your Christmas, I believe, with our friends at
+Belton Castle?' said the captain.
+
+'Yes and am now on my way there. I believe you know them also
+intimately.' Then there was some explanation as to the Winterfield
+connexion, a few remarks as to the precarious state of the old
+squire's health, a message or two from Captain Aylmer, which of
+course were of no importance, and the captain took his leave.
+
+Then Green and Belton became very comfortably intimate in their
+conversation, calling each other Will and Joe for they were old and
+close friends. And they discussed matters in that cozy tone of
+confidential intercourse which is so directly at variance with the
+tones used by men when they ordinarily talk of business. 'He has
+brought me good news for your friend, Miss Amedroz,' said the lawyer.
+
+'What good news?'
+
+'That aunt of hers left her fifteen hundred pounds, after all. Or
+rather, she did not leave it, but desired on her death-bed that it
+might be given.'
+
+'That's the same thing, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh quite that is to say, it's the same thing if the person who has
+to hand over the money does not dispute the legacy. But it shows how
+the old lady's conscience pricked her at last. And after all it was a
+shabby sum, and should have been three times as much.'
+
+'Fifteen hundred pounds! And that is all she will have when her
+father dies?'
+
+'Every farthing, Will. You'll take all the rest.'
+
+'I wish she wasn't going to have that.'
+
+'Why? Why on earth should you of all men grudge her such a moderate
+maintenance, seeing that you have not got to pay it?'
+
+'It isn't a maintenance. How could it be a maintenance for such as
+her? What sort of maintenance would it be?'
+
+'Much better than nothing. And so you would feel if she were your
+daughter.'
+
+'She shall be my daughter, or my sister, or whatever you like to call
+her. You don't think that I'll take the whole estate and leave her to
+starve on the interest of fifteen hundred pounds a year!'
+
+'You'd better make her your wife at once, Will.'
+
+Will Belton blushed as he answered, 'That, perhaps, would be easier
+said than done. That is not in my power even if I should wish it. But
+the other is in my power.'
+
+'Will, take my advice, and don't make any romantic promises when you
+are down at Belton. You'll be sure to regret them if you do. And you
+should remember that in truth Miss Amedroz has no greater claim on
+you than any other lady in the land.'
+
+'Isn't she my cousin?'
+
+'Well yes. She is your cousin, but a distant one only; and I'm not
+aware that cousinship gives any claim.'
+
+'Who is she to have a claim on? I'm the nearest she has got. Besides,
+am not I going to take all the property which ought to be hers?'
+
+'That's just it. There's no such ought in the case. The property is
+as much your own as this poker is mine. That's exactly the mistake I
+want you to guard against. If you liked her, and chose to marry her,
+that would be all very well; presuming that you don't want to get
+money in marriage.'
+
+'I hate the idea of marrying for money.'
+
+'All right. Then marry Miss Amedroz if you please. But don't make any
+rash undertakings to be her father, or her brother, or her uncle, or
+her aunt. Such romance always leads a man into trouble.'
+
+'But I've done it already.'
+
+'What do you mean?'
+
+'I've told her that I would be her brother, and that as long as I had
+a shilling she should never want sixpence. And I mean it. And as for
+what you say about romance and repenting it, that simply comes from
+your being a lawyer.'
+
+'Thank ye, Will.'
+
+'If one goes to a chemist, of course one gets physic, and has to put
+up with the bad smells.'
+
+'Thank you again.'
+
+'But the chemist may be a very good sort of fellow at home all the
+same, and have a cupboard full of sweetmeats and a garden full of
+flowers. However, the thing is done as far as I am concerned, and I
+can almost find it in my heart to be sorry that Clara has got this
+driblet of money. Fifteen hundred pounds! It would keep her out of
+the workhouse, and that is about all.'
+
+'If you knew how many ladies in her position would think that the
+heavens had rained wealth upon them if some one would give them
+fifteen hundred pounds!'
+
+'Very well. At any rate I won't take it away from her. And now I want
+you to tell me something else. Do you remember a fellow we used to
+know named Berdmore?'
+
+'Philip Berdmore?'
+
+'He may have been Philip, or Daniel, or Jeremiah, for anything I
+know. But the man I mean was very much given to taking his liquor
+freely.'
+
+'That was Jack Berdmore, Philip's brother. Oh yes, I remember him.
+He's dead now. He drank himself to death at last, out in India.'
+
+'He was in the army?'
+
+'Yes and what a pleasant fellow he was at times! I see Phil
+constantly, and Phil's wife, but they never speak of Jack.'
+
+'He got married, didn't he, after we used to see him?'
+
+Oh yes he and Phil married sisters. It was a sad affair, that.'
+
+'I remember being with him and her and the sister too, after they
+were engaged, and he got so drunk that we were obliged to take him
+away. There was a large party of us at Richmond, but I don't think
+you were there.'
+
+'But I heard of it'
+
+'And she was a Miss Vigo?'
+
+'Exactly. I see the younger sister constantly. Phil isn't very rich,
+and he's got a lot of children but he's very happy.'
+
+'What became of the other sister?
+
+'Of Jack's wife?'
+
+'Yes. What became of her?'
+
+'I haven't an idea. Something bad, I suppose, as they never speak of
+her.'
+
+'And how long is he dead?'
+
+'He died about three years since. I only knew it from Phil's telling
+me that he was in mourning for him. Then he did speak of him for a
+moment or two, and I came to know that he had carried on to the end
+in the same way. If a fellow takes to drink in this country, he'll
+never get cured in India.'
+
+'I suppose not.'
+
+'Never.'
+
+'And now I want to find out something about his widow.'
+
+'And why?'
+
+'Ah I'm not sure that I can tell you why. Indeed I'm sure that I
+cannot. But still you might be able to assist me.'
+
+'There were heaps of people who used to know the Vigos,' said the
+lawyer.
+
+'No end of people though I couldn't for the life of me say who any of
+them were.'
+
+'They used to come out in London with an aunt, but nobody knew much
+about her. I fancy they had neither father nor mother.'
+
+'They were very pretty.'
+
+'And how well they danced. I don't think I ever knew a girl who
+danced so pleasantly giving herself no airs, you know as Mary Vigo.'
+
+'Her name was Mary,' said Belton, remembering that Mrs Askerton's
+name was also Mary.
+
+'Jack Berdmore married Mary.'
+
+'Well now, Joe, you must find out for me what became of her. Was she
+with her husband when he died?'
+
+'Nobody was with him. Phil told me so. No one, that is, but a young
+lieutenant and his own servant. It was very sad. He had D.T., and all
+that sort of thing.'
+
+'And where was she?'
+
+'At Jericho, for anything that I know.'
+
+'Will you find out?' Then Mr Joseph Green thought for a moment of his
+capabilities in that line, and having made an engagement to dine with
+his friend at his club on the evening before Will left London, said
+at last that he thought he could find out through certain mutual
+friends who had known the Berdmores in the old days. 'But the fact
+is,' said the lawyer, 'that the world is so good-natured instead of
+being ill-natured, as people say that it always forgets those who
+want to be forgotten.'
+
+We must now go back for a few moments to Captain Aylmer and his
+affairs. Having given a full month to the consideration of his
+position as regarded Miss Amedroz, he made up his mind to two things.
+In the first place, he would at once pay over to her the money which
+was to be hers as her aunt's legacy, and then he would renew his
+offer. To that latter determination he was guided by mixed motives by
+motives which, when joined together, rarely fail to be operative. His
+conscience told him that he ought to do so and then the fact of her
+having, as it were, taken herself away from him, made him again wish
+to possess her. And there was another cause which, perhaps, operated
+in the same direction. He had consulted his mother, and she had
+strongly advised him to have nothing further to do with Miss Amedroz.
+Lady Aylmer abused her dead sister heartily for having interfered in
+the matter, and endeavoured to prove to her son that he was released
+from his promise by having in fact performed it. But on this point
+his conscience interfered backed by his wishes and he made his
+resolve as has been above stated. On leaving Mr Green's chambers he
+went to his own lodgings, and wrote his letter as follows:
+
+
+'Mount Street, December, 186--.
+
+'Dearest Clara,
+
+'When you parted from me at Perivale you said certain things about our
+engagement which I have come to understand better since then, than I
+did at the time. It escaped from me that my dear aunt and I had had
+some conversation about you, and that I had told her what was my
+intention. Something was said about a promise, and I think it was
+that word which made you unhappy. At such a time as that when I and
+my aunt were talking together, and when she was, as she well knew, on
+her deathbed, things will be said which would not be thought of in
+other circumstances. I can only assure you now, that the promise I
+gave her was a promise to do that which I had previously resolved
+upon doing. If you can believe what I say on this head, that ought to
+be sufficient to remove the feeling which induced you to break our
+engagement.
+
+'I now write to renew my offer to you, and to assure you that I do so
+with my whole heart. You will forgive me if I tell you that I cannot
+fail to remember, and always to bear in my mind, the sweet assurances
+which you gave me of your regard for myself. As I do not know that
+anything has occurred to alter your opinion of me, I write this
+letter in strong hope that it may be successful. I believe that your
+fear was in respect to my affection for you, not as to yours for me.
+If this was so, I can assure you that there is no necessity for such
+fear.
+
+'I need not tell you that I shall expect your answer with great
+anxiety.
+
+'Yours most affectionately,
+
+'F. F. AYLMER.
+
+'P.S. I have today caused to be bought in your name Bank Stock to the
+amount of fifteen hundred pounds, the amount of the legacy coming to
+you from my aunt.'
+
+
+This letter, and that from Mr Green respecting the money, both
+reached Clara on the same morning. Now, having learned so much as to
+the position of affairs at Belton Castle, we may return to Will and
+his dinner engagement with Mr Joseph Green.
+
+'And what have you heard about Mrs Berdmore?' Belton asked, almost as
+soon as the two men were together.
+
+'I wish I knew why you want to know.'
+
+'I don't want to do anybody any harm.'
+
+'Do you want to do anybody any good?'
+
+'Any good! I can't say that I want to do any particular good. The
+truth is, I think I know where she is, and that she is living under a
+false name.'
+
+'Then you know more of her than I do.'
+
+'I don't know anything. I'm only in doubt. But as the lady I mean
+lives near to friends of mine, I should like to know.'
+
+'That you may expose her?'
+
+'No by no means. But I hate the idea of deceit. The truth is, that
+any one living anywhere under a false name should be exposed or
+should be made to assume their right name.'
+
+'I find that Mrs Berdmore left her husband some years before he died.
+There was nothing in that to create wonder, for he was a man with
+whom a woman could hardly continue to live. But I fear she left him
+under protection that was injurious to her character.
+
+'And how long ago is that?'
+
+'I do not know. Some years before his death.'
+
+'And how long ago did he die?'
+
+'About three years since. My informant tells me that he believes she
+has since married. Now you know all that I know.' And Belton also
+knew that Mrs Askerton of the cottage was the Miss Vigo with whom he
+had been acquainted in earlier years.
+
+After that they dined comfortably, and nothing passed between them
+which need be recorded as essential to our story till the time came
+for them to part. Then, when they were both standing at the club
+door, the lawyer said a word or two which is essential. 'So you're
+off tomorrow?' said he.
+
+'Yes; I shall go down by the express.'
+
+'I wish you a pleasant journey. By the by, I ought to tell you that
+you won't have any trouble in being either father or mother, or uncle
+or aunt to Miss Amedroz.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'I suppose it's no secret.'
+
+'What's no secret?
+
+'She's going to be married to Captain Aylmer.'
+
+Then Will Belton started so violently, and assumed on a sudden so
+manifest a look of anger, that his tale was at once told to Mr Green.
+'Who says so?' he asked. 'I don't believe it.'
+
+'I'm afraid it's true all the same, Will.'
+
+'Who says it?'
+
+'Captain Aylmer was with me today, and he told me. He ought to be
+good authority on such a subject.'
+
+'He told you that he was going to marry Clara Amedroz?'
+
+'Yes, indeed.'
+
+'And what made him come to you, to tell you?'
+
+'There was a question about some money which he had paid to her, and
+which, under existing circumstances, he thought it as well that he
+should not pay. Matters of that kind are often necessarily told to
+lawyers. But I should not have told it to you, Will, if I had not
+thought that it was good news.'
+
+'It is not good news,' said Belton moodily.
+
+'At any rate, old fellow, my telling it will do no harm. You must
+have learned it soon.' And he put his hand kindly almost tenderly, on
+the other's arm. But Belton moved himself away angrily. The wound had
+been so lately inflicted that he could not as yet forgive the hand
+that had seemed to strike him.
+
+'I'm sorry that it should be so bad with you, Will.'
+
+'What do you mean by bad? It is not bad with me. It is very well with
+me. Keep your pity for those who want it.' Then he walked off by
+himself across the broad street before the club door, leaving his
+friend without a word of farewell, and made his way up into St.
+James's Square, choosing, as was evident to Mr Green, the first
+street that would take him out of sight.
+
+'He's hit, and hit hard,' said the lawyer, looking after him. 'Poor
+fellow! I might have guessed it from what he said. I never knew of
+his caring for any woman before.' Then Mr Green put on his gloves and
+went away home.
+
+We will now follow Will Belton into St. James's Square, and we shall
+follow a very unhappy gentleman. Doubtless he had hitherto known and
+appreciated the fact that Miss Amedroz had refused his offer, and had
+often declared, both to himself and to his sister, his conviction
+that that refusal would never be reversed. But, in spite of that
+expressed conviction, he had lived on hope. Till she belonged to
+another man she might yet be his. He might win her at last by
+perseverance. At any rate he had it in his power to work towards the
+desired end, and might find solace even in that working. And the
+misery of his loss would not be so great to him as he found himself
+forced to confess to himself before he had completed his wanderings
+on this night in not having her for his own, as it would be in
+knowing that she had given herself to another man. He had often told
+himself that of course she would become the wife of some man, but he
+had never yet realized to himself what it would be to know that she
+was the wife of any one specified rival. He had been sad enough on
+that moonlight night in the avenue at Plaistow when he had leaned
+against the tree, striking his hands together as he thought of his
+great want; but his unhappiness then had been as nothing to his agony
+now. Now it was all over and he knew the man who had supplanted him.
+
+How he hated him! With what an unchristian spirit did he regard that
+worthy captain as he walked across St. James's Square, across Jermyn
+Street, across Piccadilly, and up Bond Street, not knowing whither he
+was going. He thought with an intense regret of the laws of modern
+society which forbid duelling forgetting altogether that even had the
+old law prevailed, the conduct of the man whom he so hated would have
+afforded him no casus belli. But he was too far gone in misery and
+animosity to be capable of any reason on the matter. Captain Aylmer
+had interfered with his dearest wishes, and during this now passing
+hour he would willingly have crucified Captain Aylmer had it been
+within his power to do so. Till he had gone beyond Oxford Street, and
+had wandered away into the far distance of Portman Square and Baker
+Street, he had not begun to think of any interest which Clara Amedroz
+might have in the matter on which his thoughts were employed. He was
+sojourning at an hotel in Bond Street, and had gone thitherwards more
+by habit than by thought; but he had passed the door of his inn,
+feeling it to be impossible to render himself up to his bed in his
+present disturbed mood. As he was passing the house in Bond Street he
+had been intent on the destruction of Captain Aylmer and had almost
+determined that if Captain Aylmer could not be made to vanish into
+eternity, he must make up his mind to go that road himself.
+
+It was out of the question that he should go down to Belton. As to
+that he had come to a very decided opinion by the time that he had
+crossed Oxford Street. Go down to see her, when she had treated him
+after this fashion I No, indeed. She wanted no brother now. She had
+chosen to trust herself to this other man, and he, Will Belton, would
+not interfere further in her affairs. Then he drew upon his
+imagination for a picture of the future, in which he portrayed
+Captain Aylmer as a ruined man, who would probably desert his wife,
+and make himself generally odious to all his acquaintance a picture
+as to the realization of which I am bound to say that Captain
+Aylmer's antecedents gave no probability. But it was the looking at
+this self-drawn picture which first softened the artist's heart
+towards the victim whom he had immolated on his imaginary canvas.
+When Clara should be ruined by the baseness and villainy and general
+scampishness of this man whom she was going to marry to whom she was
+about to be weak enough and fool enough to trust herself then he
+would interpose and be her brother once again a broken-hearted
+brother no doubt, but a brother efficacious to keep the wolf from the
+door of this poor woman and her children. Then, as he thus created
+Captain Aylmer's embryo family of unprovided orphans for after a
+while he killed the captain, making him to die some death that was
+very disgraceful, but not very distinct even to his own imagination
+as he thought of those coming pledges of a love which was to him so
+bitter, he stormed about the streets, performing antics of which no
+one would have believed him capable who had known him as the thriving
+Mr William Belton, of Plaistow Hall, among the fens of Norfolk.
+
+But the character of a man is not to be judged from the pictures
+which he may draw or from the antics which he may play in his
+solitary hours. Those who act generally with the most consummate
+wisdom in the affairs of the world, often meditate very silly doings
+before their wiser resolutions form themselves. I beg, therefore,
+that Mr Belton may be regarded and criticized in accordance with his
+conduct on the following morning when his midnight rambles, which
+finally took him even beyond the New Road, had been followed by a few
+tranquil hours in his Bond Street bedroom for at last he did bring
+himself to return thither and put himself to bed after the usual
+fashion. He put himself to bed in a spirit somewhat tranquillized by
+the exercise of the night, and at last wept himself to sleep like a
+baby.
+
+But he was by no means like a baby when he took him early on the
+following morning to the Paddington Station, and booked himself
+manfully for Taunton. He had had time to recognize the fact that he
+had no ground of quarrel with his cousin because she had preferred
+another man to him. This had happened to him as he was recrossing the
+New Road about two o'clock, and was beginning to find that his legs
+were weary under him. And, indeed, he had recognized one or two
+things before he had gone to sleep with his tears dripping on to his
+pillow. In the first place, he had ill-treated Joe Green, and had
+made a fool of himself in his friend's presence. As Joe Green was a
+sensible, kind-hearted fellow, this did not much signify;--but not on
+that account did he omit to tell himself of his own fault. Then he
+discovered that it would ill become him to break his word to Mr
+Amedroz and to his daughter, and to do so without a word of excuse,
+because Clara had exercised a right which was indisputably her own.
+He had undertaken certain work at Belton which required his presence,
+and he would go down and do his work as though nothing had occurred
+to disturb him. To remain away because of this misfortune would be to
+show the white feather. It would be unmanly. All this he recognized
+as the pictures he had painted faded away from their canvases. As to
+Captain Aylmer himself, he hoped that he might never be called upon
+to meet him. He still hoped that, even as he was resolutely cramming
+his shirts into his portmanteau before he began his journey. His
+Cousin Clara he thought he could meet, and tender to her some
+expression of good wishes as to her future life, without giving way
+under the effort. And to the old squire he could endeavour to make
+himself pleasant, speaking of the relief from all trouble which this
+marriage with Captain Aylmer would afford for now, in his cooler
+moments, he could perceive that Captain Aylmer was not a man apt to
+ruin himself, or his wife and children. But to Captain Aylmer
+himself, he could not bring himself to say pleasant things or to
+express pleasant wishes. She who was to be Captain Aylmer's wife, who
+loved him, would of course have told him what had occurred up among
+the rocks in Belton Park; and if that was so, any meeting between
+Will and Captain Aylmer would be death to the former.
+
+Thinking of all this he journeyed down to Taunton, and thinking of
+all this he made his way from Taunton across to Belton Park.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+EVIL WORDS
+
+Clara Amedroz had received her two letters together that, namely,
+from the attorney, and that from Captain Aylmer and the result of
+those letters is already known. She accepted her lover's renewed
+offer of marriage, acknowledging the force of his logic, and putting
+faith in the strength of his assurances. This she did without seeking
+advice from any one. Who was there from whom she could seek advice on
+such a matter as that who, at least, was there at Belton? That her
+father would, as a matter of course, bid her accept Captain Aylmer,
+was, she thought, certain; and she knew well that Mrs Askerton would
+do the same. She asked no counsel from any one, but taking the two
+letters up to her own room, sat down to consider them. That which
+referred to her aunt's money, together with the postscript in Captain
+Aylmer's letter on the same subject, would be of the least possible
+moment if she could bring herself to give a favourable answer to the
+other proposition. But should she not be able to do this should she
+hesitate as to doing so at once then she must write to the lawyer in
+very strong terms, refusing altogether to have anything to do with
+the money. And in such a case as this, not a word could she say to
+her father either on one subject or on the other.
+
+But why should she not accept the offer made to her? Captain Aylmer
+declared that he had determined to ask her to be his wife before he
+had made any promise to Mrs Winterfield. If this were in truth so,
+then the very ground on which she had separated herself from him
+would be removed. Why should she hesitate in acknowledging to herself
+that she loved the man and believed him to be true? So she sat
+herself down and answered both the letters writing to the lawyer
+first. To him she said that nothing need be done about the money or
+the interest till he should see or hear from Captain Aylmer again.
+Then to Captain Aylmer she wrote very shortly, but very openly with
+the same ill-judged candour which her spoken words to him had
+displayed. Of course she would be his; his without hesitation, now
+that she knew that he expressed his own wishes, and not merely those
+of his aunt. 'As to the money,' she said, 'it would be simply
+nonsense now for us to have any talk of money. It is yours in any
+way, and you had better manage about it as you please. I have written
+an ambiguous letter to Mr Green, which will simply plague him, and
+which you may go and see if you like.' Then she added her postscript,
+in which she said that she should now at once tell her father, as the
+news would remove from his mind all solicitude as to her future
+position. That Captain Aylmer did go to Mr Green we already know, and
+we know also that he told Mr Green of his intended marriage.
+
+Nothing was said by Captain Aylmer as to any proposed period for
+their marriage; but that was only natural. It was not probable that
+any man would name a day till he knew whether or not he was accepted.
+Indeed, Clara, on thinking over the whole affair, was now disposed to
+find fault rather with herself than with her lover, and forgetting
+his coldness and formality at Perivale, remembered only the fact of
+his offer to her, and his assurance now received that he had intended
+to make it before the scene which had taken place between him and his
+aunt. She did find fault with herself, telling herself that she
+had quarrelled with him without sufficient cause and the eager
+loving candour of her letter to him was attributable to those
+self-accusations.
+
+'Papa,' she said, after the postman had gone away from Belton, so
+that there might be no possibility of any recall of her letter, 'I
+have something to tell you which I hope will give you pleasure.'
+
+'It isn't often that I hear anything of that kind,' said he.
+
+'But I think that this will give you pleasure. I do indeed. I am
+going to be married.'
+
+'Going to what?'
+
+'Going to be married, papa. That is, if I have your leave. Of course
+any offer of that kind that I have accepted is subject to your
+approval.'
+
+'And I have been told nothing about it!'
+
+'It began at Perivale, and I could not tell you then. You do not ask
+me who is to be my husband.'
+
+'It is not Will Belton?'
+
+'Poor Will! No; it is not Will. It is Frederic Aylmer. I think you
+would prefer him as a son-in-law even to my Cousin Will.'
+
+'No I shouldn't. Why should I prefer a man whom I don't even know,
+who lives in London, and who will take you away, so that I shall
+never see you again?'
+
+'Dear papa;--don't speak of it in that way. I thought you would be glad
+to know that I was to be so--so--so happy.'
+
+'But why is it to be done this way,--of a sudden? Why didn't he come to
+me? Will came to me the very first thing.'
+
+'He couldn't come all the way to Belton very well particularly as he
+does not know you.'
+
+'Will came here.'
+
+'Oh, papa, don't make difficulties. Of course that was different. He
+was here when he first thought of it. And even then he didn't think
+very much about it.'
+
+'He did all that he could, I suppose?'
+
+'Well yes. I don't know how that might be.' And Clara almost laughed
+as she felt the difficulties into which she was creeping. 'Dear Will.
+He is much better as a cousin than as a husband.'
+
+'I don't see that at all. Captain Aylmer will not have the Belton
+estate or Plaistow Hall.'
+
+'Surely he is well enough off to take care of a wife. He will have
+the whole of the Perivale estate, you know.'
+
+'I don't know anything about it. According to my ideas of what is
+proper he should have spoken to me first. If he could not come he
+might have written. No doubt my ideas may be old-fashioned, and I'm
+told that Captain Aylmer is a fashionable young man.'
+
+'Indeed he is not, papa. He is a hard-working Member of Parliament.'
+
+'I don't know that he is any better for that. People seem to think
+that if a man is a Member of Parliament he may do what he pleases.
+There is Thompson, the Member for Minehead, who has bought some sort
+of place out by the moors. I never saw so vulgar, pigheaded a fellow
+in my life. Being in Parliament used to be something when I was
+young, but it won't make a man a gentleman now-a-days. It seems to me
+that none but brewers, and tallow-chandlers, and lawyers go into
+Parliament now. Will Belton could go into Parliament if he pleased,
+but he knows better than that. He won't make himself such a fool.'
+
+This was not comfortable to Clara; but she knew her father, and
+allowed him to go on with his grumbling. He would come round by
+degrees, and he would appreciate, if he could not be induced to
+acknowledge, the wisdom of the step she was about to take.
+
+'When is it to be?' he asked.
+
+'Nothing of that kind has ever been mentioned, papa.'
+
+'It had better be soon, if I am to have anything to do with it.' Now
+it was certainly the case that the old man was very ill. He had not
+been out of the house since Clara had returned home; and, though he
+was always grumbling about his food, he could hardly be induced to
+eat anything when the morsels for which he expressed a wish were got
+for him.
+
+'Of course you will be consulted, papa, before anything is settled.'
+
+'I don't want to be in anybody's way, my dear.'
+
+'And may I tell Frederic that you have given your consent?
+
+'What's the use of my consenting or not consenting? If you had been
+anxious to oblige me you would have taken your Cousin Will.'
+
+'Oh, papa, how could I accept a man I didn't love?'
+
+'You seemed to me to be very fond of him at first; and I must say, I
+thought he was ill-treated.'
+
+'Papa, papa; do not say such things as that to me!'
+
+'What am I to do? You tell me, and I can't altogether hold my
+tongue.' Then there was a pause. 'Well, my dear, as for my consent,
+of course you may have it if it's worth anything. I don't know that I
+ever heard anything bad about Captain Aylmer.'
+
+He had heard nothing bad about Captain Aylmer! Clara, as she left her
+father, felt that this was very grievous. Whatever cause she might
+have had for discontent with her lover, she could not but be aware
+that he was a man whom any father might be proud to welcome as a
+suitor for his daughter. He was a man as to whom no ill tales had
+ever been told who had never been known to do anything wrong or
+imprudent; who had always been more than respectable, and as to whose
+worldly position no exception could be taken. She had been entitled
+to expect her father's warmest congratulations, and her tidings had
+been received as though she had proposed to give her hand to one
+whose character and position only just made it not imperative on the
+father to withhold his consent! All this was hard, and feeling it to
+be so, she went upstairs, all alone, and cried bitterly as she
+thought of it.
+
+On the next day she went down to the cottage and saw Mrs Askerton.
+She went there with the express purpose of telling her friend of her
+engagement desirous of obtaining in that quarter the sympathy which
+her father declined to give her. Had her communication to him been
+accepted in a different spirit, she might probably have kept her
+secret from Mrs Askerton till something further had been fixed about
+her marriage; but she was in want of a few kind words, and pined for
+some of that encouragement which ladies in love usually wish to
+receive, at any rate from some one chosen friend. But when she found
+herself alone with Mrs Askerton she hardly knew how to tell her news;
+and at first could not tell it at all, as that lady was eager in
+speaking on another subject.
+
+'When do you expect your cousin?' Mrs Askerton asked, almost as soon
+as Clara was seated.
+
+'The day after tomorrow.'
+
+'And he is in London now?'
+
+'He may be. I dare say he is. But I don't know anything about it.'
+
+'I can tell you then that he is. Colonel Askerton has heard of his
+being there.'
+
+'You seem to speak of it as though there were some offence in it. Is
+there any reason why he should not be in London if he pleases?'
+
+'None in the least. I would much rather that he should be there than
+here.'
+
+'Why so? Will his coming hurt you?'
+
+'I don't like him. I don't like him at all and now you know the
+truth. You believe in him I don't. You think him to be a fine fellow
+and a gentleman, whereas I don't think him to be either.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton!'
+
+'This is strong language, I know.'
+
+'Very strong language.'
+
+'Yes, my dear; but the truth is, Clara, that you and I, living
+together here this sort of hermit's life, each seeing so much of the
+other and seeing nothing of anybody else, must either be real
+friends, telling each other what we think, or we must be nothing. We
+can't go on with the ordinary make-believes of society, saying
+little civil speeches and not going beyond them. Therefore I have
+made up my mind to tell you in plain language that I don't like your
+cousin, and don't believe in him.'
+
+'I don't know what you mean by believing in a man.'
+
+'I believe in you. Sometimes I have thought that you believe in me,
+and sometimes I have feared that you do not. I think that you are
+good, and honest, and true; and therefore I like to see your face and
+hear your voice though it is not often that you say very pleasant
+things to me.'
+
+'Do I say unpleasant things?'
+
+'I am not going to quarrel with you not if I can help it. What
+business has Mr Belton to go about London making inquiries as to me?
+What have I done to him, that he should honour me so far?'
+
+'Has he made inquiries?'
+
+'Yes; he has. If you have been contented with me as I am if you are
+satisfied, why should he want to learn more? If you have any question
+to ask me I will answer it. But what right can he have to be asking
+questions among strangers?'
+
+Clara had no question to ask, and yet she could not say that she was
+satisfied. She would have been better satisfied to have known more of
+Mrs Askerton, but yet she had never condescended to make inquiries
+about her friend. But her curiosity was now greatly raised; and,
+indeed, Mrs Askerton's manner was so strange, her vehemence so
+unusual, and her eagerness to rush into dangerous subjects so unlike
+her usual tranquillity in conversation, that Clara did not know how
+to answer her.
+
+'I know nothing of any questioning,' she said.
+
+'I am sure you don't. Had I thought you did, much as I love you
+valuable as your society is to me down in this desert I would never
+speak to you again. But remember if you want to ask any questions,
+and will ask them of me of me I will answer them, and will not be
+angry.'
+
+'But I don't want to ask any questions.'
+
+'You may some day; and then you can remember what I say.'
+
+'And am I to understand that you are determined to quarrel with my
+Cousin Will?'
+
+'Quarrel with him! I don't suppose that I shall see him. After what I
+have said it is not probable that you will bring him here, and the
+servant will have orders to say that I am not at home if he should
+call. Luckily he and Colonel Askerton did not meet when he was here
+before.'
+
+'This is the most strange thing I ever heard in my life.'
+
+'You will understand it better, my dear, when he makes his
+communication to you.'
+
+'What communication?'
+
+'You'll find that he'll have a communication to make. He has been so
+diligent and so sharp that he'll have a great deal to tell, I do not
+doubt. Only, remember, Clara, that if anything that he tells you
+makes any difference in your feelings towards me, I shall expect you
+to come to me and say so openly. If he makes his statement, let me
+make mine. I have a right to ask for that, after what I have
+promised.'
+
+'You may be sure that I will.'
+
+'I want nothing more. I have no distrust in you none in the least. I
+tell you that I believe in you. If you will do that, and will keep Mr
+William Belton out of my way during his visit to these parts, I shall
+be satisfied.' For some time past Mrs Askerton had been walking about
+the room, but, as she now finished speaking, she sat herself down as
+though the subject was fully discussed and completed. For a minute or
+two she made an effort to resume her usual tranquillity of manner,
+and in doing so attempted to smile, as though ridiculing her own
+energy. 'I knew I should make a fool of myself when you came,' she
+said; and now I have done it.'
+
+'I don't think you have been a fool at all, but you may have been
+mistaken.'
+
+'Very well, my dear, we shall see. It's very odd what a dislike I
+took to that man the first time I saw him.'
+
+'And I am so fond of him!'
+
+'Yes; he has cozened you as he has your father. I am only glad that
+he did not succeed in cozening you further than he did. But I ought
+to have known you bettor than to suppose you could give your heart of
+hearts to one who is--'
+
+'Do not abuse him any more.'
+
+'--Who is so very unlike the sort of people with whom you have lived. I
+may, at any rate, say that.'
+
+'I don't know that. I haven't lived much with any one yet--except
+papa, and my aunt, and you.'
+
+'But you know a gentleman when you see him.'
+
+'Come, Mrs Askerton, I will not stand this. I thought you had done
+with the subject, and now you begin again. I had come here on purpose
+to tell you something of real importance that is, to me; but I must
+go away without telling you, unless you will give over abusing my
+cousin.'
+
+'I will not say a word more about him not at present.'
+
+'I feel so sure that you are mistaken, you know.'
+
+'Very well;--and I feel sure that you are mistaken. We will leave it
+so, and go to this matter of importance.' But Clara felt it to be
+very difficult to tell her tidings after such a conversation as that
+which had just occurred. When she had entered the room her mind had
+been tuned to the subject, and she could have found fitting words
+without much difficulty to herself; but now her thoughts had been
+scattered and her feelings hurt, and she did not know how to bring
+herself back to the subject of her engagement. She paused, therefore,
+and sat with a doubtful, hesitating look, meditating some mode of
+escape. 'I am all ears,' said Mrs Askerton; and Clara thought that
+she discovered something of ridicule or of sarcasm in the tone of her
+friend's voice.
+
+'I believe I'll put it off till another day,' she said.
+
+'Why so? You don't think that anything really important to you will
+not be important to me also?'
+
+'I'm sure of that, but somehow--'
+
+'You mean to say that I have ruffled you?'
+
+'Well perhaps; a little.'
+
+'Then be unruffled again, like my own dear, honest Clara. I have been
+ruffled too, but I'll be as tranquil now as a drawing-room cat.' Then
+Mrs Askerton got up from her chair, and seated herself by Clara's
+side on the sofa. 'Come; you can't go till you've told me; and if you
+hesitate, I shall think that you mean to quarrel with me.'
+
+'I'll come to you tomorrow.'
+
+'No, no; you shall tell me today. All tomorrow you'll be preparing
+for your cousin.'
+
+'What nonsense!'
+
+'Or else you'll come prepared to vindicate him, and then we shan't
+get on any further. Tell me what it is today. You can't leave me in
+curiosity after what you have said.'
+
+'You've heard of Captain Aylmer, I think.'
+
+'Of course I've heard of him.'
+
+'But you've never seen him?'
+
+'You know I never have.'
+
+'I told you that he was at Perivale when Mrs Winterfield died.'
+
+'And now he has proposed, and you are going to accept him? That will
+indeed be important. Is it so?--say. But don't I know it is so? Why
+don't you speak?'
+
+'If you know it, why need I speak?'
+
+'But it is so? Oh, Clara, I am so glad. I congratulate you with all
+my heart with all my heart. My dearest, dearest Clara! What a happy
+arrangement! What a success! It is just as it should be. Dear, good
+man! to come forward in that sensible way, and put an end to all the
+little family difficulties!'
+
+'I don't know so much about success. Who is it that is successful?'
+
+'You, to be sure.'
+
+'Then by the same measurement he must be unsuccessful.'
+
+'Don't be a fool, Clara.'
+
+'Of course I have been successful if I've got a man that I can love
+as my husband.'
+
+'Now, my dear, don't be a fool. Of course all that is between you and
+him, and I don't in the least doubt that it is all as it should be.
+If Captain Aylmer had been the elder brother instead of the younger,
+and had all the Aylmer estates instead of the Perivale property, I
+know you would not accept him if you did not like him.'
+
+'I hope not.'
+
+'I am sure you would not. But when a girl with nothing a year has
+managed to love a man with two or three thousand a year, and has
+managed to be loved by him in return instead of going through the
+same process with the curate or village doctor it is a success, and
+her friend will always think so. And when a girl marries a gentleman,
+and a Member of Parliament, instead of well, I'm not going to say
+anything personal her friends will congratulate her upon his
+position. It may be very wicked, and mercenary, and all that; but
+it's the way of the world.'
+
+'I hate hearing about the world.'
+
+'Yes, my dear; all proper young ladies like you do hate it. But I
+observe that such girls as you never offend its prejudices. You can't
+but know that you would have done a wicked as well as a foolish thing
+to marry a man without an adequate income.'
+
+'But I needn't marry at all.'
+
+'And what would you live on then? Come Clara, we needn't quarrel
+about that. I've no doubt he's charming, and beautiful, and--'
+
+'He isn't beautiful at all; and as for charming--'
+
+'He has charmed you at any rate.'
+
+'He has made me believe that I can trust him without doubt, and love
+him without fear.'
+
+'An excellent man! And the income will be an additional comfort;
+you'll allow that?'
+
+'I'll allow nothing.'
+
+'And when is it to be?'
+
+'Oh,--perhaps in six or seven years.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Perhaps sooner; but there's been no word said about time.'
+
+'Is not Mr Amedroz delighted?'
+
+'Not a bit. He quite scolded me when I told him.'
+
+'Why what did he want?'
+
+'You know papa.'
+
+'I know he scolds at everything, but I shouldn't have thought he
+would have scolded at that. And when does he come here?'
+
+'Who come here?'
+
+'Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'I don't know that he is coming at all.'
+
+'He must come to be married.'
+
+'All that is in the clouds as yet. I did not like to tell you, but
+you mustn't suppose that because I've told you, everything is
+settled. Nothing is settled.'
+
+'Nothing except the one thing?'
+
+'Nothing else.'
+
+It was more than an hour after that before Clara went away, and when
+she did so she was surprised to find that she was followed out of the
+house by Colonel Askerton. It was quite dusk at this time, the days
+being just at their shortest, and Colonel Askerton, according to his
+custom, would have been riding, or returning from his ride. Clara had
+been over two hours at the cottage, and had been aware when she
+reached it that he had not as yet gone out. It appeared now that he
+had not ridden at all, and, as she remembered to have seen his horse
+led before the window, it at once occurred to her that he had
+remained at home with the view of catching her as she went away. He
+came up to her just as she was passing through the gate, and offered
+her his right hand as he raised his hat with his left. It sometimes
+happens to all of us in life that we become acquainted with persons
+intimately that is, with an assumed intimacy whom in truth we do not
+know at all. We meet such persons frequently, often eating and
+drinking in their company, being familiar with their appearance, and
+well-informed generally as to their concerns; but we never find
+ourselves holding special conversations with them, or in any way
+fitting the modes of our life to the modes of their life. Accident
+has brought us together, and in one sense they are our friends. We
+should probably do any little kindness for them, or expect the same
+from them; but there is nothing in common between us, and there is
+generally a mutual though unexpressed agreement that there shall be
+nothing in common. Miss Amedroz was intimately acquainted with
+Colonel Askerton after this fashion. She saw him very frequently, and
+his name was often on her tongue; but she rarely, if ever, conversed
+with him, and knew of his habits only from his wife's words
+respecting them. When, therefore, he followed her through the garden
+gate into the park, she was driven to suppose that he had something
+special to say to her.
+
+'I'm afraid you'll have a dark walk, Miss Amedroz,' he said.
+
+'It's only just across the park, and I know the way so well.'
+
+'Yes of course. I saw you coming out, and as I want to say a word or
+two, I have ventured to follow you. When Mr Belton was down here I
+did not have the pleasure of meeting him.'
+
+'I remember that you missed each other.'
+
+'Yes, we did. I understand from my wife that he will be here again in
+a day or two.'
+
+'He will be with us the day after tomorrow.'
+
+'I hope you will excuse my saying that it will be very desirable that
+we should miss each other again.' Clara felt that her face became red
+with anger as she listened to Colonel Askerton's words. He spoke
+slowly, as was his custom, and without any of that violence of
+expression which his wife had used; but on that very account there
+was more, if possible, of meaning in his words than in hers. William
+Belton was her cousin, and such a speech as that which Colonel
+Askerton had made, spoken with deliberation and unaccompanied by any
+previous explanation, seemed to her almost to amount to insult. But
+as she did not know how to answer him at the spur of the moment, she
+remained silent. Then he continued, 'You may be sure, Miss Amedroz,
+that I should not make so strange a request to you if I had not good
+reason for making it.'
+
+'I think it a very strange request.'
+
+'And nothing but a strong conviction of its propriety on my part
+would have induced me to make it.'
+
+'If you do not want to see my cousin, why cannot you avoid him
+without saying anything to me on the subject?'
+
+'Because you would not then have understood as thoroughly as I wish
+you to do why I kept out of his way. For my wife's sake and for
+yours, if you will allow me to say so I do not wish to come to any
+open quarrel with him; but if we met, a quarrel would, I think, be
+inevitable. Mary has probably explained to you the nature of his
+offence against us?'
+
+'Mrs Askerton has told me something as to which I am quite sure that
+she is mistaken.'
+
+'I will say nothing about that, as I have no wish at all to set you
+against your cousin. I will bid you good-night now as you are close
+at home.' Then he turned round and left her.
+
+Clara, as she thought of all this, could not but call to mind her
+cousin's remembrances about Miss Vigo and Mr Berdmore. What if he
+made some inquiry as to the correctness of his old recollections?
+Nothing, she thought, could be more natural. And then she reflected
+that, in the ordinary way of the world, persons feel none of that
+violent objection to the asking of questions about their antecedents
+which was now evinced by both Colonel and Mrs Askerton. But of one
+thing she felt quite assured that her cousin, Will Belton, would make
+no inquiry which he ought not to make; and would make no improper use
+of any information which he might obtain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE HEIR'S SECOND VISIT TO BELTON
+
+Clara began to doubt whether any possible arrangement of the
+circumstances of her life could be regarded as fortunate. She was
+very fond, in a different degree and after a different fashion, of
+both Captain Aylmer and Mr Belton. As regarded both, her position was
+now exactly what she herself would have wished. The man that she
+loved was betrothed to her, and the other man, whom she loved indeed
+also as a brother, was coming to her in that guise,--with the
+understanding that that was to be his position. And yet everything
+was going wrong! Her father, though he did not actually say anything
+against Captain Aylmer, showed by a hundred little signs, of which he
+was a skilful master, that the Aylmer alliance was distasteful to
+him, and that he thought himself to be aggrieved in that his daughter
+would not marry her cousin; whereas, over at the cottage, there was a
+still more bitter feeling against Mr Belton,--a feeling so bitter, that
+it almost induced Clara to wish that her cousin was not coming to
+them.
+
+But the cousin did come, and was driven up to the door in the gig
+from Taunton, just as had been the case on his previous visit. Then,
+however, he had come in the full daylight, and the hay-carts had been
+about, and all the prettiness and warmth of summer had been there;
+now it was mid-winter, and there had been some slight beginnings of
+snow, and the wind was moaning about the old tower, and the outside
+of the house looked very unpleasant from the hall-door. As it had
+become dusk in the afternoon, the old squire had been very careful in
+his orders as to preparations for Will's comfort,--as though Clara
+would have forgotten all those things in the preoccupation of her
+mind, caused by the constancy of her thoughts towards Will's rival.
+He even went so far as to creep across the upstairs landing-place to
+see that the fire was lighted in Will's room, this being the first
+time that he had left his chamber for many days and had given special
+orders as to the food which was to be prepared for Will's dinner in a
+very different spirit from that which had dictated some former orders
+when Will was about to make his first visit, and when his coming had
+been regarded by the old man as a heartless, indelicate, and almost
+hostile proceeding.
+
+'I wish I could go down to receive him,' said Mr Amedroz,
+plaintively. 'I hope he won't take it amiss.'
+
+'You may be sure he won't do that.'
+
+'Perhaps I can tomorrow.'
+
+'Dear papa, you had better not think of it till the weather is
+milder.'
+
+'Milder! how is it to get milder at this time of the year?'
+
+'Of course he'll come up to you, papa.'
+
+'He's very good. I know he's very good. No one also would do as
+much.'
+
+Clara understood accurately what all this meant. Of course she was
+glad that her father should feel so kindly towards her cousin, and
+think so much of his coming; but every word said by the old man in
+praise of Will Belton implied an equal amount of dispraise as
+regarded Captain Aylmer, and contained a reproach against his
+daughter for having refused the former and accepted the latter.
+
+Clara was in the hall when Belton arrived, and received him as he
+entered, enveloped in his damp great-coats. 'It is so good of you to
+come in such weather,' she said.
+
+'Nice seasonable weather, I call it,' he said. It was the same
+comfortable, hearty, satisfactory voice which had done so much
+towards making his way for him on his first arrival at Belton Castle
+The voices to which Clara was most accustomed were querulous as
+though the world had been found by the owners of them to be but a bad
+place. But Belton's voice seemed to speak of cheery days and happy
+friends, and a general state of things which made life worth having.
+Nevertheless, forty-eight hours had not yet passed over his head
+since he was walking about London in such misery that he had almost
+cursed the hour in which he was born. His misery still remained with
+him, as black now as it had been then; and yet his voice was cheery.
+The sick birds, we are told, creep into holes, that they may die
+alone and unnoticed; and the wounded beasts hide themselves that
+their grief may not be seen of their fellows. A man has the same
+instinct to conceal the weakness of his sufferings; but, if he be a
+man, he hides it in his own heart, keeping it for solitude and the
+watches of the night, while to the outer world he carries a face on
+which his care has made no marks.
+
+'You will be sorry to hear that papa is too ill to come downstairs.'
+
+'Is he, indeed? I am truly sorry. I had heard he was ill; but did not
+know he was so ill as that.'
+
+'Perhaps he fancies himself weaker than he is.'
+
+'We must try and cure him of that. I can see him, I hope?'
+
+'Oh dear, yes. He is most anxious for you to go to him. As soon as
+ever you can come upstairs I will take you.' He had already stripped
+himself of his wrappings, and declaring himself ready, at once
+followed Clara to the squire's room.
+
+'I'm sorry, sir, to find you in this way,' he said.
+
+'I'm very poorly, Will very,' said the squire, putting out his hand
+as though he were barely able to lift it above his knee. Now it
+certainly was the fact that half an hour before he had been walking
+across the passage.
+
+'We must see if we can't soon make you better among us,' said Will.
+
+The squire shook his head with a slow, melancholy movement, not
+raising his eyes from the ground. 'I don't think you'll ever see me
+much better, Will,' he said. And yet half an hour since he had been
+talking of being down in the dining-room on the next day. 'I shan't
+trouble you much longer,' said the squire. 'You'll soon have it all
+without paying rent for it.'
+
+This was very unpleasant, and almost frustrated Belton's attempts to
+be cheery. But he persevered nevertheless. 'It'll be a long time yet
+before that day comes, sir.'
+
+'Ah; that's easily said. But never mind. Why should I want to remain
+when I shall have once seen her properly settled. I've nothing to
+live for except that she may have a home.'
+
+On this subject it was quite impossible that Belton should say
+anything. Clara was standing by him, and she, as he knew, was engaged
+to Captain Aylmer. So circumstanced, what could he say as to Clara's
+settlement in life? That something should be said between him and the
+old man, and something also between him and Clara, was a matter of
+course; but it was quite out of the question that he should discuss
+Clara's prospects in life in presence of them both together.
+
+'Papa's illness makes him a little melancholy,' said Clara.
+
+'Of course of course. It always does,' said Will.
+
+'I think he will be better when the weather becomes milder,' said
+Clara.
+
+'I suppose I may be allowed to know how I feel myself,' said the
+squire. 'But don't keep Will up here when he wants his dinner. There;
+that'll do. You'd better leave me now.' Then Will went out to his old
+room, and a quarter of an hour afterwards he found himself seated
+with Clara at the dinner-table; and a quarter of an hour after that
+the dinner was over, and they had both drawn their chairs to the
+fire.
+
+Neither of them knew how to begin with the other. Clara was under no
+obligation to declare her engagement to her cousin, but yet she felt
+that it would be unhandsome in her not to do so. Had Will never made
+the mistake of wanting to marry her himself, she would have done so
+as a matter of course. Had she supposed him to cherish any intention
+of renewing that mistake she would have felt herself bound to tell
+him so that he might save himself from unnecessary pain. But she gave
+him credit for no such intention, and yet she could not but remember
+that scene among the rocks. And then was she, or was she not, to say
+anything to him about the Askertons? With him also the difficulty was
+as great. He did not in truth believe that the tidings which he had
+heard from his friend the lawyer required corroboration; but yet it
+was necessary that he should know from herself that she had disposed
+of her hand and it was necessary also that he should say some word to
+her as to their future standing and friendship.
+
+'You must be very anxious to see how your farm goes on,' said she.
+
+He had not thought much of his agricultural venture at Belton for the
+last three or four days, and would hardly have been vexed had he been
+told that every head of cattle about the place had died of the
+murrain. Some general idea of the expediency of going on with a thing
+which he had commenced still actuated him; but it was the principle
+involved, and not the speculation itself, which interested him. But
+he could not explain all this, and he therefore was driven to some
+cold agreement with her. 'The farm! you mean the stock. Yes; I shall
+go and have a look at them early tomorrow. I suppose they're all
+alive.'
+
+'Pudge says that they are doing uncommonly well.' Pudge was a leading
+man among the Belton labourers, whom Will had hired to look after his
+concerns.
+
+'That's all right. I dare say Pudge knows quite as much about it as I
+do.'
+
+'But the master's eye is everything.'
+
+'Pudge's eye is quite as good as mine; and probably much better, as
+he knows the country.'
+
+'You used to say that it was everything for a man to look after his
+own interests.'
+
+'And I do look after them. Pudge and I will go and have a look at
+every beast tomorrow, and I shall look very wise and pretend to know
+more about it than he does. In stock-farming the chief thing is not
+to have too many beasts. They used to say that half-stocking was
+whole profit, and whole-stocking was half profit. If the animals
+have plenty to eat, and the rent isn't too high, they'll take care
+of their owner.'
+
+'But then there is so much illness.'
+
+'I always insure.'
+
+Clara perceived that the subject of the cattle didn't suit the
+present occasion. When he had before been at Belton he had liked
+nothing so much as talking about the cattle-sheds, and the land, and
+the kind of animals which would suit the place; but now the novelty
+of the thing was gone and the farmer did not wish to talk of his
+farm. In her anxiety to find a topic which would not be painful, she
+went from the cattle to the cow. 'You can't think what a pet Bess has
+been with us. And she seems to think that she is privileged to go
+everywhere, and do anything.'
+
+'I hope they have taken care that she has had winter food.'
+
+'Winter food! Why Pudge, and all the Pudges, and all the family in
+the house, and all your cattle would have to want, before Bessy would
+be allowed to miss a meal. Pudge always says, with his sententious
+shake of the head, that the young squire was very particular about
+Bessy.'
+
+'Those Alderneys want a little care that's all.'
+
+Bessy was of no better service to Clara in her present difficulty
+than the less aristocratic herd of common cattle. There was a pause
+for a moment, and then she began again. 'How did you leave your
+sister, Will?'
+
+'Much the same as usual. I think she has borne the first of the cold
+weather better than she did last year.'
+
+'I do so wish that I knew her.'
+
+'Perhaps you will some day. But I don't suppose that you ever will.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'It's not likely that you'll ever come to Plaistow now and Mary never
+leaves it except to go to my uncle's.'
+
+Clara instantly knew that he had heard of her engagement, though she
+could not imagine from what source he had heard it. There was
+something in the tone of his voice something especially in the
+expression of that word 'now', which told her that it must be so. 'I
+should be so glad to go there if I could,' she said, with that
+special hypocrisy which belongs to women, and is allowed to them;
+'but, of course, I cannot leave papa in his present state.'
+
+'And if you did leave him you would not go to Plaistow.'
+
+'Not unless you and Mary asked me.'
+
+'And you wouldn't if we did. How could you?'
+
+'What do you mean, Will? It seems as though you were almost savage to
+me.'
+
+'Am I? Well I feel savage, but not to you.'
+
+'Nor to any one, I hope, belonging to me.' She knew that it was all
+coming; that the whole subject of her future life must now be
+discussed; and she began to fear that the discussion might not be
+easy. But she did not know how to give it a direction. She feared
+that he would become angry, and yet she knew not why. He had accepted
+his own rejection tranquilly, and could hardly take it as an offence
+that she should now be engaged to Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Mr Green has told me', said he, 'that you are going to be married.'
+
+'How could Mr Green have known?'
+
+'He did know at least I suppose he knew, for he told me.'
+
+'How very odd.'
+
+'I suppose it is true?' Clara did not make any immediate answer, and
+then he repeated the question. 'I suppose it is true?'
+
+'It is true that I am engaged.'
+
+'To Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes; to Captain Aylmer. You know that I had known him very long. I
+hope that you are not angry with me because I did not write and tell
+you. Strange as it may seem, seeing that you had heard it already, it
+is not a week yet since it was settled; and had I written to you, I
+could only have addressed my letter to you here.'
+
+'I wasn't thinking about that. I didn't specially want you to write
+to me. What difference would it make?'
+
+'But I should have felt that I owed it to your kindness and your
+regard for me.'
+
+'My regard! What's the use of regard?'
+
+'You are not going to quarrel with me, Will, because--because--because--.
+If you had really been my brother, as you once said you would be, you
+could not but have approved of what I have done.'
+
+'But I am not your brother.'
+
+'Oh, Will; that sounds so cruel!'
+
+'I am not your brother, and I have no right to approve or
+disapprove.'
+
+'I will not say that I could make my engagement with Captain Aylmer
+dependent on your approval. It would not be fair to him to do so, and
+it would put me into a false position.'
+
+'Have I asked you to make any such absurd sacrifice?'
+
+'Listen to me, Will. I say that I could not do that. But, short of
+that, there is nothing I would not do to satisfy you. I think so much
+of your judgment and goodness, and so very much of your affection; I
+love you so dearly, that Oh, Will, say a kind word to me!'
+
+'A kind word; yes, but what sort of kindness?'
+
+'You must know that Captain Aylmer'
+
+'Don't talk to me of Captain Aylmer. Have I said anything against
+him? Have I ventured to make any objection? Of course, I know his
+superiority to myself. I know that he is a man of the world, and that
+I am not; that he is educated, and that I am ignorant; that he has a
+position, and that I have none; that he has much to offer, and that I
+have nothing. Of course, I see the difference; but that does not make
+me comfortable.'
+
+'Will, I had learned to love him before I had ever seen you.'
+
+'Why didn't you tell me so, that I might have known there was no
+hope, and have gone away utterly out of the kingdom? If it was all
+settled then, why didn't you tell me, and save me from breaking my
+heart with false hopes?'
+
+'Nothing was settled then. I hardly knew my own mind; but yet I loved
+him. There; cannot you understand it? Have I not told you enough?'
+
+'Yes, I understand it.'
+
+'And do you blame me?'
+
+He paused awhile before he answered her. 'No; I do not blame you. I
+suppose I must blame no one but myself. But you should bear with me.
+I was so happy, and now I am so wretched.'
+
+There was nothing that she could say to comfort him. She had
+altogether mistaken the nature of the man's regard, and had even
+mistaken the very nature of the man. So much she now learned, and
+could tell herself that had she known him better she would either
+have prevented this second visit, or would have been careful that he
+should have learned the truth from herself before he came. Now she
+could only wait till he should again have got strength to hide his
+suffering under the veil of his own manliness.
+
+'I have not a word to say against what you are doing,' he said at
+last; 'not a word. But you will understand what I mean when I tell
+you that it is not likely that you will come to Plaistow.'
+
+'Some day, Will, when you have a wife of your own--'
+
+'Very well; but we won't talk about that at present, if you please.
+When I have, things will be different. In the meantime your course
+and mine will be separate. You, I suppose, will be with him in
+London, while I shall be,--at the devil as likely as not.'
+
+'How can you speak to me in that way? Is that like being my brother?'
+
+'I don't feel like being your brother. However, I beg your pardon,
+and now we will have done with it. Spilt milk can't be helped, and my
+milk pans have got themselves knocked over. That's all. Don't you
+think we ought to go up to your father again?'
+
+On the following day Belton and Mr Amedroz discussed the same
+subject, but the conversation went off very quietly. Will was
+determined not to exhibit his weakness before the father as he had
+done before the daughter. When the squire, with a maundering voice,
+drawled out some expression of regret that his daughter's choice had
+not fallen in another place, Will was able to say that bygones must
+be bygones. He regretted it also, but that was now over. And when the
+squire endeavoured to say a few ill-natured words about Captain
+Aylmer, Will stopped him at once by asserting that the captain was
+all that he ought to be.
+
+'And it would have made me so happy to think that my daughter's child
+should come to live in his grandfather's old house,' murmured Mr
+Amedroz.
+
+'And there's no knowing that he mayn't do so yet,' said Will. 'But
+all these things are so doubtful that a man is wrong to fix his
+happiness upon them.' After that he went out to ramble about, the
+place, and before the third day was over Clara was able to perceive
+that, in spite of what he had said, he was as busy about the cattle
+as though his bread depended on them.
+
+Nothing had been said as yet about the Askertons, and Clara had
+resolved that their name should not first be mentioned by her. Mrs
+Askerton had prophesied that Will would have some communication to
+make about herself, and Clara would at any rate see whether her
+cousin would, of his own accord, introduce the subject. But three
+days passed by, and he had made no allusion to the cottage or its
+inhabitants. This in itself was singular, as the Askertons were the
+only local friends whom Clara knew, and as Belton had become
+personally acquainted with Mrs Askerton. But such was the case; and
+when Mr Amedroz once said something about Mrs Askerton in the
+presence of both Clara and Belton, they both of them shrank from the
+subject in a manner that made Clara understand that any conversation
+about the Askertons was to be avoided. On the fourth day Clara saw
+Mrs Askerton, but then Will Belton's name was not mentioned. There
+was therefore, among them all, a sense of some mystery which made
+them uncomfortable, and which seemed to admit of no solution. Clara
+was more sure than ever that her cousin had made no inquiries that he
+should not have made, and that he would put no information that he
+might have to an improper use. But of such certainty on her part she
+could say nothing.
+
+Three weeks passed by, and it seemed as though Belton's visit were to
+come to an end without any further open trouble. Now and then
+something was said about. Captain Aylmer; but it was very little, and
+Belton made no further reference to his own feelings. It had come to
+be understood that his visit was to be limited to a month; and to
+both him and Clara the month wore itself away slowly, neither of them
+having much pleasure in the society of the other. The old squire came
+down stairs once for an hour or two, and spent the whole time in
+bitter complaints. Everything was wrong, and everybody was
+ill-treating him. Even with Will he quarrelled, or did his best to
+quarrel, in regard to everything about the place, though at the same
+time he did not cease to grumble at his visitor for going away
+and leaving him. Belton bore it all so well that the grumbling
+and quarrelling did not lead to much; but it required all his
+good-humour and broad common sense to prevent serious troubles and
+misunderstanding.
+
+During the period of her cousin's visit at Belton, Clara received two
+letters from Captain Aylmer, who was spending the Christmas holidays
+with his father and mother, and on the day previous to that of her
+cousin's departure there came a third. In neither of these letters
+was there much said about Sir Anthony, but they were all very full of
+Lady Aylmer. In the first he wrote with something of the personal
+enthusiasm of a lover and therefore Clara hardly felt the little
+drawbacks to her happiness which were contained in certain innuendoes
+respecting Lady Aylmer's ideas, and Lady Aylmer's hopes, and Lady
+Aylmer's fears. Clara was not going to marry Lady Aylmer, and did not
+fear but that she could hold her own against any mother-in-law in the
+world when once they should be brought face to face. And as long as
+Captain Aylmer seemed to take her part rather than that of his mother
+it was all very well. The second letter was more trying to her
+temper, as it contained one or two small morsels of advice as to
+conduct which had evidently originated with her ladyship. Now there
+is nothing, I take it, so irritating to an engaged young lady as
+counsel from her intended husband's mamma. An engaged young lady, if
+she be really in love, will take almost anything from her lover as
+long as she is sure that it comes altogether from himself. He may
+take what liberties he pleases with her dress. He may prescribe high
+church or low church if he be not, as is generally the case, in a
+condition to accept, rather than to give, prescriptions on that
+subject. He may order almost any course of reading providing that he
+supply the books. And he may even interfere with the style of
+dancing, and recommend or prohibit partners. But he may not thrust
+his mother down his future wife's throat. In answer to the second
+letter, Clara did not say much to show her sense of objection. Indeed
+she said nothing. But in saying nothing she showed her objection, and
+Captain Aylmer understood it. Then came the third letter, and as it
+contained matter touching upon our story, it shall be given entire
+and I hope it may be taken by gentlemen about to marry as a fair
+specimen of the sort of letter they ought not to write to the girls
+of their hearts:
+
+
+Aylmer Castle, 19th January, 186--.
+
+'Dearest Clara,--I got your letter of the 16th yesterday, and was sorry
+you said nothing in reference to my mother's ideas as to the house at
+Perivale. Of course she knew that I heard from you, and was
+disappointed when, I was obliged to tell her, that you had not
+alluded to the subject. She is very anxious about you, and, having
+now given her assent to our marriage, is of course desirous of
+knowing that her kindly feeling is reciprocated. I assured her that
+my own Clara was the last person to be remiss in such a matter, and
+reminded her that young ladies are seldom very careful in their mode
+of answering letters. Remember, therefore, that I am now your
+guarantee, and send some message to relieve me from my liability.
+
+'When I told her of your father's long illness, which she laments
+greatly, and of your cousin's continued presence at Belton Castle,
+she seemed to think that Mr Belton's visit should not be prolonged.
+When I told her that he was your nearest relative, she remarked that
+cousins are the same as any other people,--which indeed they are. I
+know that my Clara will not suppose that I mean more by this than the
+words convey. Indeed I mean less. But not having the advantage of a
+mother of your own, you will not be sorry to know what are my
+mother's opinions on matters which so nearly concern you.
+
+'And now I come to another subject, as to which what I shall say will
+surprise you very much. You know, I think, that my aunt Winterfield
+and I had some conversation about your neighbours, the Askertons; and
+you will remember that my aunt, whose ideas on such matters were
+always correct, was a little afraid that your father had not made
+sufficient inquiry respecting them before he allowed them to settle
+near him as tenants. It now turns out that she is very far, indeed,
+from what she ought to be. My mother at first thought of writing to
+you about this; but she is a little fatigued, and at last resolved
+that under all the circumstances it might be as well that I should
+tell you. It seems that Mrs Askerton was married before to a certain
+Captain Berdmore, and that she left her first husband during his
+lifetime under the protection of Colonel Askerton. I believe they,
+the Colonel and Mrs Askerton, have been since married. Captain
+Berdmore died about four years ago in India, and it is probable that
+such a marriage has taken place. But under these circumstances, as
+Lady Aylmer says, you will at once perceive that all acquaintance
+between you and the lady should be brought to an end. Indeed, your
+own sense of what is becoming to you, either as an unmarried girl or
+as my future wife, or indeed as a woman at all, will at once make you
+feel that this must be so. I think, if I were you, I would tell the
+whole to Mr Amedroz; but this I will leave to your own discretion. I
+can assure you that Lady Aylmer has full proof as to the truth of
+what I tell you.
+
+'I go up to London in February. I suppose I may hardly hope to see you
+before the recess in July or August; but I trust that before that we
+shall have fixed the day when you will make me the happiest of men.
+
+'Yours, with truest affection,
+
+'F. F. AYLMER.'
+
+
+It was a disagreeable, nasty letter from the first line to the last.
+There was not a word in it which did not grate against Clara's
+feelings not a thought expressed which did not give rise to fears as
+to her future happiness. But the information which it contained about
+the Askertons 'the communication,' as Mrs Askerton herself would have
+called it made her for the moment almost forget Lady Aylmer and her
+insolence. Could this story be true? And if true, how far would it be
+imperative on her to take the hint, or rather obey the order, which
+had been given her? What steps should she take to learn the truth?
+Then she remembered Mrs Askerton's promise 'If you want to ask any
+questions, and will ask them of me, I will answer them.' The
+communication, as to which Mrs Askerton had prophesied, had now been
+made but it had been made not by Will Belton, whom Mrs Askerton had
+reviled, but by Captain Aylmer, whose praises Mrs Askerton had so
+loudly sung. As Clara thought of this, she could not analyse her own
+feelings, which were not devoid of a certain triumph. She had known
+that Belton would not put on his armour to attack a woman. Captain
+Aylmer had done so, and she was hardly surprised at his doing it. Yet
+Captain Aylmer was the man she loved! Captain Aylmer was the man she
+had promised to marry. But, in truth, she hardly knew which was the
+man she loved!
+
+This letter came on a Sunday morning, and on that day she and Belton
+went to church together. On the following morning early he was to
+start for Taunton. At church they saw Mrs Askerton, whose attendance
+there was not very frequent. It seemed, indeed, as though she had
+come with the express purpose of seeing Belton once during his visit.
+As they left the church she bowed to him, and that was all they saw
+of each other throughout the month that he remained in Somersetshire.
+
+'Come to me tomorrow Clara,' Mrs Askerton said as they all passed
+through the village together. Clara muttered some reply, having not
+as yet made up her mind as to what her conduct must be. Early on the
+next morning Will Belton went away, and again Clara got up to give
+him his breakfast. On this occasion he had no thought of kissing her.
+He went away without having had a word said to him about Mrs
+Askerton, and then Clara settled herself down to the work of
+deliberation. What should she do with reference to the communication
+that had been made to her by Captain Aylmer?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AYLMER PARK
+
+Aylmer Park and the great house of the Aylmers together formed an
+important and, as regarded in some minds, an imposing country
+residence. The park was large, including some three or four hundred
+acres, and was peopled, rather thinly, by aristocratic deer. It was
+surrounded by an aristocratic paling, and was entered, at three
+different points, by aristocratic lodges. The sheep were more
+numerous than the deer, because Sir Anthony, though he had a large
+income, was not in very easy circumstances. The ground was quite
+flat; and though there were thin belts of trees, and some ornamental
+timber here and there, it was not well wooded. It had no special
+beauty of its own, and depended for its imposing qualities chiefly on
+its size, on its three sets of double lodges, and on its old
+established character as an important family place in the county. The
+house was of stone, with a portico of Ionic columns which looked as
+though it hardly belonged of right to the edifice, and stretched
+itself out grandly, with two pretentious wings, which certainly gave
+it a just claim to be called a mansion. It required a great many
+servants to keep it in order, and the numerous servants required an
+experienced duenna, almost as grand in appearance as Lady Aylmer
+herself, to keep them in order. There was an open carriage and a
+closed carriage, and a butler, and two footmen, and three
+gamekeepers, and four gardeners, and there was a coachman, and there
+were grooms, and sundry inferior men and boys about the place to do
+the work which the gardeners and game-keepers and grooms did not
+choose to do themselves. And they all became fat, and lazy, and
+stupid, and respectable together; so that, as the reader will at once
+perceive, Aylmer Park was kept up in the proper English style. Sir
+Anthony very often discussed with his steward the propriety of
+lessening the expenditure of his residence, and Lady Aylmer always
+attended and probably directed these discussions; but it was found
+that nothing could be done. Any attempt to remove a gamekeeper or a
+gardener would evidently throw the whole machinery of Aylmer Park out
+of gear. If retrenchment was necessary Aylmer Park must be abandoned,
+and the glory of the Aylmers must be allowed to pale. But things were
+not so bad as that with Sir Anthony. The gardeners, grooms, and
+gamekeepers were maintained; ten domestic servants sat down to four
+heavy meals in the servants' hall every day, and Lady Aylmer
+contented herself with receiving little or no company, and with
+stingy breakfasts and bad dinners for herself and her husband and
+daughter. By all this it must be seen that she did her duty as the
+wife of an English country gentleman, and properly maintained his
+rank as a baronet.
+
+He was a heavy man, over seventy years of age, much afflicted with
+gout, and given to no pursuit on earth which was available for his
+comfort. He had been a hunting man, and he had shot also; but not
+with that energy which induces a sportsman to carry on those
+amusements in opposition to the impediments of age. He had been, and
+still was, a county magistrate; but he had never been very successful
+in the justice-room, and now seldom troubled the county with his
+judicial incompetence. He had been fond of good dinners and good
+wine, and still, on occasions, would make attempts at enjoyment in
+that line; but the gout and Lady Aylmer together were too many for
+him, and he had but small opportunity for filling up the blanks of
+his existence out of the kitchen or cellar. He was a big man, with a
+broad chest, and a red face, and a quantity of white hair and was
+much given to abusing his servants. He took some pleasure in
+standing, with two sticks, on the top of the steps before his own
+front door, and railing at any one who came in his way. But he could
+not do this when Lady Aylmer was by; and his dependents, knowing his
+habits, had fallen into an ill-natured way of deserting the side of
+the house which he frequented. With his eldest son, Anthony Aylmer,
+he was not on very good terms; and though there was no positive
+quarrel, the heir did not often come to Aylmer Park. Of his son
+Frederic he was proud and the best days of his life were probably
+those which Captain Aylmer spent at the house. The table was then
+somewhat more generously spread, and this was an excuse for having up
+the special port in which he delighted. Altogether his life was not
+very attractive; and though he had been born to a baronetcy, and
+eight thousand a-year, and the possession of Aylmer Park, I do not
+think that he was, or had been, a happy man.
+
+Lady Aylmer was more fortunate. She had occupations of which her
+husband knew nothing, and for which he was altogether unfit. Though
+she could not succeed in making retrenchments, the could and did
+succeed in keeping the household books. Sir Anthony could only blow
+up the servants when they were thoughtless enough to come in his way,
+and in doing that was restricted by his wife's presence. But Lady
+Aylmer could get at them day and night. She had no gout to impede her
+progress about the house and grounds, and could make her way to
+places which the master never saw; and then she wrote many letters
+daily, whereas Sir Anthony hardly ever took a pen in his hand. And
+she knew the cottages of all the poor about the place, and knew also
+all their sins of omission and commission. She was driven out, too,
+every day, summer and winter, wet and dry, and consumed enormous
+packets of wool and worsted, which were sent to her monthly from
+York. And she had a companion in her daughter, whereas Sir Anthony
+had no companion. Wherever Lady Aylmer went, Miss Aylmer went with
+her, and relieved what might otherwise have been the tedium of her
+life. She had been a beauty on a large scale, and was still aware
+that she had much in her personal appearance which justified pride.
+She carried herself uprightly, with a commanding nose and broad
+forehead; and though the graces of her own hair had given way to a
+front, there was something even in the front which added to her
+dignity, if it did not make her a handsome woman.
+
+Miss Aylmer, who was the eldest of the younger generation, and who
+was now gently descending from her fortieth year, lacked the strength
+of her mother's character, but admired her mother's ways, and
+followed Lady Aylmer in all things at a distance. She was very good
+as indeed was Lady Aylmer entertaining a high idea of duty, and aware
+that her own life admitted of but little self-indulgence. She had no
+pleasures, she incurred no expenses; and was quite alive to the fact
+that as Aylmer Park required a regiment of lazy, gormandizing
+servants to maintain its position in the county, the Aylmers
+themselves should not be lazy, and should not gormandize. No one was
+more careful with her few shillings than Miss Aylmer. She had,
+indeed, abandoned a life's correspondence with an old friend because
+she would not pay the postage on letters to Italy. She knew that it
+was for the honour of the family that one of her brothers should sit
+in Parliament, and was quite willing to deny herself a new dress
+because sacrifices must be made to lessen electioneering expenses.
+She knew that it was her lot to be driven about slowly in a carriage
+with a livery servant before her and another behind her, and then eat
+a dinner which the cook-maid would despise. She was aware that it was
+her duty to be snubbed by her mother, and to encounter her father's
+ill-temper, and to submit to her brother's indifference, and to have,
+so to say, the slightest possible modicum of personal individuality.
+She knew that she had never attracted a man's love, and might hardly
+hope to make friends for the comfort of her coming age. But still she
+was contented, and felt that she had consolation for it all in the
+fact that she was am. Aylmer. She read many novels, and it cannot but
+be supposed that something of regret would steal over her as she
+remembered that nothing of the romance of life had ever, or could
+ever, come in her way. She wept over the loves of many women, though
+she had never been happy or unhappy in her own. She read of gaiety,
+though she never encountered it, and must have known that the world
+elsewhere was less dull than it was at Aylmer Park. But she took her
+life as it came, without a complaint, and prayed that God would make
+her humble in the high position to which it had pleased Him to call
+her. She hated Radicals, and thought that Essays and Reviews, and
+Bishop Colenso, came direct from the Evil One. She taught the little
+children in the parish, being specially urgent to them always to
+courtesy when they saw any of the family and was as ignorant, meek,
+and stupid a poor woman as you shall find anywhere in Europe.
+
+It may be imagined that Captain Aylmer, who knew the comforts of his
+club and was accustomed to life in London, would feel the dullness of
+the paternal roof to be almost unendurable. In truth, he was not very
+fond of Aylmer Park, but he was more gifted with patience than most
+men of his age and position, and was aware that it behoved him to
+keep the Fifth Commandment if he expected to have his own days
+prolonged in the land. He therefore made his visits periodically, and
+contented himself with clipping a few days at both ends from the
+length prescribed by family tradition, which his mother was desirous
+of exacting. September was always to be passed at Aylmer Park,
+because of the shooting. In September, indeed, the eldest son himself
+was wont to be there probably with a friend or two and the fat old
+servants bestirred themselves, and there was something of life about
+the place. At Christmas, Captain Aylmer was there as the only
+visitor, and Christmas was supposed to extend from the middle of
+December to the opening of Parliament. It must, however, be
+explained, that on the present occasion his visit had been a matter
+of treaty and compromise. He had not gone to Aylmer Park at all till
+his mother had in some sort assented to his marriage with Clara
+Amedroz. To this Lady Aylmer had been very averse, and there had been
+many serious letters. Belinda Aylmer, the daughter of the house, had
+had a bad time in pleading her brother's cause and some very harsh
+words had been uttered but ultimately the matter had been arranged,
+and, as is usual in such contests, the mother had yielded to the son.
+Captain Aylmer had therefore gone down a few days before Christmas,
+with a righteous feeling that he owed much to his mother for her
+condescension, and almost prepared to make himself very disagreeable
+to Clara by way of atoning to his family for his folly in desiring to
+marry her.
+
+Lady Aylmer was very plain-spoken on the subject of all Clara's
+shortcomings very plain-spoken, and very inquisitive. 'She will never
+have one shilling, I suppose?' she said.
+
+'Yes, ma'am.' Captain Aylmer always called his mother 'ma'am'. 'She
+will have that fifteen hundred pounds that I told you of.'
+
+'That is to say, you will have back the money which you yourself have
+given her, Fred. I suppose that is the English of it?' Then Lady
+Aylmer raised her eyebrows and looked very wise.
+
+'Just so, ma'am.'
+
+'You can't call that having anything of her own. In point of fact she
+is penniless.'
+
+'It is no good harping on that,' said Captain Aylmer, somewhat
+sharply.
+
+'Not in the least, my dear; no good at all. Of course you have looked
+it all in the face. You will be a poor man instead of a rich man, but
+you will have enough to live on that is if she doesn't have a large
+family which of course she will.'
+
+'I shall do very well, ma'am.'
+
+'You might do pretty well, I dare say, if you could live privately at
+Perivale, keeping up the old family house there, and having no
+expenses; but you'll find even that close enough with your seat in
+Parliament, and the necessity there is that you should be half the
+year in London. Of course she won't go to London. She can't expect
+it. All that had better be made quite clear at once.' Hence had come
+the letter about the house at Perivale, containing Lady Aylmer's
+advice on that subject, as to which Clara made no reply.
+
+Lady Aylmer, though she had given her assent, was still not
+altogether without hope. It might be possible that the two young
+people could be brought to see the folly and error of their ways
+before it would be too late; and that Lady Aylmer, by a judicious
+course of constant advice, might be instrumental in opening the eyes,
+if not of the lady, at any rate of the gentleman. She had great
+reliance on her own powers, and knew well that a falling drop will
+hollow a stone. Her son manifested no hot eagerness to complete his
+folly in a hurry, and to cut the throat of his prospects out of hand.
+Time, therefore, would be allowed to her, and she was a woman who
+could use time with patience. Having, through her son, dispatched her
+advice about the house at Perivale,--which simply amounted to this,
+that Clara should expressly state her willingness to live there alone
+whenever it might suit her husband to be in London or elsewhere,--she
+went to work on other points, connected with the Amedroz family, and
+eventually succeeded in learning something very much like the truth
+as to poor Mrs Askerton and her troubles. At first she was so
+comfortably horror-stricken by the iniquity she had unravelled,--so
+delightfully shocked and astounded,--as to believe that the facts as
+they then stood would suffice to annul the match.
+
+'You don't tell me', she said to Belinda, 'that Frederic's wife will
+have been the friend of such a woman as that!' And Lady Aylmer,
+sitting upstairs with her household books before her, put up her
+great fat hands and her great fat arms, and shook her head,--front and
+all,--in most satisfactory dismay.
+
+'But I suppose Clara did not know it.' Belinda had considered it to
+be an act of charity to call Miss Amedroz Clara since the family
+consent had been given.
+
+'Didn't know it! They have been living in that sort of way that they
+must have been confidantes in everything. Besides, I always hold that
+a woman is responsible for her female friends.'
+
+'I think if she consents to drop her at once that is, absolutely to
+make a promise that she will never speak to her again Frederic ought
+to take that as sufficient. That is, of course, mamma, unless she has
+had anything to do with it herself.'
+
+'After this I don't know how I'm to trust her. I don't indeed. It
+seems to me that she has been so artful throughout. It has been a
+regular case of catching.'
+
+'I suppose, of course, that she has been anxious to marry Frederic
+but perhaps that was natural.'
+
+'Anxious look at her going there just when he had to meet his
+constituents. How young women can do such things passes me! And how
+it is that men don't see it all, when it's going on just under their
+noses, I can't understand. And then, her getting my poor dear sister
+to speak to him when she was dying! I didn't think your aunt would
+have been so weak.' It will be thus seen that there was entire
+confidence on this subject between Lady Aylmer and her daughter.
+
+We know what were the steps taken with reference to the discovery,
+and how the family were waiting for Clara's reply. Lady Aylmer,
+though in her words she attributed so much mean cunning to Miss
+Amedroz, still was disposed to believe that that lady would show
+rather a high spirit on this occasion; and trusted to that high
+spirit as the means for making the breach which she still hoped to
+accomplish. It had been intended or rather desired that Captain
+Aylmer's letter should have been much sharper and authoritative than
+he had really made it; but the mother could not write the letter
+herself, and had felt that to write in her own name would not have
+served to create anger on Clara's part against her betrothed. But she
+had quite succeeded in inspiring her son with a feeling of horror
+against the iniquity of the Askertons. He was prepared to be
+indignantly moral; and perhaps the misguided Clara might be silly
+enough to say a word for her lost friend! Such being the present
+position of affairs, there was certainly ground for hope.
+
+And now they were all waiting for Clara's answer. Lady Aylmer had
+well calculated the course of post, and knew that a letter might
+reach them by Wednesday morning. 'Of course she will not write on
+Sunday,' she had said to her son, 'but you have a right to expect
+that not another day should go by.' Captain Aylmer, who felt that
+they were putting Clara on her trial, shook his head impatiently, and
+made no immediate answer. Lady Aylmer, triumphantly feeling that she
+had the culprit on the hip, did not care to notice this. She was
+doing the best she could for his happiness as she had done for his
+health, when in days gone by she had administered to him his
+infantine rhubarb and early senna; but as she had never then expected
+him to like her doses, neither did she now expect that he should be
+well pleased at the remedial measures to which he was to be
+subjected.
+
+No letter came on the Wednesday, nor did any come on the Thursday,
+and then it was thought by the ladies at the Park that the time had
+come for speaking a word or two. Belinda, at her mother's instance,
+began the attack not in her mother's presence, but when she only was
+with her brother.
+
+'Isn't it odd, Frederic, that Clara shouldn't write about those
+people at Belton?'
+
+'Somersetshire is the other side of London, and letters take a long
+time.'
+
+'But if she had written on Monday, her answer would have been here on
+Wednesday morning indeed, you would have had it Tuesday evening, as
+mamma sent over to Whitby for the day mail letters.' Poor Belinda was
+a bad lieutenant, and displayed too much of her senior officer's
+tactics in thus showing how much calculation and how much solicitude
+there had been as to the expected letter.
+
+'If I am contented I suppose you may be,' said the brother.
+
+'But it does seem to me to be so very important! If she hasn't got
+your letter, you know, it would be so necessary that you should write
+again, so that the--the--contamination should be stopped as soon as
+possible.' Captain Aylmer shook his head and walked away. He was, no
+doubt, prepared to be morally indignant,--morally very indignant,--at
+the Askerton iniquity; but he did not like the word contamination as
+applied to his future wife.
+
+'Frederic,' said his mother, later on the same day when the
+hardly-used groom had returned from his futile afternoon's inquiry at
+the neighbouring post town,--'I think you should do something in this
+affair.'
+
+'Do what, ma'am? Go off to Belton myself?'
+
+'No, no. I certainly would not do that. In the first place it would
+be very inconvenient to you, and in the next place it would not be
+fair upon us. I did not mean that at all. But I think that something
+should be done. She should be made to understand.'
+
+'You may be sure, ma'am, that she understands as well as anybody.'
+
+'I dare say she is clever enough at these kind of things.'
+
+'What kind of things?'
+
+'Don't bite my nose off, Frederic, because I am anxious about your
+wife.'
+
+'What is it that you wish me to do? I have written to her, and can
+only wait for her answer.'
+
+'It may be that she feels a delicacy in writing to you on such a
+subject; though I own However, to make a long story short, if you
+like, I will write to her myself.'
+
+'I don't see that that would do any good. It would only give her
+offence.'
+
+'Give her offence, Frederic, to receive a letter from her future
+mother-in-law from me! Only think, Frederic, what you are saying.'
+
+'If she thought she was being bullied about this, she would turn
+rusty at once.'
+
+'Turn rusty! What am I to think of a young lady who is prepared to
+turn rusty at once, too because she is cautioned by the mother of the
+man she professes to love against an improper acquaintance against an
+acquaintance so very improper?' Lady Aylmer's eloquence should have
+been heard to be appreciated. It is but tame to say that she raised
+her fat arms and fat hands, and wagged her front her front that was
+the more formidable as it was the old one, somewhat rough and
+dishevelled, which she was wont to wear in the morning. The emphasis
+of her words should have been heard, and the fitting solemnity of her
+action should have been seen. 'If there were any doubt,' she
+continued to say, 'but there is no doubt. There are the damning
+proofs.' There are certain words usually confined to the vocabularies
+of men, which women such as Lady Aylmer delight to use on special
+occasions, when strong circumstances demand strong language. As she
+said this she put her hand below the table, pressing it apparently
+against her own august person; but she was in truth indicating the
+position of a certain valuable correspondence, which was locked up in
+the drawer of her writing-table.
+
+'You can write if you like it, of course; but I think you ought to
+wait a few more days.'
+
+'Very well, Frederic; then I will wait. I will wait till Sunday. I do
+not wish to take any step of which you do not approve. If you have
+not heard by Sunday morning, then I will write to her on Monday.'
+
+On the Saturday afternoon life was becoming inexpressibly
+disagreeable to Captain Aylmer, and he began to meditate an escape
+from the Park. In spite of the agreement between him and his mother,
+which he understood to signify that nothing more was to be said as to
+Clara's wickedness, at any rate till Sunday after post-hour, Lady
+Aylmer had twice attacked him on the Saturday, and had expressed her
+opinion that affairs were in a very frightful position. Belinda went
+about the house in melancholy guise, with her eyes rarely lifted off
+the ground, as though she were prophetically weeping the utter ruin
+of her brother's respectability. And even Sir Anthony had raised his
+eyes and shaken his head, when, on opening the post-bag at the
+breakfast-table an operation which was always performed by Lady
+Aylmer in person her ladyship had exclaimed, 'again no letter!' Then
+Captain Aylmer thought that he would fly, and resolved that, in the
+event of such flight, he would give special orders as to the
+re-direction of his own letters from the post-office at Whitby.
+
+That evening, after dinner, as soon as his mother and sister had left
+the room, he began the subject with his father. 'I think I shall go
+up to town on Monday, sir,' said he.
+
+'So soon as that. I thought you were to stop till the 9th.'
+
+'There are things I must see to in London, and I believe I had better
+go at once.'
+
+'Your mother will be greatly disappointed.'
+
+'I shall be sorry for that;--but business is business, you know.' Then
+the father filled his glass and passed the bottle. He himself did not
+at all like the idea of his son's going before the appointed time,
+but he did not say a word of himself. He looked at the red-hot coals,
+and a hazy glimmer of a thought passed through his mind, that he too
+would escape from Aylmer Park,--if it were possible.
+
+'If you'll allow me, I'll take the dog-cart over to Whitby on Monday,
+for the express train.'
+
+'You can do that certainly, but--'
+
+'Sir?'
+
+'Have you spoken to your mother yet?'
+
+'Not yet. I will to-night.'
+
+'I think she'll be a little angry, Fred.' There was a sudden tone of
+subdued confidence in the old man's voice as he made this suggestion,
+which, though it was by no means a customary tone, his son well
+understood. 'Don't you think she will be eh, a little?'
+
+'She shouldn't go on as she does with me about Clara,' said the
+captain.
+
+'Ah,--I supposed there was something of that. Are you drinking port?'
+
+'Of course I know that she means all that is good,' said the son,
+passing back the bottle.
+
+'Oh yes;--she means all that is good.'
+
+'She is the best mother in the world.'
+
+'You may say that, Fred;--and the best wife.'
+
+'But if she can't have her own way altogether--' Then the son paused,
+and the father shook his head.
+
+'Of course she likes to have her own way,' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'It's all very well in some things.'
+
+'Yes;--it's very well in some things'
+
+'But there are things which a man must decide for himself.'
+
+'I suppose there are,' said Sir Anthony, not venturing to think what
+those things might be as regarded himself.
+
+'Now, with reference to marrying--'
+
+'I don't know what you want with marrying at all, Fred. You ought to
+be very happy as you are. By heavens, I don't know any one who ought
+to be happier. If I were you, I know--'
+
+'But you see, sir, that's all settled.'
+
+'If it's all settled, I suppose there's an end of it.'
+
+'It's no good my mother nagging at one.'
+
+'My dear boy, she's been nagging at me, as you call it, for forty
+years. That's her way. The best woman in the world, as we were saying
+but that's her way. And it's the way with most of them. They can do
+anything if they keep it up anything. The best thing is to bear it if
+you've got it to bear. But why on earth you should go and marry,
+seeing that you're not the eldest son, and that you've got everything
+on earth that you want as a bachelor, I can't understand. I can't
+indeed, Fred. By heaven, I can't!' Then Sir Anthony gave a long sigh,
+and sat musing awhile, thinking of the club in London to which he
+belonged, but which he never entered of the old days in which he had
+been master of a bedroom near St. James's Street of his old friends
+whom he never saw now, and of whom he never heard, except as one and
+another, year after year, shuffled away from their wives to that
+world in which there is no marrying or giving in marriage. Ah, well,'
+he said, 'I suppose we may as well go into the drawing-room. If it is
+settled, I suppose it is settled. But it really seems to me that your
+mother is trying to do the best she can for you. It really does.'
+
+Captain Aylmer did not say anything to his mother that night as to
+his going, but as he thought of his prospects in the solitude of his
+bedroom, he felt really grateful to his father for the solicitude
+which Sir Anthony had displayed on his behalf. It was not often that
+he received paternal counsel, but now that it had come he
+acknowledged its value. That Clara Amedroz was a self-willed woman he
+thought that he was aware. She was self-reliant, at any rate and by
+no means ready to succumb with that pretty feminine docility which he
+would like to have seen her evince. He certainly would not wish to be
+'nagged' by his wife Indeed he knew himself well enough to assure
+himself that he would not stand it for a day. In his own house he
+would be master, and if there came tempests he would rule them. He
+could at least promise himself that. As his mother had been strong,
+so had his father been weak. But he had as he felt thankful in
+knowing inherited his mother's strength rather than his father's
+weakness. But, for all that, why have a tempest to rule at all? Even
+though a man do rule his domestic tempests, he cannot have a very
+quiet house with them. Then again he remembered how very easily Clara
+had been won. He wished to be just to all men and women, and to Clara
+among the number. He desired even to be generous to her with a
+moderate generosity. But above all things he desired not to be duped.
+What if Clara had in truth instigated her aunt to that deathbed
+scene, as his mother had more than once suggested! He did not believe
+it. He was sure that it had not been so. But what if it were so? His
+desire to be generous and trusting was moderate but his desire not to
+be cheated, not to be deceived, was immoderate. Upon the whole might
+it not be well for him to wait a little longer, and ascertain how
+Clara really intended to behave herself in this emergency of the
+Askertons? Perhaps, after all, his mother might be right.
+
+On the Sunday the expected letter came but before its contents are
+made known, it will be well that we should go back to Belton, and see
+what was done by Clara in reference to the tidings which her lover
+had sent her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+MRS ASKERTON'S STORY
+
+When Clara received the letter from Captain Aylmer on which so much
+is supposed to hang, she made up her mind to say nothing of it to any
+one not to think of it if she could avoid thinking of it till her
+cousin should have left her. She could not mention it to him; for,
+though there was no one from whom she would sooner have asked advice
+than from him, even on so delicate a matter as this, she could not do
+so in the present case, as her informant was her cousin's successful
+rival. When, therefore, Mrs Askerton on leaving the church had spoken
+some customary word to Clara, begging her to come to the cottage on
+the following day, Clara had been unable to answer not having as yet
+made up her mind whether she would or would not go to the cottage
+again. Of course the idea of consulting her father occurred to her or
+rather the idea of telling him; but any such telling would lead to
+some advice from him which she would find it difficult to obey, and
+to which she would be unable to trust. And, moreover, why should she
+repeat this evil story against her neighbours?
+
+She had a long morning by herself after Will had started, and then
+she endeavoured to arrange her thoughts and lay down for herself a
+line of conduct. Presuming this story to be true, to what did it
+amount? It certainly amounted to very much. If, in truth, this woman
+had left her own husband and gone away to live with another man, she
+had by doing so at any rate while she was doing so fallen in such a
+way as to make herself unfit for the society of an unmarried young
+woman who meant to keep her name unblemished before the world. Clara
+would not attempt any further unravelling of the case, even in her
+own mind but on that point she could not allow herself to have a
+doubt. Without condemning the unhappy victim, she understood well
+that she would owe it to all those who held her dear, if not to
+herself, to eschew any close intimacy with one in such a position.
+The rules of the world were too plainly written to allow her to guide
+herself by any special judgment of her own in such a matter. But if
+this friend of hers having been thus unfortunate had since redeemed,
+or in part redeemed, her position by a second marriage, would it be
+then imperative upon her to remember the past for ever, and to
+declare that the stain was indelible? Clara felt that with a previous
+knowledge of such a story she would probably have avoided any
+intimacy with Mrs Askerton. She would then have been justified in
+choosing whether such intimacy should or should not exist, and would
+so have chosen out of deference to the world's opinion. But now it
+was too late for that. Mrs Askerton had for years been her friend;
+and Clara had to ask herself this question: was it now needful did
+her own feminine purity demand that she should throw her friend over
+because in past years her life had been tainted by misconduct.
+
+It was clear enough at any rate that this was expected from her nay,
+imperatively demanded by him who was to be her lord by him to whom
+her future obedience would be due. Whatever might be her immediate
+decision, he would have a right to call upon her to be guided by his
+judgment as soon as she would become his wife. And indeed, she felt
+that he had such right now unless she should decide that no such
+right should be his, now or ever. It was still within her power to
+say that she could not submit herself to such a rule as his but
+having received his commands she must do that or obey them. Then she
+declared to herself, not following the matter out logically, but
+urged to her decision by sudden impulse, that at any rate she would
+not obey Lady Aylmer. She would have nothing to do, in any such
+matter, with Lady Aylmer. Lady Aylmer should be no god to her. That
+question about the house at Perivale had been very painful to her.
+She felt that she could have endured the dreary solitude at Perivale
+without complaint, if, after her marriage, her husband's
+circumstances had made such a mode of living expedient. But to have
+been asked to pledge her consent to such a life before her marriage,
+to feel that he was bargaining for the privilege of being rid of her,
+to know that the Aylmer people were arranging that he, if he would
+marry her, should be as little troubled with his wife as possible all
+this had been very grievous to her. She had tried to console herself
+by the conviction that Lady Aylmer not Frederic had been the sinner;
+but even in that consolation there had been the terrible flaw that
+the words had come to her written by Frederic's hand. Could Will
+Belton have written such a letter to his future wife?
+
+In her present emergency she must be guided by her own judgment or
+her own instincts not by any edicts from Aylmer Park! If in what
+she might do she should encounter the condemnation of Captain
+Aylmer, she would answer him she would be driven to answer him by
+counter-condemnation of him and his mother. Let it be so. Anything
+would be better than a mean, truckling subservience to the imperious
+mistress of Aylmer Park.
+
+But what should she do as regarded Mrs Askerton? That the story was
+true she was beginning to believe. That there was some such history
+was made certain to her by the promise which Mrs Askerton had given
+her.
+
+'If you want to ask any questions, and will ask them of me, I will
+answer them.' Such a promise would not have been volunteered unless
+there was something special to be told. It would be best, perhaps, to
+demand from Mrs Askerton the fulfilment of this promise. But then in
+doing so she must own from whence her information had come. Mrs
+Askerton had told her that the 'communication' would be made by her
+Cousin Will. Her Cousin Will had gone away without a word of Mrs
+Askerton, and now the 'communication' had come from Captain Aylmer!
+
+The Monday and Tuesday were rainy days, and the rain was some excuse
+for her not going to the cottage. On the Wednesday her father was
+ill, and his illness made a further excuse for her remaining at home.
+But on the Wednesday evening there came a note to her from Mrs
+Askerton. 'You naughty girl, why do you not come to me? Colonel
+Askerton has been away since yesterday morning, and I am forgetting
+the sound of my own voice. I did not trouble you when your divine
+cousin was here for reasons; but unless you come to me now I shall
+think that his divinity has prevailed. Colonel Askerton is in
+Ireland, about some property, and will not be back till next week.'
+
+Clara sent back a promise by the messenger, and on the following
+morning she put on her hat and shawl, and started on her dreaded
+task. When she left the house she had not even yet quite made up her
+mind what she would do. At first she put her lover's letter into her
+pocket, so that she might have it for reference; but, on second
+thoughts, she replaced it in her desk, dreading lest she might be
+persuaded into showing or reading some part of it. There had come a
+sharp frost after the rain, and the ground was hard and dry. In order
+that she might gain some further last moment for thinking, she walked
+round, up among the rocks, instead of going straight to the cottage;
+and for a moment,--though the air was sharp with frost,--she sat upon
+the stone where she had been seated when her Cousin Will blurted out
+the misfortune of his heart. She sat there on purpose that she might
+think of him, and recall his figure, and the tones of his voice, and
+the look of his eyes, and the gesture of his face. What a man he
+was;--so tender, yet so strong; so thoughtful of others, and yet so
+self-sufficient! She had, unconsciously, imputed to him one fault,
+that he had loved and then forgotten his love;--unconsciously, for
+she had tried to think that this was a virtue rather than a fault;--but
+now,--with a full knowledge of what she was doing, but without any
+intention of doing it,--she acquitted him of that one fault. Now that
+she could acquit him, she owned that it would have been a fault. To
+have loved, and so soon to have forgotten it! No; he had loved her
+truly, and alas! he was one who could not be made to forget it. Then
+she went on to the cottage, exercising her thoughts rather on the
+contrast between the two men than on the subject to which she should
+have applied them.
+
+'So you have come at last!' said Mrs Askerton. 'Till I got your
+message I thought there was to be some dreadful misfortune.'
+
+'What misfortune?'
+
+'Something dreadful! One often anticipates something very bad without
+exactly knowing what. At least, I do. I am always expecting a
+catastrophe when I am alone that is and then I am so often alone.'
+
+'That simply means low spirits, I suppose?'
+
+'It's more than that, my dear.'
+
+'Not much more, I take it.'
+
+'Once when we were in India we lived close to the powder magazine,
+and we were always expecting to be blown up. You never lived near a
+powder magazine.'
+
+'No, never unless there's one at Belton. But I should have thought
+that was exciting.'
+
+'And then there was the gentleman who always had the sword hanging
+over him by the horse's hair.'
+
+'What do you mean, Mrs Askerton?'
+
+'Don't look so innocent, Clara. You know what I mean. What were the
+results at last of your cousin's diligence as a detective officer?'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, you wrong my cousin greatly. He never once mentioned
+your name while he was with us. He did not make a single allusion to
+you, or to Colonel Askerton, or to the cottage.'
+
+'He did not?'
+
+'Never once.'
+
+'Then I beg his pardon. But not the less has he been busy making
+inquiries.'
+
+'But why should you say that there is a powder magazine, or a sword
+hanging over your head?'
+
+'Ah, why?'
+
+Here was the subject ready opened to her hand, and yet Clara did not
+know how to go on with it. It seemed to her now that it would have
+been easier for her to commence it, if Mrs Askerton had made no
+commencement herself. As it was, she knew not how to introduce the
+subject of Captain Aylmer's letter, and was almost inclined to wait,
+thinking that Mrs Askerton might tell her own story without any such
+introduction. But nothing of the kind was forthcoming. Mrs Askerton
+began to talk of the frost, and then went on to abuse Ireland,
+complaining of the hardship her husband endured in being forced to go
+thither in winter to look after his tenants.
+
+'What did you mean', said Clara, at last, 'by the sword hanging over
+your head?'
+
+'I think I told you what I meant pretty plainly. If you did not
+understand me I cannot tell you more plainly.'
+
+'It is odd that you should say so much, and not wish to say more.'
+
+'Ah! you are making your inquiries now.'
+
+'In my place would not you do so too? How can I help it when you
+talked of a sword? Of course you make me ask what the sword is.'
+
+'And am I bound to satisfy your curiosity?'
+
+'You told me, just before my cousin came here, that if I asked any
+question you would answer me.'
+
+'And I am to understand that you are asking such a question now?'
+
+'Yes if it will not offend you.'
+
+'But what if it will offend me offend me greatly? Who likes to be
+inquired into?'
+
+'But you courted such inquiry from me.'
+
+'No, Clara, I did not do that. I'll tell you what I did. I gave you
+to understand that if it was needful that you should hear about me
+and my antecedents certain matters as to which Mr Belton had been
+inquiring into in a manner that I thought to be most unjustifiable I
+would tell you that story.'
+
+'And do so without being angry with me for asking.'
+
+'I meant, of course, that I would not make it a ground for
+quarrelling with you. If I wished to tell you, I could do so without
+any inquiry.'
+
+'I have sometimes thought that you did wish to tell me.'
+
+'Sometimes I have almost.'
+
+'But you have no such wish now?'
+
+'Can't you understand? It may well be that one so much alone as I am
+living here without a female friend, or even acquaintance, except
+yourself should often feel a longing for that comfort which full
+confidence between us would give me.'
+
+'Then why not'
+
+'Stop a moment. Can't you understand that I may feel this, and yet
+entertain the greatest horror against inquiry? We all like to tell
+our own sorrows, but who likes to be inquired into? Many a woman
+burns to make a full confession, who would be as mute as death before
+a policeman.'
+
+'I am no policeman.'
+
+'But you are determined to ask a policeman's questions?'
+
+To this Clara made no immediate reply. She felt that she was acting
+almost falsely in going on with such questions, while she was in fact
+aware of all the circumstances which Mrs Askerton could tell but she
+did not know how to declare her knowledge and to explain it. She
+sincerely wished that Mrs Askerton should be made acquainted with the
+truth; but she had fallen into a line of conversation which did not
+make her own task easy. But the idea of her own hypocrisy was
+distressing to her, and she rushed at the difficulty with hurried,
+eager words, resolving that, at any rate, there should be no longer
+any doubt between them.
+
+'Mrs Askerton,' she said, 'I know it all. There is nothing for you to
+tell. I know what the sword is.'
+
+'What is it that you know?'
+
+'That you were married long ago to Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'Then Mr Belton did do me the honour of talking about me when he was
+here?' As she said this she rose from her chair, and stood before
+Clara with flashing eyes.
+
+'Not a word. He never mentioned your name, or the name of any one
+belonging to you. I have heard it from another.'
+
+'From what other?'
+
+'I do not know that that signifies but I have learned it.'
+
+'Well and what next?'
+
+'I do not know what next. As so much has been told me, and as you had
+said that I might ask you, I have come to you, yourself. I shall
+believe your own story more thoroughly from yourself than from any
+other teller.'
+
+'And suppose I refuse to answer you?'
+
+'Then I can say nothing further.'
+
+'And what will you do?'
+
+'Ah that I do not know. But you are harsh to me, while I am longing
+to be kind to you. Can you not see that this has been all forced upon
+me partly by yourself?'
+
+'And the other part who has forced that upon you? Who is your
+informant? If you mean to be generous, be generous altogether. Is it
+a man or a woman that has taken the trouble to rip up old sorrows
+that my name may be blackened? But what matters? There I was married
+to Captain Berdmore. I left him, and went away with my present
+husband. For three years I was a man's mistress, and not his wife.
+When that poor creature died we were married, and then came here. Now
+you know it all all all though doubtless your informant has made a
+better story of it. After that, perhaps, I have been very wicked to
+sully the air you breathe by my presence.'
+
+'Why do you say that,--to me?'
+
+'But no;--you do not know it all. No one can ever know it all. No one
+can ever know how I suffered before I was driven to escape, or how
+good to me has been he who--who' Then she turned her back upon
+Clara, and, walking off to the window, stood there, hiding the tears
+which clouded her eyes, and concealing the sobs which choked her
+utterance.
+
+For some moments,--for a space which seemed long to both of them,--Clara
+kept her seat in silence. She hardly dared to speak; and though she
+longed to show her sympathy, she knew not what to say. At last she
+too rose and followed the other to the window. She uttered no words,
+however, but gently putting her arm around Mrs Askerton's waist,
+stood there close to her, looking out upon the cold wintry
+flower-beds not venturing to turn her eyes upon her companion. The
+motion of her arm was at first very gentle, but after a while she
+pressed it closer, and thus by degrees drew her friend to her with an
+eager, warm, and enduring pressure. Mrs Askerton made some little
+effort towards repelling her, some faint motion of resistance; but as
+the embrace became warmer the poor woman yielded herself to it, and
+allowed her face to fall upon Clara's shoulder. So they stood,
+speaking no word, making no attempt to rid themselves of the tears
+which were blinding their eyes, but gazing out through the moisture
+on the bleak wintry scene before them. Clara's mind was the more
+active at the moment, for she was resolving that in this episode of
+her life she would accept no lesson whatever from Lady Aylmer's
+teaching no, nor any lesson whatever from the teaching of any Aylmer
+in existence. And as for the world's rules, she would fit herself to
+them as best she could; but no such fitting should drive her to the
+unwomanly cruelty of deserting this woman whom she had known and
+loved and whom she now loved with a fervour which she had never
+before felt towards her.
+
+'You have heard it all now,' said Mrs Askerton at last.
+
+'And is it not better so?'
+
+'Ah I do not know. How should I know?'
+
+'Do you not know?' And as she spoke, Clara pressed her arm still
+closer. 'Do you not know yet?' Then, turning herself half round, she
+clasped the other woman full in her arms, and kissed her forehead and
+her lips.
+
+'Do you not know yet?'
+
+'But you will go away, and people will tell you that you are wrong.'
+
+'What people?' said Clara, thinking as she spoke of the whole family
+at Aylmer Park.
+
+'Your husband will tell you so.'
+
+'I have no husband as yet to order me what to think or what not to
+think.'
+
+'No not quite as yet. But you will tell him all this.'
+
+'He knows it. It was he who told me.'
+
+'What! Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes; Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'And what did he say?'
+
+'Never mind. Captain Aylmer is not my husband not as yet. If he takes
+me, he must take me as I am, not as he might possibly have wished me
+to be. Lady Aylmer--'
+
+'And does Lady Aylmer know it?'
+
+'Yes. Lady Aylmer is one of those hard, severe women who never
+forgive.'
+
+'Ah, I see it all now. I understand it all. Clara, you must forget
+me, and come here no more. You shall not be ruined because you are
+generous.'
+
+'Ruined! If Lady Aylmer's displeasure can ruin me, I must put up with
+ruin. I will not accept her for my guide. I am too old, and have had
+my own way too long. Do not let that thought trouble you. In this
+matter I shall judge for myself. I have judged for myself already.'
+
+'And your father?'
+
+'Papa knows nothing of it.'
+
+'But you will tell him?'
+
+'I do not know. Poor papa is very ill. If he were well I would tell
+him, and he would think as I do.'
+
+'And your cousin?'
+
+'You say that he has heard it all.'
+
+'I think so. Do you know that I remembered him the first moment that
+I saw him? But what could I do? When you mentioned to me my old name,
+my real name, how could I be honest? I have been driven to do that
+which has made honesty to me impossible. My life has been a lie; and
+yet how could I help it? I must live somewhere and how could I live
+anywhere without deceit?'
+
+'And yet that is so sad.'
+
+'Sad indeed! But what could I do? Of course I was wrong in the
+beginning. Though how am I to regret it, when it has given me such a
+husband as I have? Ah!--if you could know it all, I think,--I think you
+would forgive me.'
+
+Then by degrees she told it all, and Clara was there for hours
+listening to her story. The reader will not care to hear more of it
+than he has heard. Nor would Clara have desired any closer
+revelation; but as it is often difficult to obtain a confidence, so
+is it impossible to stop it in the midst of its effusion. Mrs
+Askerton told the history of her life of her first foolish
+engagement, her belief, her half-belief, in the man's reformation, of
+the miseries which resulted from his vices, of her escape and shame,
+of her welcome widowhood, and of her second marriage. And as she told
+it, she paused at every point to insist on the goodness of him who
+was now her husband. 'I shall tell him this,' she said at last, 'as I
+do everything; and then he will know that I have in truth got a
+friend.'
+
+She asked again and again about Mr Belton, but Clara could only tell
+her that she knew nothing of her cousin's knowledge. Will might have
+heard it all, but if so he had kept his information to himself.
+
+'And now what shall you do?' Mrs Askerton asked of Clara, at length
+prepared to go.
+
+'Do? in what way? I shall do nothing.'
+
+'But you will write to Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes I shall write to him.'
+
+'And about this?'
+
+'Yes I suppose I must write to him.'
+
+'And what will you say?'
+
+'That I cannot tell. I wish I knew what to say. If it were to his
+mother I could write my letter easily enough.'
+
+'And what would you say to her?'
+
+'I would tell her that I was responsible for my own friends. But I
+must go now. Papa will complain that I am so long away.' Then there
+was another embrace, and at last Clara found her way out of the house
+and was alone again in the park.
+
+She clearly acknowledged to herself that she had a great difficulty
+before her. She had committed herself altogether to Mrs Askerton, and
+could no longer entertain any thought of obeying the very plainly
+expressed commands which Captain Aylmer had given her. The story as
+told by Captain Aylmer had been true throughout; but, in the teeth of
+that truth, she intended to maintain her acquaintance with Mrs
+Askerton. From that there was now no escape. She had been carried
+away by impulse in what she had done and said at the cottage, but she
+could not bring herself to regret it. She could not believe that it
+was her duty to throw over and abandon a woman whom she loved,
+because that woman had once, in her dire extremity, fallen away from
+the path of virtue. But how was she to write the letter?
+
+When she reached her father he complained of her absence, and almost
+scolded her for having been so long at the cottage. 'I cannot see',
+said he, 'what you find in that woman to make so much of her.'
+
+'She is the only neighbour I have, papa.'
+
+'And better none than her, if all that people say of her is true.'
+
+'All that people say is never true, papa.'
+
+'There is no smoke without fire. I am not at all sure that it's good
+for you to be so much with her.'
+
+'Oh, papa don't treat me like a child.'
+
+'And I'm sure it's not good for me that you should be so much away.
+For anything I have seen of you all day you might have been at
+Perivale. But you are going soon, altogether, so I suppose I may as
+well make up my mind to it.'
+
+'I'm not going for a long time yet, papa.'
+
+'What do you mean by that?'
+
+'I mean that there's nothing to take me away from here at present.'
+
+'You are engaged to be married.'
+
+'But it will be a long engagement. It is one of those engagements in
+which neither party is very anxious for an immediate change.' There
+was something bitter in Clara's tone as she said this, which the old
+man perceived, but could only half understand. Clara remained with
+him then for the rest of the day, going down-stairs for five minutes
+to her dinner, and then returning to him and reading aloud while he
+dozed. Her winter evenings at Belton Castle were not very bright, but
+she was used to them and made no complaint.
+
+When she left her father for the night she got out her desk and
+prepared herself for her letter to her lover. She was determined that
+it should be finished that night before she went to bed. And it was
+so finished; though the writing of it gave her much labour, and
+occupied her till the late hours had come upon her. When completed it
+was as follows:--
+
+
+'Belton Castle, Thursday Night.
+
+'Dear Frederic,--I received your letter last Sunday, but I could not
+answer it sooner, as it required much consideration, and also some
+information which I have only obtained today. About the plan of
+living at Perivale I will not say much now, as my mind is so full of
+other things. I think, however, I may promise that I will never make
+any needless difficulty as to your plans. My cousin Will left us on
+Monday, so your mother need not have any further anxiety on that
+head. It does papa good to have him here, and for that reason I am
+sorry that he has gone. I can assure you that I don't think what you
+said about him meant anything at all particular. Will is my nearest
+cousin, and of course you would be glad that I should like him which
+I do, very much.
+
+'And now about the other subject, which I own has distressed me, as
+you supposed it would;--I mean about Mrs Askerton. I find it very
+difficult in your letter to divide what comes from your mother and
+what from yourself. Of course I want to make the division, as every
+word from you has great weight with me. At present I don't know Lady
+Aylmer personally, and I cannot think of her as I do of you. Indeed,
+were I to know her ever so well, I could not have the same deference
+for her that I have for the man who is to be my husband. I only say
+this, as I fear that Lady Aylmer and I may not perhaps agree about
+Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I find that your story about Mrs Askerton is in the main true. But
+the person who told it you does not seem to have known any of the
+provocations which she received. She was very badly treated by
+Captain Berdmore, who, I am afraid, was a terrible drunkard; and at
+last she found it impossible to stay with him. So she went away. I
+cannot tell you how horrid it all was, but I am sure that if I could
+make you understand it, it would go a long way in inducing you to
+excuse her. She was married to Colonel Askerton as soon as Captain
+Berdmore died, and this took place before she came to Belton. I hope
+you will remember that. It all occurred out in India, and I really
+hardly know what business we have to inquire about it now.
+
+'At any rate, as I have been acquainted with her a long time, and very
+intimately, and as I am sure that she has repented of anything that
+has been wrong, I do not think that I ought to quarrel with her now.
+Indeed I have promised her that I will not. I think I owe it you to
+tell you the whole truth, and that is the truth.
+
+'Pray give my regards to your mother, and tell her that I am sure she
+would judge differently if she were in my place. This poor woman has
+no other friend here; and who am I, that I should take upon myself to
+condemn her? I cannot do it. Dear Frederic, pray do not be angry with
+me for asserting my own will in this matter. I think you would wish
+me to have an opinion of my own. In my present position I am bound to
+have one, as I am, as yet, responsible for what I do myself. I shall
+be very, very sorry, if I find that you differ from me; but still I
+cannot be made to think that I am wrong. I wish you were here, that
+we might talk it over together, as I think that in that case you
+would agree with me.
+
+'If you can manage to come to us at Easter, or any other time when
+Parliament does not keep you in London, we shall be so delighted to
+see you.
+
+'Dear Frederic,
+Yours very affectionately,
+
+'Clara Amedroz.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+MISS AMEDROZ HAS ANOTHER CHANCE
+
+It was on a Sunday morning that Clara's letter reached Aylmer Park,
+and Frederic Aylmer found it on his plate as he took his place at the
+breakfast-table. Domestic habits at Aylmer Park had grown with the
+growth of years till they had become adamantine, and domestic habits
+required prayers every morning at a quarter before nine o'clock. At
+twenty minutes before nine Lady Aylmer would always be in the
+dining-room to make the tea and open the post-bag, and as she was
+always there alone, she knew more about other people's letters than
+other people ever knew about hers. When these operations were over
+she rang the bell, and the servants of the family, who by that time
+had already formed themselves into line in the hail, would march in,
+and settle themselves on benches prepared for them near the sideboard
+which benches were afterwards carried away by the retiring
+procession. Lady Aylmer herself always read prayers, as Sir Anthony
+never appeared till the middle of breakfast. Belinda would usually
+come down in a scurry as she heard her mother's bell, in such a way
+as to put the army in the hail to some confusion; but Frederic
+Aylmer, when he was at home, rarely entered the room till after the
+service was over. At Perivale no doubt he was more strict in his
+conduct; but then at Perivale he had special interests and influences
+which were wanting to him at Aylmer Park. During those five minutes
+Lady Aylmer would deal round the letters to the several plates of the
+inmates of her house not without looking at the post-office marks
+upon them; and on this occasion she had dealt a letter from Clara to
+her son.
+
+The arrival of the letter was announced to Frederic Aylmer before he
+took his seat.
+
+'Frederic,' said her ladyship, in her most portentous voice, 'I am
+glad to say that at last there is a letter from Belton.'
+
+He made no immediate reply, but making his way slowly to his place,
+took up the little packet, turned it over in his hand, and then put
+it into his pocket. Having done this, he began very slowly with his
+tea and egg. For three minutes his mother was contented to make, or
+to pretend to make, some effort in the same direction. Then her
+impatience became too much for her, and she began to question him.
+
+'Will you not read it, Frederic?'
+
+'Of course I shall, ma'am.'
+
+'But why not do so now, when you know how anxious we are?'
+
+'There are letters which one would sooner read in private.'
+
+'But when a matter is of so much importance--' said Belinda.
+
+'The importance, Bel, is to me, and not to you,' said her brother.
+
+'All we want to know is,' continued the sister, 'that she promises to
+be guided by you in this matter; and of course we feel quite sure
+that she will.'
+
+'If you are quite sure that must be sufficient for you.'
+
+'I really think you need not quarrel with your sister,' said Lady
+Aylmer, 'because she is anxious as to the--the respectability, I must
+say, for there is no other word, of a young lady whom you propose to
+make your wife. I can assure you that I am very anxious myself,--very
+anxious indeed.'
+
+Captain Aylmer made no answer to this, but he did not take the letter
+from his pocket. He drank his tea in silence, and in silence sent up
+his cup to be refilled. In silence also was it returned to him. He
+ate his two eggs and his three bits of toast, according to his
+custom, and when he had finished, sat out his three or four minutes
+as was usual. Then he got up to retire to his room, with the envelope
+still unbroken in his pocket.
+
+'You will go to church with us, I suppose?' said Lady Aylmer.
+
+'I won't promise, ma'am; but if I do, I'll walk across the park so
+that you need not wait for me.'
+
+Then both the mother and sister knew that the Member for Perivale did
+not intend to go to church on that occasion. To morning service Sir
+Anthony always went, the habits of Aylmer Park having in them more of
+adamant in reference to him than they had as regarded his son.
+
+When the father, mother, and daughter returned, Captain Aylmer had
+read his letter, and had, after doing so, received further tidings
+from Belton Castle further tidings which for the moment prevented the
+necessity of any reference to the letter, and almost drove it from
+his own thoughts. When his mother entered the library he was standing
+before the fire with a scrap of paper in his hand.
+
+'Since you have been at church there has come a telegraphic message,'
+he said.
+
+'What is it, Frederic? Do not frighten me if you can avoid it!'
+
+'You need not be frightened, ma'am, for you did not know him. Mr
+Amedroz is dead.'
+
+'No!' said Lady Aylmer, seating herself.
+
+'Dead!' said Belinda, holding up her hands.
+
+'God bless my soul!' said the baronet, who had now followed the
+ladies into the room. 'Dead! Why, Fred, he was five years younger
+than I am!'
+
+Then Captain Aylmer read the words of the message:--'Mr Amedroz died
+this morning at five o'clock. I have sent word to the lawyer and to
+Mr Belton.'
+
+'Who does it come from?' asked Lady Aylmer.
+
+'From Colonel Askerton.'
+
+Lady Aylmer paused, and shook her head, and moved her foot uneasily
+upon the carpet. The tidings, as far as they went, might be
+unexceptionable, but the source from whence they had come had
+evidently polluted them in her ladyship's judgment. Then she uttered
+a series of inter-ejaculations, expressions of mingled sorrow and
+anger.
+
+'There was no one else near her,' said Captain Aylmer apologetically.
+
+'Is there no clergyman in the parish?'
+
+'He lives a long way off. The message had to be sent at once.'
+
+'Are there no servants in the house? It looks,--it looks-- But I am
+the last person in the world to form a harsh judgment of a young
+woman at such a moment as this. What did she say in her letter,
+Fred?'
+
+Captain Aylmer had devoted two hours of consideration to the letter
+before the telegram had come to relieve his mind by a fresh subject,
+and in those two hours he had not been able to extract much of
+comfort out of the document. It was, as he felt, a stubborn,
+stiff-necked, disobedient, almost rebellious letter. It contained a
+manifest defiance of his mother, and exhibited doctrines of most
+questionable morality. It had become to him a matter of doubt whether
+he could possibly marry a woman who could entertain such ideas and
+write such a letter. If the doubt was to be decided in his own mind
+against Clara, he had better show the letter at once to his mother,
+and allow her ladyship to fight the battle for him a task which, as
+he well knew, her ladyship would not be slow to undertake. But he had
+not succeeded in answering the question satisfactorily to himself
+when the telegram arrived and diverted all his thoughts. Now that Mr
+Amedroz was dead, the whole thing might be different. Clara would
+come away from Belton and Mrs Askerton, and begin life, as it were,
+afresh It seemed as though in such an emergency she ought to have
+another chance; and therefore he did not hasten to pronounce his
+judgment. Lady Aylmer also felt something of this, and forbore to
+press her question when it was not answered.
+
+'She will have to leave Belton now, I suppose?' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'The property will belong to a distant cousin a Mr William Belton.'
+
+'And where will she go?' said Lady Aylmer. 'I suppose she has no
+place that she can call her home?'
+
+'Would it not be a good thing to ask her here?' said Belinda. Such a
+question as that was very rash on the part of Miss Aylmer. In the
+first place, the selection of guests for Aylmer Park was rarely left
+to her; and in this special case she should have understood that such
+a proposal should have been fully considered by Lady Aylmer before it
+reached Frederic's ears.
+
+'I think it would be a very good plan,' said Captain Aylmer,
+generously.
+
+Lady Aylmer shook her head. 'I should like much to know what she has
+said about that unfortunate connexion before I offer to take her by
+the hand myself. I'm sure Fred will feel that I ought to do so.'
+
+But Fred retreated from the room without showing the letter. He
+retreated from the room and betook himself to solitude, that he might
+again endeavour to make up his mind as to what he would do. He put on
+his hat and his great-coat and gloves, and went off without his
+luncheon that he might consider it all. Clara Amedroz had now no home
+and, indeed, very little means of providing one. If he intended that
+she should be his wife, he must furnish her with a home at once. It
+seemed to him that three houses might possibly be open to her of
+which one, the only one which under such circumstances would be
+proper, was Aylmer Park. The other two were Plaistow Hall and Mrs
+Askerton's cottage at Belton. As to the latter should she ever take
+shelter there, everything must be over between him and her. On that
+point there could be no doubt. He could not bring himself to marry a
+wife out of Mrs Askerton's drawing-room, nor could he expect his
+mother to receive a young woman brought into the family under such
+circumstances. And Plaistow Hall was almost as bad. It was as bad to
+him, though it would, perhaps, be less objectionable in the eyes of
+Lady Aylmer. Should Clara go to Plaistow Hall there must be an end to
+everything. Of that also he taught himself to be quite certain. Then
+he took out Clara's letter and read it again. She acknowledged the
+story about the woman to be true such a story as it was too and yet
+refused to quarrel with the woman had absolutely promised the woman
+not to quarrel with her! Then he read and re-read the passage in
+which Clara claimed the right of forming her own opinion in such
+matters. Nothing could be more indelicate nothing more unfit for his
+wife. He began to think that he had better show the letter to his
+mother, and acknowledge that the match must be broken off. That
+softening of his heart which had followed upon the receipt of the
+telegraphic message departed from him as he dwelt upon the stubborn,
+stiff-necked, unfeminine obstinacy of the letter. Then he remembered
+that nothing had as yet been done towards putting his aunt's fifteen
+hundred pounds absolutely into Clara's hands; and he remembered also
+that she might at the present moment be in great want. William Belton
+might, not improbably, assist her in her want, and this idea was
+wormwood to him in spite of his almost formed resolution to give up
+his own claims. He calculated that the income arising from fifteen
+hundred pounds would be very small, and he wished that he had
+counselled his aunt to double the legacy. He thought very much about
+the amount of the money and the way in which it might be beat
+expended, and was, after his cold fashion, really solicitous as to
+Clara's welfare. If he could have fashioned her future life, and his
+own too, in accordance with his own now existing wishes, I think he
+would have arranged that neither of them should marry at all, and
+that to him should be assigned the duty and care of being Clara's
+protector with full permission to tell her his mind as often as he
+pleased on the subject of Mrs Askerton. Then he went in and wrote a
+note to Mr Green, the lawyer, desiring that the interest of the
+fifteen hundred pounds for one year might be at once remitted to Miss
+Amedroz. He knew that he ought to write to her himself immediately,
+without loss of a post; but how was he to write while things were in
+their present position? Were he now to condole with her on her
+father's death, without any reference to the great Askerton iniquity,
+he would thereby be condoning all that was past, and acknowledging
+the truth and propriety of her arguments. And he would be doing even
+worse than that. He would be cutting the ground absolutely from
+beneath his own feet as regarded that escape from his engagement
+which he was contemplating.
+
+What a cold-hearted, ungenerous wretch he must have been! That will
+be the verdict against him. But the verdict will be untrue.
+Cold-hearted and ungenerous he was; but he was no wretch as men and
+women are now-a-days called wretches. He was chilly hearted, but yet
+quite capable of enough love to make him a good son, a good husband,
+and a good father too. And though he was ungenerous from the nature
+of his temperament, he was not close-fisted or over covetous. And he
+was a just man, desirous of obtaining nothing that was not fairly his
+own. But, in truth, the artists have been so much in the habit of
+painting for us our friends' faces without any of those flaws and
+blotches with which work and high living are apt to disfigure us,
+that we turn in disgust from a portrait in which the roughnesses and
+pimples are made apparent.
+
+But it was essential that he should now do something, and before he
+sat down to dinner he did show Clara's letter to his mother. 'Mother,'
+he said, as he sat himself down in her little room upstairs;--and
+she knew well by the tone of his voice, and by the mode of his address,
+that there was to be a solemn occasion, and a serious deliberative
+council on the present existing family difficulty,--'mother, of course
+I have intended to let you know what is the nature of Clara's answer
+to my letter.'
+
+'I am glad there is to be no secret between us, Frederic. You know
+how I dislike secrets in families.' As she said this she took the
+letter out of her son's hands with an eagerness that was almost
+greedy. As she read it, he stood over her, watching her eyes, as they
+made their way down the first page and on to the second, and across
+to the third, and so, gradually on, till the whole reading was
+accomplished. What Clara had written about her Cousin Will, Lady
+Aylmer did not quite understand; and on this point now she was so
+little anxious that she passed over that portion of the letter
+readily. But when she came to Mrs Askerton and the allusions to
+herself, she took care to comprehend the meaning and weight of every
+word. 'Divide your words and mine! Why should we want to divide them?
+Not agree with me about Mrs Askerton! How is it possible that any
+decent young woman should not agree with me! It is a matter in which
+there is no room for a doubt. True the story true! Of course it is
+true. Does she not know that it would not have reached her from
+Aylmer Park if it were not true? Provocation! Badly treated! Went
+away! Married to Colonel Askerton as soon as Captain Berdmore died!
+Why, Frederic, she cannot have been taught to understand the first
+principle of morals in life! And she that was so much with my poor
+sister! Well, well!' The reader should understand that the late Mrs
+Winterfield and Lady Aylmer had never been able to agree with each
+other on religious subjects. 'Remember that they are married. Why
+should we remember anything of the kind? It does not make an atom of
+difference to the woman's character. Repented! How can Clara say
+whether she has repented or not? But that has nothing to do with it.
+Not quarrel with her as she calls it! Not give her up! Then,
+Frederic, of course it must be all over, as far as you are
+concerned.' When she had finished her reading, she returned the
+letter, still open, to her son, shaking her head almost triumphantly.
+As far as I am a judge of a young woman's character, I can only give
+you one counsel,' said Lady Aylmer solemnly.
+
+'I think that she should have another chance,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'What other chance can you give her? It seems to me that she is
+obstinately bent on her own destruction.'
+
+'You might ask her to come here, as Belinda suggested.'
+
+'Belinda was very foolish to suggest anything of the kind without
+more consideration.'
+
+'I suppose that my future wife would be made welcome here?'
+
+'Yes, Frederic, certainly. I do not know who could be more welcome.
+But is she to be your wife?'
+
+'We are engaged.'
+
+'But does not that letter break any engagement? Is there not enough
+in that to make such a marriage quite out of the question? What do
+you think about it yourself, Frederic?'
+
+'I think that she should have another chance.'
+
+What would Clara have thought of all this herself if she could have
+heard the conversation between Lady Aylmer and her betrothed husband,
+and have known that her lover was proposing to give her 'another
+chance?' But it is lucky for us that we seldom know what our best
+friends say on our behalf, when they discuss us and our faults behind
+our backs.
+
+'What chance, Frederic, can she have? She knows all about this horrid
+woman, and yet refuses to give her up! What chance can she have after
+that?'
+
+'I think that you might have her here and talk to her.' Lady Aylmer,
+in answer to this, simply shook her head. And I think she was right
+in supposing that such shaking of her head was a sufficient reply to
+her son's proposition. What talking could possibly be of service to
+such a one as this Miss Amedroz? Why should she throw her pearls
+before swine? 'We must either ask her to come here, or else I must go
+to her,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'I don't see that at all, Frederic.'
+
+'I think it must be so. As she is situated at present she has got no
+home; and I think it would be very horrid that she should be driven
+into that woman's house, simply because she has no other shelter for
+her head.'
+
+'I suppose she can remain where she is for the present?'
+
+'She is all alone, you know; and it must be very gloomy;--and her
+cousin can turn her out at a moment's notice.'
+
+'But that would not entitle her to come here, unless--'
+
+'No;--I quite understand that. But you cannot wonder that I should
+feel the hardship of her position.'
+
+'Who is to be blamed if it be hard? You see, Frederic, I take my
+standing upon that letter her own letter. How am I to ask a young
+woman into my house who declares openly that my opinion on such a
+matter goes for nothing with her? How am I to do it? That's what I
+ask you. How am I to do it? It's all very well for Belinda to suggest
+this and that. But how am I to do it? That's what I want to know.'
+
+But at last Lady Aylmer managed to answer the question for herself,
+and did do it. But this was not done on that Sunday afternoon, nor on
+the Monday, nor on the Tuesday. The question was closely debated, and
+at last the anxious mother perceived that the giving of the
+invitation would be more safe than withholding it. Captain Aylmer at
+last expressed his determination to go to Belton unless the
+invitation were given; and then, should he do that, there might be
+danger that he would never be again seen at Aylmer Park till he
+brought Clara Amedroz with him as his wife. The position was one of
+great difficulty, but the interests at stake were so immense that
+something must be risked. It might be that Clara would not come when
+invited, and in that case her obstinacy would be a great point
+gained. And if she did come--! Well; Lady Aylmer admitted to herself
+that the game would be difficult,--difficult and very troublesome; but
+yet it might be played, and perhaps won. Lady Aylmer was a woman who
+had great confidence in herself. Not so utterly had victory in such
+contests deserted her hands, that she need fear to break a lance with
+Miss Amedroz beneath her own roof, when the occasion was so pressing.
+
+The invitation was therefore sent in a note written by herself, and
+was enclosed in a letter from her son. After much consultation and
+many doubts on the subject, it was at last agreed that nothing
+further should now be urged about Mrs Askerton. 'She shall have her
+chance,' said Lady Aylmer over and over again, repeating her son's
+words. 'She shall have her chance.' Lady Aylmer, therefore, in her
+note, confined herself strictly to the giving of the invitation, and
+to a suggestion that, as Clara had now no settled home of her own, a
+temporary sojourn at Aylmer Park might be expedient. And Captain
+Aylmer in his letter hardly said much more. He knew, as he wrote the
+words, that they were cold and comfortless, and that he ought on such
+an occasion to have written words that should have been warm at any
+rate, even though they might not have contained comfort. But, to have
+written with affection, he should have written at once, and he had
+postponed his letter from the Sunday till the Wednesday. It had been
+absolutely necessary that that important question as to the
+invitation should be answered before he could write at all.
+
+When all this was settled he went up to London; and there was an
+understanding between him and his mother that he should return to
+Aylmer Park with Clara, in the event of her acceptance of the
+invitation.
+
+'You won't go down to Belton for her?' said the mother.
+
+'No I do not think that will be necessary,' said the son.
+
+'I should think not,' said the mother.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+WILLIAM BELTON DOES NOT GO OUT HUNTING
+
+WE will now follow the other message which was sent down into
+Norfolk, and which did not get into Belton's hands till the Monday
+morning. He was sitting with his sister at breakfast, and was
+prepared for hunting, when the paper was brought into the room.
+Telegraphic messages were not very common at Plaistow Hall, and on
+the arrival of any that had as yet reached that house, something of
+that awe had been felt with which such missives were always
+accompanied in their earliest days. 'A telegruff message, mum, for Mr
+William,' said the maid, looking at her mistress with eyes opened
+wide, as she handed the important bit of paper to her master. Will
+opened it rapidly, laying down the knife and fork with which he was
+about to operate upon a ham before him. He was dressed in boots and
+breeches, and a scarlet coat in which garb he was, in his sister's
+eyes, the most handsome man in Norfolk.
+
+'Oh, Mary!' he exclaimed.
+
+'What is it, Will?'
+
+'Mr Amedroz is dead.'
+
+Miss Belton put out her hand for the paper before she spoke again, as
+though she could better appreciate the truth of what she heard when
+reading it herself on the telegraph slip than she had done from her
+brother's words. 'How sudden! how terribly sudden!' she said.
+
+'Sudden indeed. When I left him he was not well, certainly, but I
+should have said that he might have lived for twenty years. Poor old
+man! I can hardly say why it was so, but I had taken a liking to
+him.'
+
+'You take a liking to everybody, Will.'
+
+'No I don't. I know people I don't like.' Will Belton as he said this
+was thinking of Captain Aylmer, and he pressed the heel of his boot
+hard against the floor.
+
+'And Mr Amedroz is dead! It seems to be so terribly sudden. What will
+she do, Will?'
+
+'That's what I'm thinking about.'
+
+'Of course you are, my dear. I can see that. I wish I wish'
+
+'It's no good wishing anything, Mary. I don't think wishing ever did
+any good yet. If I might have my wish, I shouldn't know how to have
+it.'
+
+'I was wishing that you didn't think so much about it.'
+
+'You need not be troubled about me. I shall do very well. But what is
+to become of her now at once? Might she not come here? You are now
+the nearest female relation that she has.'
+
+Mary looked at him with her anxious, painful eyes, and he knew by her
+look that she did not approve of his plan. 'I could go away,' he
+continued. 'She could come to you without being troubled by seeing
+me.'
+
+'And where would you go, Will?'
+
+'What does it matter? To the devil, I suppose.'
+
+'Oh, Will, Will!'
+
+'You know what I mean. I'd go anywhere. Where is she to find a home
+till,--till she is married?' He had paused at the word; but was
+determined not to shrink from it, and bolted it out in a loud, sharp
+tone so that both he and she recognized all the meaning of the word
+all that was conveyed in the idea. He hated himself when he
+endeavoured to conceal from his own mind any of the misery that was
+coming upon him. He loved her. He could not get over it. The passion
+was on him like a palsy, for the shaking off of which no sufficient
+physical energy was left to him. It clung to him in his goings out
+and comings in with a painful, wearing tenacity, against which he
+would now and again struggle, swearing that it should be so no longer
+but against which he always struggled in vain. It was with him when
+he was hunting. He was ever thinking of it when the bird rose before
+his gun. As he watched the furrow, as his men and horses would drive
+it straight and deep through the ground, he was thinking of her and
+not of the straightness and depth of the furrow, as had been his wont
+in former years. Then he would turn away his f toe, and stand alone
+in his field, blinded by the salt drops in his eyes, weeping at his
+own weakness. And when he was quite alone, he would stamp his foot on
+the ground, and throw abroad his arms, and curse himself. What
+Nessus's shirt was this that had fallen upon him, and unmanned him
+from the sole of his foot to the top of his head? He went through the
+occupations of the week. He hunted, and shot, and gave his orders,
+and paid his men their wages but he did it all with a palsy of love
+upon him as he did it. He wanted her, and he could not overcome the
+want. He could not bear to confess to himself that the thing by which
+he had set so much store could never belong to him. His sister
+understood it all, and sometimes he was almost angry with her because
+of her understanding it. She sympathized with him in all his moods,
+and sometimes he would shake away her sympathy as though it scalded
+him. 'Where is she to find a home till till she is married?' he said.
+
+Not a word had as yet been said between them about the property which
+was now his estate. He was now Belton of Belton, and it must be
+supposed that both he and she had remembered that it was so. But
+hitherto not a word had been said between them on that point. Now she
+was compelled to allude to it. 'Cannot she live at the Castle for the
+present?
+
+'What all alone?'
+
+'Of course she is remaining there now.'
+
+'Yes,' said he, 'of course she is there now. Now! Why, remember what
+these telegraphic messages are. He died only on yesterday morning. Of
+course she is there, but I do not think it can be good that she
+should remain there. There is no one near her where she is but that
+Mrs Askerton. It can hardly be good for her to have no other female
+friend at such a time as this.'
+
+'I do not think that Mrs Askerton will hurt her.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton will not hurt her at all,--and as long as Clara does not
+know the story, Mrs Askerton may serve as well as another. But yet--'
+
+'Can I go to her, Will?'
+
+'No, dearest. The journey would kill you in winter. And he would not
+like it. We are bound to think of that for her sake cold-hearted,
+thankless, meagre-minded creature as I know he is.'
+
+'I do not know why he should be so bad.'
+
+'No, nor I. But I know that he is. Never mind. Why should we talk
+about him? I suppose she'll have to go there to Aylmer Park. I
+suppose they will send for her, and keep her there till it's all
+finished. I'll tell you what, Mary I shall give her the place.'
+
+'What Belton Castle?'
+
+'Why not? Will it ever be of any good to you or me? Do you want to go
+and live there?'
+
+'No, indeed not for myself.'
+
+'And do you think that I could live there? Besides why should she be
+turned out of her father's house?'
+
+'He would not be mean enough to take it.'
+
+'He would be mean enough for anything. Besides, I should take very
+good care that it should be settled upon her.'
+
+'That's nonsense, Will it is indeed. You are now William Belton of
+Belton, and you must remain so.'
+
+'Mary,--I would sooner be Will Belton with Clara Amedroz by my side to
+get through the world with me, and not the interest of an acre either
+at Belton Castle or at Plaistow Hall! And I believe I should be the
+richer man at the end if there were any good in that.' Then he went
+out of the room, and she heard him go through the kitchen, and knew
+that he passed out into the farm-yard, towards the stable, by the
+back-door. He intended, it seemed, to go on with his hunting in spite
+of this death which had occurred. She was sorry for it, but she could
+not venture to stop him. And she was sorry also that nothing had been
+settled as to the writing of any letter to Clara. She, however, would
+take upon herself to write while he was gone.
+
+He went straight out towards the stables, hardly conscious of what he
+was doing or where he was going, and found his hack ready saddled for
+him in the stall. Then he remembered that he must either go or come
+to some decision that he would not go. The horse that he intended to
+ride had been sent on to the meet, and if he were not to be used,
+some message must be dispatched as to the animal's return. But Will
+was half inclined to go, although he knew that the world would judge
+him to be heartless if he were to go hunting immediately on the
+receipt of the tidings which had reached him that morning. He thought
+that he would like to set the world at defiance in this matter. Let
+Frederic Aylmer go into mourning for the old man who was dead. Let
+Frederic Aylmer be solicitous for the daughter who was left lonely in
+the old house. No doubt he, Will Belton, had inherited the dead
+man's estate, and should, therefore, in accordance with all the
+ordinary rules of the world on such matters, submit himself at any
+rate to the decency of funereal reserve. An heir should not be seen
+out hunting on the day on which such tidings as to his heritage had
+reached him. But he did not wish, in his present mood, to be
+recognized as the heir. He did not want the property. He would have
+preferred to rid himself altogether of any of the obligations which
+the ownership of the estate entailed upon him. It was not permitted
+to him to have the custody of the old squire's daughter, and
+therefore he was unwilling to meddle with any of the old squire's
+concerns.
+
+Belton had gone into the stable, and had himself loosed the animal,
+leading him out into the yard as though he were about to mount him.
+Then he had given the reins to a stable boy, and had walked away
+among the farm buildings, not thinking of what he was doing. The lad
+stood staring at him with open mouth, not at all understanding his
+master's hesitation. The meet, as the boy knew, was fourteen miles
+off, and Belton had not allowed himself above an hour and a half for
+the journey. It was his practice to jump into the saddle and bustle
+out of the place, as though seconds were important to him. He would
+look at his watch with accuracy, and measure his pace from spot to
+spot, as though minutes were too valuable to be lost. But now he
+wandered away like one distraught, and the stable boy knew that
+something was wrong. 'I thout he was a thinken of the white cow as
+choked 'erself with the tunnup that was skipped in the chopping,'
+said the boy, as he spoke of his master afterwards to the old groom.
+At last, however, a thought seemed to strike Belton. 'Do you get on
+Brag,' he said to the boy, 'and ride off to Goldingham Corner, and
+tell Daniel to bring the horse home again. I shan't hunt today. And I
+think I shall go away from home. If so, tell him to be sure the
+horses are out every morning and tell him to stop their beans. I
+mightn't hunt again for the next month.' Then he returned into the
+house, and went to the parlour in which his sister was sitting. 'I
+shan't go out today,' he said.
+
+'I thought you would not, Will,' she answered.
+
+'Not that I see any harm in it.'
+
+'I don't say that there is any harm, but it is as well on such
+occasions to do as others do.'
+
+'That's humbug, Mary.'
+
+'No, Will; I do not think that. When any practice has become the
+fixed rule of the society in which we live, it is always wise to
+adhere to that rule, unless it call upon us to do something that is
+actually wrong. One should not offend the prejudices of the world,
+even if one is quite sure that they are prejudices.'
+
+'It hasn't been that that has brought me back, Mary. I'll tell you
+what. I think I'll go down to Belton after all.'
+
+His sister did not know what to say in answer to this. Her chief
+anxiety was, of course, on behalf of her brother. That he should be
+made to forget Clara Amedroz, if that were only possible, was her
+great desire; and his journey at such a time as this down to Belton
+was not the way to accomplish such forgetting. And then she felt that
+Clara might very possibly not wish to see him. Had Will simply been
+her cousin, such a visit might be very well; but he had attempted to
+be more than her cousin, and therefore it would probably not be well.
+Captain Aylmer might not like it; and Mary felt herself bound to
+consider even Captain Aylmer's likings in such a matter. And yet she
+could not bear to oppose him in anything. 'It would be a very long
+journey,' she said.
+
+'What does that signify?'
+
+'And then it might so probably be for nothing.'
+
+'Why should it be for nothing?'
+
+'Because--'
+
+'Because what? Why don't you speak out? You need not be afraid of
+hurting me. Nothing that you can say can make it at all worse than it
+is.'
+
+'Dear Will, I wish I could make it better.'
+
+'But you can't. Nobody can make it either better or worse. I promised
+her once before that I would go to her when she might be in trouble,
+and I will be as good as my word. I said I would be a brother to
+her;--and so I will. So help me God, I will!' Then he rushed out of the
+room, striding through the door as though he would knock it down, and
+hurried upstairs to his own chamber. When there he stripped himself
+of his hunting things, and dressed himself again with all the
+expedition in his power; and then he threw a heap of clothes into a
+large portmanteau, and set himself to work packing as though
+everything in the world were to depend upon his catching a certain
+train. And he went to a locked drawer, and taking out a cheque-book,
+folded it up and put it into his pocket. Then he rang the bell
+violently; and as he was locking the portmanteau, pressing down the
+lid with all his weight and all his strength, he ordered that a
+certain mare should be put into a certain dog-cart and that somebody
+might be ready to drive over with him to the Downham Station. Within
+twenty minutes of the time of his rushing upstairs he appeared again
+before his sister with a greatcoat on, and a railway rug hanging over
+his arm. 'Do you mean that you are going today?' said she.
+
+'Yes. I'll catch the 11.40 up-train at Downham. What's the good of
+going unless I go at once? If I can be of any use it will be at the
+first. It may be that she will have nobody there to do anything for
+her.'
+
+'There is the clergyman, and Colonel Askerton even if Captain Aylmer
+has not gone down.'
+
+'The clergyman and Colonel Askerton are nothing to her. And if that
+man is there I can come back again.'
+
+'You will not quarrel with him?'
+
+'Why should I quarrel with him? What is there to quarrel about? I'm
+not such a fool as to quarrel with a man because I hate him. If he is
+there I shall see her for a minute or two, and then I shall come
+back.'
+
+'I know it is no good my trying to dissuade you.'
+
+'None on earth. If you knew it all you would not try to dissuade me.
+Before I thought of asking her to be my wife and yet I thought of
+that very soon but before I ever thought of that, I told her that
+when she wanted a brother's help I would give it her. Of course I was
+thinking of the property that she shouldn't be turned out of her
+father's house like a beggar. I hadn't any settled plan then how
+could I? But I meant her to understand that when her father died I
+would be the same to her that I am to you. If you were alone, in
+distress, would I not go to you?'
+
+'But I have no one else, Will,' said she, stretching out her hand to
+him where he stood.
+
+'That makes no difference,' he replied, almost roughly. A promise is
+a promise, and I resolved from the first that my promise should hold
+good in spite of my disappointment. Dear, dear it seems but the other
+day when I made it and now, already, everything is changed.' As he
+was speaking the servant entered the room, and told him that the
+horse and gig were ready for him. 'I shall just do it nicely,' said
+he, looking at his watch. 'I have over an hour. God bless you, Mary.
+I shan't be away long. You may be sure of that.'
+
+'I don't suppose you can tell as yet, Will.'
+
+'What should keep me long? I shall see Green as I go by, and that is
+half of my errand. I dare say I shan't stay above a night down in
+Somersetshire.'
+
+'You'll have to give some orders about the estate.'
+
+'I shall not say a word on the subject to anybody; that is, not to
+anybody there. I am going to look after her, and not the estate.'
+Then he stooped down and kissed his sister, and in another minute was
+turning the corner out of the farm-yard on to the road at a quick
+pace, not losing a foot of ground in the turn, in that fashion of
+rapidity which the horses at Plaistow Hall soon learned from their
+master. The horse is a closely sympathetic beast, and will make his
+turns, and do his trottings, and comport himself generally in strict
+unison with the pulsation of his master's heart. When a horse won't
+jump it is generally the case that the inner man is declining to jump
+also, let the outer man seem ever so anxious to accomplish the feat.
+
+Belton, who was generally very communicative with his servants,
+always talking to any man he might have beside him in his dog-cart
+about the fields and cattle and tillage around him, said not a word
+to the boy who accompanied him on this occasion. He had a good many
+things to settle in his mind before he got to London, and he began
+upon the work as soon as he had turned the corner out of the
+farm-yard. As regarded this Belton estate, which was now altogether
+his own, he had always had doubts and qualms qualms of feeling rather
+than of conscience; and he had, also, always entertained a strong
+family ambition. His people, ever so far back, had been Beltons of
+Belton. They told him that his family could be traced back to very
+early days before the Plantagenets, as he believed, though on this
+point of the subject he was very hazy in his information and he liked
+the idea of being the man by whom the family should be reconstructed
+in its glory. Worldly circumstances had been so kind to him, that he
+could take up the Belton estate with more of the prestige of wealth
+than had belonged to any of the owners of the place for many years
+past. Should it come to pass that living there would be desirable, he
+could rebuild the old house, and make new gardens, and fit himself
+out with all the pleasant braveries of a well-to-do English squire.
+There need be no pinching and scraping, no question whether a
+carriage would be possible, no doubt as to the prudence of preserving
+game. All this had given much that was delightful to his prospects.
+And he had, too, been instigated by a somewhat weak desire to emerge
+from that farmer's rank into which he knew that many connected with
+him had supposed him to have sunk. It was true that he farmed land
+that was half his own and that, even at Plaistow, he was a wealthy
+man; but Plaistow Hall, with all its comforts, was a farm-house; and
+the ambition to be more than a farmer had been strong upon him.
+
+But then there had been the feeling that in taking the Belton estate
+he would be robbing his Cousin Clara of all that should have been
+hers. It must be remembered that he had not been brought up in the
+belief that he would ever become the owner of Belton. All his high
+ambition in that matter had originated with the wretched death of
+Clara's brother. Could he bring himself to take it all with pleasure,
+seeing that it came to him by so sad a chance by a catastrophe so
+deplorable? When he would think of this, his mind would revolt from
+its own desires, and he would declare to himself that his inheritance
+would come to him with a stain of blood upon it. He, indeed, would
+have been guiltless; but how could he take his pleasure in the shades
+of Belton without thinking of the tragedy which had given him the
+property? Such had been the thoughts and desires, mixed in their
+nature and militating against each other, which had induced him to
+offer his first visit to his cousin's house. We know what was the
+effect of that visit, and by what pleasant scheme he had endeavoured
+to overcome all his difficulties, and so to become master of Belton
+that Clara Amedroz should also be its mistress. There had been a way
+which, after two days' intimacy with Clara, seemed to promise him
+comfort and happiness on all sides. But he had come too late, and
+that way was closed against him! Now the estate was his, and what was
+he to do with it? Clara belonged to his rival, and in what way would
+it become him to treat her? He was still thinking simply of the
+cruelty of the circumstances which had thrown Captain Aylmer between
+him and his cousin, when he drove himself up to the railway station
+at Downham.
+
+'Take her back steady, Jem,' he said to the boy.
+
+'I'll be sure to take her wery steady,' Jem answered, 'and tell
+Compton to have the samples of barley ready for me. I may be back any
+day, and we shall be sowing early this spring.'
+
+Then he left his cart, followed the porter who had taken his luggage
+eagerly, knowing that Mr Belton was always good for sixpence, and in
+five minutes' time he was again in motion.
+
+On his arrival in London he drove at once to the chambers of his
+friend, Mr Green, and luckily found the lawyer there. Had he missed
+doing this, it was his intention to go out to his friend's house; and
+in that case he could not have gone down to Taunton till the next
+morning; but now he would be able to say what he wished to say, and
+hear what he wished to hear, and would travel down by the night-mail
+train. He was anxious that Clara should feel that he had hurried to
+her without a moment's delay. It would do no good. He knew that.
+Nothing that he could do would alter her, or be of any service to
+him. She had accepted this man, and had herself no power of making a
+change, even if she should wish it. But still there was to him
+something of gratification in the idea that she should be made to
+feel that he, Belton, was more instant in his affection, more urgent
+in his good offices, more anxious to befriend her in her
+difficulties, than the man whom she had consented to take for her
+husband. Aylmer would probably go down to Belton, but Will was very
+anxious to be the first on the ground very anxious though his doing
+so could be of no use. All this was wrong on his part. He knew that
+it was wrong, and he abused himself for his own selfishness. But such
+self-abuse gave him no aid in escaping from his own wickedness. He
+would, if possible, be at Belton before Captain Aylmer; and he would,
+if possible, make Clara feel that, though he was not a Member of
+Parliament, though he was not much given to books, though he was only
+a farmer, yet he had at any rate as much heart and spirit as the fine
+gentleman whom she preferred to him.
+
+'I thought I should see you,' said the lawyer; 'but I hardly expected
+you so soon as this.'
+
+'I ought to have been a day sooner, only we don't get our telegraphic
+messages on a Sunday.'
+
+He still kept his greatcoat on; and it seemed by his manner that he
+had no intention of staying where he was above a minute or two.
+
+'You'll come out and dine with me today?' said Mr Green.
+
+'I can't do that, for I shall go down by the mail train.'
+
+'I never saw such a fellow in my life. What good will that do? It is
+quite right that you should be there in time for the funeral; but I
+don't suppose he will be buried before this day week.'
+
+But Belton had never thought about the funeral. When he had spoken to
+his sister of saying but a few words to Clara and then returning, he
+had forgotten that there would be any such ceremony, or that he would
+be delayed by any such necessity.
+
+'I was not thinking about the funeral,' said Belton. 'You'll only
+find yourself uncomfortable there.'
+
+'Of course I shall be uncomfortable.'
+
+'You can't do anything about the property, you know.'
+
+'What do you mean by doing anything?' said Belton, in an angry tone.
+
+'You can't very well take possession of the place, at any rate, till
+after the funeral. It would not be considered the proper thing to
+do.'
+
+'You think, then, that I'm a bird of prey, smelling the feast from
+afar off, and hurrying at the dead man's carcase as soon as the
+breath is out of his body?'
+
+'I don't think anything of the kind, my dear fellow.'
+
+'Yes, you do, or you wouldn't talk to me about doing the proper
+thing! I don't care a straw about the proper thing! If I find that
+there's anything to be done tomorrow that can be of any use, I shall
+do it, though all Somersetshire should think it improper! But I'm not
+going to look after my own interests!'
+
+'Take off your coat and sit down, Will, and don't look angry at me. I
+know that you're not greedy, well enough. Tell me what you are going
+to do, and let me see if I can help you.'
+
+Belton did as he was told; he pulled off his coat and sat himself
+down by the fire. 'I don't know that you can do anything to help me
+at least, not as yet. But I must go and see after her. Perhaps she
+may be all alone.'
+
+'I suppose she is all alone.'
+
+'He hasn't gone down, then?'
+
+'Who Captain Aylmer? No he hasn't gone down, certainly. He is in
+Yorkshire.'
+
+'I'm glad of that!'
+
+'He won't hurry himself. He never does, I fancy. I had a letter from
+him this morning about Miss Amedroz.'
+
+'And what did he say?'
+
+'He desired me to send her seventy-five pounds the interest of her
+aunt's money.'
+
+'Seventy-five pounds!' said Will Belton, contemptuously.
+
+'He thought she might want money at once; and I sent her the cheque
+today. It will go down by the same train that carries you.'
+
+'Seventy-five pounds! And you are sure that he has not gone himself?'
+
+'It isn't likely that he should have written to me, and passed
+through London himself, at the same time but it is possible, no
+doubt. I don't think he even knew the old squire; and there is no
+reason why he should go to the funeral.'
+
+'No reason at all,' said Belton who felt that Captain Aylmer's
+presence at the Castle would be an insult to himself. 'I don't know
+what on earth he should do there except that I think him just the
+fellow to intrude where he is not wanted.' And yet Will was in his
+heart despising Captain Aylmer because he had not already hurried
+down to the assistance of the girl whom he professed to love.
+
+'He is engaged to her, you know,' said the lawyer, in a low voice.
+
+'What difference does that make with such a fellow as he is a
+cold-blooded fish of a man, who thinks of nothing in the world but
+being respectable? Engaged to her! Oh, damn him!'
+
+'I've not the slightest objection. I don't think, however, that
+you'll find him at Belton before you. No doubt she will have heard
+from him; and it strikes me as very possible that she may go to
+Aylmer Park.'
+
+'What should she go there for?'
+
+'Would it not be the best place for her?'
+
+'No. My house would be the best place for her. I am her nearest
+relative. Why should she not come to us?'
+
+Mr Green turned round his chair and poked the fire, and fidgeted
+about for some moments before he answered. 'My dear fellow, you must
+know that that wouldn't do.' He then said, 'You ought to feel that it
+wouldn't do you ought indeed.'
+
+'Why shouldn't my sister receive Miss Amedroz as well as that old
+woman down in Yorkshire?'
+
+'If I may tell you, I will.'
+
+'Of course you may tell me.'
+
+'Because Miss Amedroz is engaged to be married to that old woman's
+son, and is not engaged to be married to your sister's brother. The
+thing is done, and what is the good of interfering? As far as she is
+concerned, a great burden is off your hands.'
+
+'What do you mean by a burden?'
+
+'I mean that her engagement to Captain Aylmer makes it unnecessary
+for you to suppose that she is in want of any pecuniary assistance.
+You told me once before that you would feel yourself called upon to
+see that she wanted nothing.'
+
+'So I do now.'
+
+'But Captain Aylmer will look after that.'
+
+'I tell you what it is, Joe; I mean to settle the Belton property in
+such a way that she shall have it, and that he shan't be able to
+touch it. And it shall go to some one who shall have my name William
+Belton. That's what I want you to arrange for me.'
+
+'After you are dead, you mean.'
+
+'I mean now, at once. I won't take the estate from her. I hate the
+place and everything belonging to it. I don't mean her. There is no
+reason for hating her.'
+
+'My dear Will, you are talking nonsense.'
+
+'Why is it nonsense? I may give what belongs to me to whom I please.'
+
+'You can do nothing of the kind at any rate, not by my assistance.
+You talk as though the world were all over with you as though you
+were never to be married or have any children of your own.'
+
+'I shall never marry.'
+
+'Nonsense, Will. Don't make such an ass of yourself as to suppose
+that you'll not get over such a thing as this. You'll be married and
+have a dozen children yet to provide for. Let the eldest have Belton
+Castle, and everything will go on then in the proper way.'
+
+Belton had now got the poker into his hands, and sat silent for some
+time, knocking the coals about. Then he got up, and took his hat, and
+put on his coat. Of course I can't make you understand me,' he said;
+at any rate not all at once. I'm not such a fool as to want to give
+up my property just because a girl is going to be married to a man I
+don't like. I'm not such an ass as to give him my estate for such a
+reason as that for it will be giving it to him, let me tie it up as I
+may. But I've a feeling about it which makes it impossible for me to
+take it. How would you like to get a thing by another fellow having
+destroyed himself?'
+
+'You can't help that. It's yours by law.'
+
+'Of course it is. I know that. And as it's mine I can do what I like
+with it. Well good-bye. When I've got anything to say, I'll write.'
+Then he went down to his cab and had himself driven to the Great
+Western Railway Hotel.
+
+Captain Aylmer had sent to his betrothed seventy-five pounds; the
+exact interest at five per cent, for one year of the sum which his
+aunt had left her. This was the first subject of which Belton thought
+when he found himself again in the railway carriage, and he continued
+thinking of it half the way down to Taunton. Seventy-five pounds! As
+though this favoured lover were prepared to give her exactly her due,
+and nothing more than her due! Had he been so placed, he, Will
+Belton, what would he have done? Seventy-five pounds might have been
+more money than she would have wanted, for he would have taken her to
+his own house to his own bosom as soon as she would have permitted,
+and would have so laboured on her behalf, taking from her shoulders
+all money troubles, that there would have been no question as to
+principal or interest between them. At any rate he would not have
+confined himself to sending to her the exact sum which was her due.
+But then Aylmer was a cold-blooded man more like a fish than a man.
+Belton told himself over and over again that he had discovered that
+at the single glance which he had had when he saw Captain Aylmer in
+Green's chambers. Seventy-five pounds indeed! He himself was prepared
+to give his whole estate to her, if she would take it even though she
+would not marry him, even though she was going to throw herself away
+upon that fish! Then he felt somewhat as Hamlet did when he jumped
+upon Laertes at the grave of Ophelia. Send her seventy-five pounds
+indeed, while he was ready to drink up Esil for her, or to make over
+to her the whole Belton estate, and thus abandon the idea for ever of
+being Belton of Belton!
+
+He reached Taunton in the middle of the night during the small hours
+of the morning in a winter night; but yet he could not bring himself
+to go to bed. So he knocked up an ostler at the nearest inn, and
+ordered out a gig. He would go down to the village of Redicote, on
+the Minehead road, and put up at the public-house there. He could not
+now have himself driven at once to Belton Castle, as he would have
+done had the old squire been alive. He fancied that his presence
+would be a nuisance if he did so. So he went to the little inn at
+Redicote, reaching that place between four and five o'clock in the
+morning; and very uncomfortable he was when he got there. But in his
+present frame of mind he preferred discomfort. He liked being tired
+and cold, and felt, when he was put into a chill room, without fire,
+and with a sanded floor, that things with him were as they ought to
+be.
+
+Yes he could have a fly over to Belton Castle after breakfast. Having
+learned so much, and ordered a dish of eggs and bacon for his
+morning's breakfast, he went upstairs to a miserable little bedroom,
+to dress himself after his night's journey.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+MRS ASKERTON'S GENEROSITY
+
+The death of the old man at Belton Castle had been very sudden. At
+three o'clock in the morning Clara had been called into his room, and
+at five o'clock she was alone in the world having neither father,
+mother, nor brother; without a home, without a shilling that she
+could call her own with no hope as to her future life, if as she had
+so much reason to suppose Captain Aylmer should have chosen to accept
+her last letter as a ground for permanent separation. But at this
+moment, on this saddest morning, she did not care much for that
+chance. It seemed to be almost indifferent to her, that question of
+Lady Aylmer and her anger. The more that she was absolutely in need
+of external friendship, the more disposed was she to reject it, and
+to declare to herself that she was prepared to stand alone in the
+world.
+
+For the last week she had understood from the doctor that her father
+was in truth sinking, and that she might hardly hope ever to see him
+again convalescent. She had therefore in some sort prepared herself
+for her loneliness, and anticipated the misery of her position. As
+soon as it was known to the women in the room that life had left the
+old man, one of them had taken her by the hand and led her back to
+her own chamber. 'Now, Miss Clara, you had better lie down on the bed
+again you had indeed; you can do nothing sitting up.' She took the
+old woman's advice, and allowed them to do with her as they would. It
+was true that there was no longer any work by which she could make
+herself useful in that house in that house, or, as far as she could
+see, in any other. Yes; she would go to bed, and lying there would
+feel how convenient it would be for many persons if she also could be
+taken away to her long rest, as her father, and aunt, and brother had
+been taken before her.
+
+Her name and family had been unfortunate, and it would be well that
+there should be no Amedroz left to trouble those more fortunate
+persons who were to come after them. In her sorrow and bitterness she
+included both her Cousin Will and Captain Aylmer among those more
+fortunate ones for whose sake it might be well that she should be
+made to vanish from off the earth. She had read Captain Aylmer's
+letter over and over again since she had answered it, and had read
+nearly as often the copy of her own reply and had told herself, as
+she read them, that of course he would not forgive her. He might
+perhaps pardon her, if she would submit to him in everything; but
+that she would not submit to his commands respecting Mrs Askerton she
+was fully resolved,--and, therefore, there could be no hope. Then, when
+she remembered how lately her dear father's spirit had fled, she
+hated herself for having allowed her mind to dwell on anything
+beyond her loss of him.
+
+She was still in her bedroom, having fallen into that half-waking
+slumber which the numbness of sorrow so often produces, when word was
+brought to her that Mrs Askerton was in the house. It was the first
+time that Mrs Askerton had ever crossed the door, and the remembrance
+that it was so came upon her at once. During her father's lifetime it
+had seemed to be understood that their neighbour should have no
+admittance there but now now that her father was gone the barrier was
+to be overthrown. And why not? Why should not Mrs Askerton come to
+her? Why, if Mrs Askerton chose to be kind to her, should she not
+altogether throw herself into her friend's arms? Of course her doing
+so would give mortal offence to everybody at Aylmer Park; but why
+need she stop to think of that? She had already made up her mind that
+she would not obey orders from Aylmer Park on this subject.
+
+She had not seen Mrs Askerton since that interview between them which
+was described some few chapters back. Then everything had been told
+between them, so that there was no longer any mystery either on the
+one side or on the other. Then Clara had assured her friend of her
+loving friendship in spite of any edicts to the contrary which might
+come from Aylmer Park; and after that what could be more natural than
+that Mrs Askerton should come to her in her sorrow? 'She says she'll
+come up to you if you'll let her,' said the servant. But Clara
+declined this proposition, and in a few minutes went down to the
+small parlour in which she had lately lived, and where she found her
+visitor.
+
+'My poor dear, this has been very sudden,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Very sudden very sudden. And yet, now that he has gone, I know that
+I expected it.'
+
+'Of course I came to you as soon as I heard of it, because I knew you
+were all alone. If there had been any one else I should not have
+come.'
+
+'It is very good of you.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton thought that perhaps he had better come. I told him
+of all that which we said to each other the other day. He thought at
+first that it would be better that I should not see you.'
+
+'It was very good of you to come,' said Clara again, and as she spoke
+she put out her hand and took Mrs Askerton's continuing to hold it
+for awhile; 'very good indeed.'
+
+'I told him that I could not but go down to you that I thought you
+would not understand it if I stayed away.'
+
+'At any rate it was good of you to come to me.'
+
+'I don't believe,' said Mrs Askerton, 'that what people call
+consolation is ever of any use. It is a terrible thing to lose a
+father.'
+
+'Very terrible. Ah, dear, I have hardly yet found out how sad it is.
+As yet I have only been thinking of myself, and wishing that I could
+be with him.'
+
+'Nay, Clara.'
+
+'How can I help it? What am I to do? Or where am I to go? Of what use
+is life to such a one as me? And for him who would dare to wish him
+back again? When people have fallen and gone down in the world, it is
+bad for them to go on living. Everything is a trouble, and there is
+nothing but vexation.'
+
+'Think what I have suffered, dear.'
+
+'But you have had somebody to care for you somebody whom you could
+trust.'
+
+'And have not you?'
+
+'No; no one.'
+
+'What do you mean, Clara?'
+
+'I mean what I say. I have no one. It is no use asking questions not
+now, at such a time as this. And I did not mean to complain.
+Complaining is weak and foolish. I have often told myself that I
+could bear anything, and so I will. When I can bring myself to think
+of what I have lost in my father I shall be better, even though I
+shall be more sorrowful. As it is, I hate myself for being so
+selfish.'
+
+'You will let me come and stay with you today, will you not?'
+
+'No, dear; not today.'
+
+'Why not today, Clara?'
+
+'I shall be better alone. I have so many things to think of.'
+
+'I know well that it would be better that you should not be alone
+much better. But I will not press it. I cannot insist with you as
+another woman would.'
+
+'You are wrong there; quite wrong. I would be led by you sooner than
+by any woman living. What other woman is there to whom I would listen
+for a moment?' As she said this, even in the depth of her sorrow she
+thought of Lady Aylmer, and strengthened herself in her resolution to
+rebel against her lover's mother. Then she continued, 'I wish I knew
+my Cousin Mary Mary Bolton; but I have never seen her.'
+
+'Is she nice?'
+
+'So Will tells me; and I know that what he says must be true even
+about his sister.'
+
+'Will, Will! You are always thinking of your Cousin Will. If he be
+really so good he will show it now.'
+
+'How can he show it? What can he do?'
+
+'Does he not inherit all the property?'
+
+'Of course he does. And what of that? When I say that I have no
+friend I am not thinking of my poverty.'
+
+'If he has that regard for you which he pretends, he can do much to
+assist you. Why should he not come here at once?'
+
+'God forbid.'
+
+'Why? Why do you say so? He is your nearest relative.'
+
+'If you do not understand I cannot explain.'
+
+'Has he been told what has happened?' Mrs Askerton asked.
+
+'Colonel Askerton sent a message to him, I believe.'
+
+'And to Captain Aylmer also?'
+
+'Yes; and to Captain Aylmer. It was Colonel Askerton who sent it.'
+
+'Then he will come, of course.'
+
+'I think not. Why should he come? He did not even know poor papa.'
+
+'But, my dear Clara, has he not known you?'
+
+'You will see that he will not come. And I tell you beforehand that
+he will be right to stay away. Indeed, I do not know how he could
+come and I do not want him here.'
+
+'I cannot understand you, Clara.'
+
+'I suppose not. I cannot very well understand myself.'
+
+'I should not be at all surprised if Lady Aylmer were to come
+herself.'
+
+'Oh, heavens! How little you can know of Lady Aylmer's position and
+character!'
+
+'But if she is to be your mother-in-law?'
+
+'And even if she were! The idea of Lady Aylmer coming away from
+Aylmer Park all the way from Yorkshire, to such a house as this! If
+they told me that the Queen was coming it would hardly disconcert me
+more. But, dear, there is no danger of that at least.'
+
+'I do not know what may have passed between you and him; but unless
+there has been some quarrel he will come. That is, he will do so if
+he is at all like any men whom I have known.'
+
+'He will not come.'
+
+Then Mrs Askerton made some half-whispered offers of services to be
+rendered by Colonel Askerton, and soon afterwards took her leave,
+having first asked permission to come again in the afternoon, and
+when that was declined, having promised to return on the following
+morning. As she walked back to the cottage she could not but think
+more of Clara's engagement to Captain Aylmer than she did of the
+squire's death. As regarded herself, of course she could not grieve
+for Mr Amedroz; and as regarded Clara, Clara's father had for some
+time past been apparently so insignificant, even in his own house,
+that it was difficult to acknowledge the fact that the death of such
+a one as he might leave a great blank in the world. But what had
+Clara meant by declaring so emphatically that Captain Aylmer would
+not visit Belton, and by speaking of herself as one who had neither
+position nor friends in the world? If there had been a quarrel,
+indeed, then it was sufficiently intelligible and if there was any
+such quarrel, from what source must it have arisen? Mrs Askerton felt
+the blood rise to her cheeks as she thought of this, and told herself
+that there could be but one such source. Mrs Askerton knew that Clara
+had received orders from Aylmer Castle to discontinue all
+acquaintance with herself, and, therefore, there could be no doubt as
+to the cause of the quarrel. It had come to this then, that Clara was
+to lose her husband because she was true to her friend; or rather
+because she would not consent to cast an additional stone at one who
+for some years past had become a mark for many stones.
+
+I am not prepared to say that Mrs Askerton was a high-minded woman.
+Misfortunes had come upon her in life of a sort which are too apt to
+quench high nobility of mind in woman. There are calamities which, by
+their natural tendencies, elevate the character of women and add
+strength to the growth of feminine virtues but then, again, there are
+other calamities which few women can bear without some degradation,
+without some injury to that delicacy and tenderness which is
+essentially necessary to make a woman charming as a woman. In this, I
+think, the world is harder to women than to men; that a woman often
+loses much by the chance of adverse circumstances which a man only
+loses by his own misconduct. That there are women whom no calamity
+can degrade is true enough and so it is true that there are some men
+who are heroes; but such are exceptions both among men and women. Not
+such a one had Mrs Askerton been. Calamity had come upon her partly,
+indeed, by her own fault, though that might have been pardoned but
+the weight of her misfortunes had been too great for her strength,
+and she had become in some degree hardened by what she had endured;
+if not unfeminine, still she was feminine in an inferior degree, with
+womanly feelings of a lower order. And she had learned to intrigue,
+not being desirous of gaining aught by dishonest intriguing, but
+believing that she could only hold her own by carrying on her battle
+after that fashion. In all this I am speaking of the general
+character of the woman, and am not alluding to the one sin which she
+had committed. Thus, when she had first become acquainted with Miss
+Amedroz, her conscience had not rebuked her in that she was deceiving
+her new friend. When asked casually in conversation as to her maiden
+name, she had not blushed as she answered the question with a
+falsehood. When, unfortunately, the name of her first husband had in
+some way made itself known to Clara, she had been ready again with
+some prepared fib. And when she had recognized William Belton, she
+had thought that the danger to herself of having any one near her who
+might know her quite justified her in endeavouring to create ill-will
+between Clara and her cousin. 'Self-preservation is the first law of
+nature,' she would have said; and would have failed to remember, as
+she did always fail to remember that nature does not require by any
+of its laws that self-preservation should be aided by falsehood.
+
+But though she was not high-minded, so also was she not ungenerous;
+and now, as she began to understand that Clara was sacrificing
+herself because of that promise which had been given when they two
+had stood together at the window in the cottage drawing-room, she was
+capable of feeling more for her friend than for herself. She was
+capable even of telling herself that it was cruel on her part even to
+wish for any continuance of Clara's acquaintance. 'I have made my
+bed, and I must lie upon it,' she said to herself; and then she
+resolved that, instead of going up to the house on the following day,
+she would write to Clara, and put an end to the intimacy which
+existed between them. 'The world is hard, and harsh, and unjust,' she
+said, still speaking to herself. 'But that is not her fault; I will
+not injure her because I have been injured myself.'
+
+Colonel Askerton was up at the house on the same day, but he did not
+ask for Miss Amedroz, nor did she see him. Nobody else came to the
+house then, or on the following morning, or on that afternoon, though
+Clara did not fail to tell herself that Captain Aylmer might have
+been there if he had chosen to take the journey and to leave home as
+soon as he had received the message; and she made the same
+calculation as to her Cousin Will though in that calculation, as we
+know, she was wrong. These two days had been very desolate with her,
+and she had begun to look forward to Mrs Askerton's coming when
+instead of that there came a messenger with a letter from the
+cottage.
+
+'You can do as you like, my dear,' Colonel Askerton had said on the
+previous evening to his wife. He had listened to all she had been
+saying without taking his eyes from off his newspaper, though she had
+spoken with much eagerness.
+
+'But that is not enough. You should say more to me than that.'
+
+'Now I think you are unreasonable. For myself, I do not care how this
+matter goes; nor do I care one straw what any tongues may say. They
+cannot reach me, excepting so far as they may reach me through you.'
+
+'But you should advise me.'
+
+'I always do copiously, when I think that I know better than you; but
+in this matter I feel so sure that you know better than I, that I
+don't wish to suggest anything.' Then he went on with his newspaper,
+and she sat for a while looking at him, as though she expected that
+something more would be said. But nothing more was said, and she was
+left entirely to her own guidance.
+
+Since the days in which her troubles had come upon Mrs Askerton,
+Clara Amedroz was the first female friend who had come near her to
+comfort her, and she was very loth to abandon such comfort. There
+had, too, been something more than comfort, something almost
+approaching to triumph, when she found that Clara had clung to her
+with affection after hearing the whole story of her life. Though her
+conscience had not pricked her while she was exercising all her
+little planned deceits, she had not taken much pleasure in them. How
+should any one take pleasure in such work? Many of us daily deceive
+our friends, and are so far gone in deceit that the deceit alone is
+hardly painful to us. But the need of deceiving a friend is always
+painful. The treachery is easy; but to be treacherous to those we
+love is never easy never easy, even though it be so common. There had
+been a double delight to this poor woman in the near neighbourhood of
+Clara Amedroz since there had ceased to be a necessity for falsehood
+on her part. But now, almost before her joy had commenced, almost
+before she had realized the sweetness of her triumph, had come upon
+her this task of doing that herself which Clara in her generosity had
+refused to do. 'I have made my bed and I must lie upon it,' she said.
+And then, instead of going down to the house as she had promised, she
+wrote the following letter to Miss Amedroz:--
+
+
+'The Cottage, Monday.
+
+'Dearest Clara,--I need not tell you that I write as I do now with a
+bleeding heart. A few days since I should have laughed at any woman who
+used such a phrase of herself, and declared her to be an affected fool;
+but now I know how true such a word may be. My heart is bleeding, and I
+feel myself to be overcome by my disgrace. You told me that I did not
+understand you yesterday. Of course I understood you. Of course I
+know how it all is, and why you spoke as you did of Captain Aylmer.
+He has chosen to think that you could not know me without pollution,
+and has determined that you must give up either me or him. Though he
+has judged me, I am not going to judge him. The world is on his side;
+and, perhaps, he is right. He knows nothing of my trials and
+difficulties and why should he? I do not blame him for demanding that
+his future wife shall not be intimate with a woman who is supposed to
+have lost her fitness for the society of women.
+
+'At any rate, dearest, you must obey him and we will see each other no
+more. I am quite sure that I should be very wicked were I to allow
+you to injure your position in life on my account. You at any rate
+love him, and would be happy with him, and as you are engaged to him,
+you have no just ground for resenting his interference.
+
+'You will understand me now as well as though I were to fill sheets
+and sheets of paper with what I could say on the subject. The simple
+fact is, that you and I must forget each other, or simply remember
+one another as past friends. You will know in a day or two what your
+plans are. If you remain here, we will go away. If you go away, we
+will remain here that is, if your cousin will keep us as tenants. I
+do not, of course, know what you may have written to Captain Aylmer
+since our interview up here, but I beg that you will write to him
+now, and make him understand that he need have no fears in respect of
+me. You may send him this letter if you will. Oh, dear! If you could
+know what I suffer as I write this.
+
+'I feel that I owe you an apology for harassing you on such a subject
+at such a time; but I know that I ought not to lose a day in tolling
+you that you are to see nothing more of the friend who has loved you.
+
+'MARY ASKERTON.'
+
+
+Clara's first impulse on receiving this letter was to go off at once
+to the cottage, and insist on her privilege of choosing her own
+friends. If she preferred Mrs Askerton to Captain Aylmer, that was no
+one's business but her own. And she would have done so had she not
+been afraid of meeting with Colonel Askerton. To him she would not
+have known how to speak on such a subject nor would she have known
+how to conduct herself at the cottage without speaking of it. And
+then, after a while, she felt that were she to do so should she now
+deliberately determine to throw herself into Mrs Askerton's arms she
+must at the same time give up all ideas of becoming Captain Aylmer's
+wife. As she thought of this she asked herself various questions
+concerning him, which she did not find it easy to answer. Did she
+wish to be his wife? Could she assure herself that if they were
+married they would make each other happy? Did she love him? She was
+still able to declare to herself that the answer to the last question
+should be an affirmative; but, nevertheless, she thought that she
+could give him up without great unhappiness. And when she began to
+think of Lady Aylmer, and to remember that Frederic Aylmer's
+imperative demands upon her obedience had, in all probability, been
+dictated by his mother, she was again anxious to go at once to the
+cottage, and declare that she would not submit to any interference
+with her own judgment.
+
+On the next morning the postman brought to her a letter which was of
+much moment to her but he brought to her also tidings which moved her
+more even than the letter. The letter was from the lawyer, and
+enclosed a cheque for seventy-five pounds, which he had been
+instructed to pay to her, as the interest of the money left to her by
+her aunt. What should be her answer to that letter she knew very
+well, and she instantly wrote it, sending back the cheque to Mr
+Green. The postman's news, more important than the letter, told her
+that William Belton was at the inn at Redicote.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+PASSIONATE PLEADING
+
+Clara wrote her letter to the lawyer, returning the cheque, before
+she would allow herself a moment to dwell upon the news of her
+cousin's arrival. She felt that it was necessary to do that before
+she should even see her cousin thus providing against any difficulty
+which might arise from adverse advice on his part; and as soon as the
+letter was written she sent it to the post-office in the village. She
+would do almost anything that Will might tell her to do, but
+Captain Aylmer's money she would not take, even though Will might so
+direct her. They would tell her, no doubt, among them, that the money
+was her own,--that she might take it without owing any thanks for it to
+Captain Aylmer. But she knew better than that,--as she told herself
+over and over again. Her aunt had left her nothing, and nothing would
+she have from Captain Aylmer,--unless she had all that Captain Aylmer
+had to give, after the fashion in which women best love to take such
+gifts.
+
+Then, when she had done that, she was able to think of her cousin's
+visit. 'I knew he would come,' she said to herself, as she sat
+herself in one of the old chairs in the hall, with a large shawl
+wrapped round her shoulders. She had just been to the front door,
+with the nominal purpose of dispatching her messenger thence to the
+post-office; but she had stood for a minute or two under the portico,
+looking in the direction by which Belton would come from Redicote,
+expecting, or rather hoping, that she might see his figure or hear
+the sound of his gig. But she saw nothing and heard nothing, and so
+returned into the hall, slowly shutting the door. 'I knew that he
+would come,' she said, repeating to herself the same words over and
+over again. Yet when Mrs Askerton had told her that he would do this
+thing which he had now done, she had expressed herself as almost
+frightened by the idea. 'God forbid,' she had said. Nevertheless now
+that he was there at Redicote, she assured herself that his coming
+was a thing of which she had been certain; and she took a joy in the
+knowledge of his nearness to her which she did not attempt to define
+to herself. Had he not said that he would be a brother to her, and
+was it not a brother's part to go to a sister in affliction? 'I knew
+that he would come. I was sure of it. He is so true.' As to Captain
+Aylmer's not coming she said nothing, even to herself; but she felt
+that she had been equally sure on that subject. Of course, Captain
+Aylmer would not come! He had sent her seventy-five pounds in lieu of
+coming, and in doing so was true to his character. Both men were
+doing exactly that which was to have been expected of them. So at
+least Clara Amedroz now assured herself. She did not ask herself how
+it was that she had come to love the thinner and the meaner of the
+two men, but she knew well that such had been her fate.
+
+On a sudden she rose from her chair, as though remembering a duty to
+be performed, and went to the kitchen and directed that breakfast
+might be got ready for Mr Belton. He would have travelled all night
+and would be in want of food. Since the old squire's death there had
+been no regular meal served in the house, and Clara had taken such
+scraps of food and cups of tea as the old servant of the house had
+brought to her. But now the cloth must be spread again, and as she
+did this with her own hands she remembered the dinners which had been
+prepared for Captain Aylmer at Perivale after his aunt's death. It
+seemed to her that she was used to be in the house with death, and
+that the sadness and solemn ceremonies of woe were becoming things
+familiar to her. There grew upon her a feeling that it must be so
+with her always. The circumstances of her life would ever be sad.
+What right had she to expect any other fate after such a catastrophe
+as that which her brother had brought upon the family? It was clear
+to her that she had done wrong in supposing that she could marry and
+live with a prosperous man of the world like Captain Aylmer. Their
+natures were different, and no such union could lead to any good. So
+she told herself, with much misery of spirit, as she was preparing
+the breakfast-table for William Belton.
+
+But William Belton did not come to eat the breakfast. He got what he
+wanted in that way at the inn at Redicote, and even then hesitated,
+loitering at the bar, before he would go over. What was he to say,
+and how would he be received? After all, had he not done amiss in
+coming to a house at which he probably might not be wanted? Would it
+not be thought that his journey had been made solely with a view to
+his own property? He would be regarded as the heir pouncing upon the
+inheritance before as yet the old owner was under the ground. At any
+rate it would be too early for him to make his visit yet awhile; and,
+to kill time, he went over to a carpenter who had been employed by
+him about the place at Belton. The carpenter spoke to him as though
+everything were his own, and was very intent upon future
+improvements. This made Will more disgusted with himself than ever,
+and before he could get out of the carpenter's yard he thoroughly
+wished himself back at Plaistow. But having come so far, he could
+hardly return without seeing his cousin, and at last he had himself
+driven over, reaching the house between eleven and twelve o'clock in
+the day.
+
+Clara met him in the hall, and at once led him into the room which
+she had prepared for him. He had given her his hand in the hall, but
+did not speak to her till she had spoken to him after the closing of
+the room door behind them. 'I thought that you would come' she said,
+still holding him by the hand.
+
+'I did not know what to do,' he answered. 'I couldn't say which was
+best. Now I am here I shall only be in your way.' He did not dare to
+press her hand, nor could he bring himself to take his away from her.
+
+'In my way yes; as an angel, to tell me what to do in my trouble. I
+knew you would come, because you are so good. But you will have
+breakfast see, I have got it ready for you.'
+
+'Oh no; I breakfasted at Redicote. I would not trouble you.'
+
+'Trouble me, Will! Oh, Will, if you knew!' Then there came tears in
+her eyes, and at the sight of them both his own were filled. How was
+he to stand it? To take her to his bosom and hold her there for
+always; to wipe away her tears so that she should weep no more; to
+devote himself and all his energy and all that was his comfort to her
+this he could have done; but he knew not how to do anything short of
+this. Every word that she spoke to him was an encouragement to this,
+and yet he knew that it could not be so. To say a word of his love,
+or even to look it, would now be an unmanly insult. And yet, how was
+he not to look it not to speak of it? 'It is such a comfort that you
+should be here with me,' she said.
+
+'Then I am glad I am here, though I do not know what I can do. Did he
+suffer much, Clara?'
+
+'No, I think not; very little. He sank at last quicker than I
+expected, but just as I thought he would go. He used to speak of you
+so often, and always with regard and esteem!'
+
+'Dear old man!'
+
+'Yes, Will; he was, in spite of his little faults. No father ever
+loved his daughter better than he loved me.'
+
+After a while the servant brought in the tea, explaining to Belton
+that Miss Clara had neither eaten nor drank that morning. 'She
+wouldn't take anything till you came, sir.' Then Will added his
+entreaties, and Clara was persuaded, and by degrees there grew
+between them more ease of manner and capability for talking than had
+been within their reach when they first met. And during the morning
+many things were explained, as to which Clara would a few hours
+previously have thought it to be almost impossible that she should
+speak to her cousin. She had told him of her aunt's money, and the
+way in which she had on that very morning sent back the cheque to the
+lawyer; and she had said something also as to Lady Aylmer's views,
+and her own views as to Lady Aylmer. With Will this subject was one
+most difficult of discussion; and he blushed and fidgeted in his
+chair, and walked about the room, and found himself unable to look
+Clara in the face as she spoke to him. But she went on, goading him
+with the name, which of all names was the most distasteful to him;
+and mentioning that name almost in terms of reproach of reproach
+which he felt it would be ungenerous to reciprocate, but which he
+would have exaggerated to unmeasured abuse if he had given his tongue
+licence to speak his mind.
+
+'I was right to send back the money wasn't I, Will? Say that I was
+right. Pray tell me that you think so!'
+
+'I don't understand it at present, you see; I am no lawyer.'
+
+'But it doesn't want a lawyer to know that I couldn't take the money
+from him. I am sure you feel that.'
+
+'If a man owes money of course he ought to pay it.'
+
+'But he doesn't owe it, Will. It is intended for generosity.'
+
+'You don't want anybody's generosity, certainly.' Then he reflected
+that Clara must, after all, depend entirely on the generosity of some
+one till she was married; and he wanted to explain to her that
+everything he had in the world was at her service was indeed her own.
+Or he would have explained, if he knew how, that he did not intend to
+take advantage of the entail that the Belton estate should belong to
+her as the natural heir of her father. But he conceived that the
+moment for explaining this had hardly as yet arrived, and that he had
+better confine himself to some attempt at teaching her that no
+extraneous assistance would be necessary to her, 'In money matters,'
+said he, 'of course you are to look to me. That is a matter of
+course. I'll see Green about the other affairs. Green and I are
+friends. We'll settle it.'
+
+'That's not what I meant, Will.'
+
+'But it's what I mean. This is one of those things in which a man has
+to act on his own judgment. Your father and I understood each other.'
+
+'He did not understand that I was to accept your bounty.'
+
+'Bounty is a nasty word, and I hate it. You accepted me as your
+brother, and as such I mean to act.' The word almost stuck in his
+throat, but he brought it out at last in a fierce tone, of which she
+understood accurately the cause and meaning. 'All money matters about
+the place must be settled by me. Indeed, that's why I came down.'
+
+'Not only for that, Will?'
+
+'Just to be useful in that way, I mean.'
+
+'You came to see me because you knew I should want you.' Surely this
+was malice prepense! Knowing what was his want, how could she
+exasperate it by talking thus of her own? 'As for money, I have no
+claim on any one. No creature was ever more forlorn. But I will not
+talk of that.'
+
+'Did you not say that you would treat me as a brother?'
+
+'I did not mean that I was to be a burden on you.'
+
+'I know what I meant, and that is sufficient.' Belton had been at the
+house some hours before he made any signs of leaving her, and when he
+did so he had to explain something of his plans. He would remain, he
+said, for about a week in the neighbourhood.
+
+She of course was obliged to ask him to stay at the house at the
+house which was in fact his own; but he declined to do this, blurting
+out his reason at last very plainly. 'Captain Aylmer would not like
+it, and I suppose you are bound to think of what he likes and
+dislikes.' 'I don't know what right Captain Aylmer would have to
+dislike any such thing,' said Clara. But, nevertheless, she allowed
+the reason to pass as current, and did not press her invitation. Will
+declared that he would stay at the inn at Redicote, striving to
+explain in some very unintelligible manner that such an arrangement
+would be very convenient. He would remain at Redicote, and would come
+over to Belton every day during his sojourn in the country. Then he
+asked one question in a low whisper as to the last sad ceremony, and,
+having received an answer, started off with the declared intention of
+calling on Colonel Askerton.
+
+The next two or three days passed uncomfortably enough with Will
+Belton. He made his head-quarters at the little inn of Redicote, and
+drove himself backwards and forwards between that place and the
+estate which was now his own. On each of these days he saw Colonel
+Askerton, whom he found to be a civil pleasant man, willing enough to
+rid himself of the unpleasant task he had undertaken, but at the same
+time, willing also to continue his services if any further services
+were required of him. But of Mrs Askerton on these occasions Will saw
+nothing, nor had he ever spoken to her since the time of his first
+visit to the Castle. Then came the day of the funeral, and after that
+rite was over he returned with his cousin to the house. There was no
+will to be read. The old squire had left no will, nor was there
+anything belonging to him at the time of his death that he could
+bequeath. The furniture in the house, the worn-out carpets and
+old-fashioned chairs, belonged to Clara; but, beyond that, property
+had she none, nor had it been in her father's power to endow her with
+anything. She was alone in the world, penniless, with a conviction on
+her own mind that her engagement with Frederic Aylmer must of
+necessity come to an end, and with a feeling about her cousin which
+she could hardly analyse, but which told her that she could not go to
+his house in Norfolk, nor live with him at Belton Castle, nor trust
+herself in his hands as she would into those of a real brother.
+
+On the afternoon of the day on which her father had been buried, she
+brought to him a letter, asking him to read it, and tell her what she
+should do. The letter was from Lady Aylmer, and contained an
+invitation to Aylmer Castle. It had been accompanied, as the reader
+may possibly remember, by a letter from Captain Aylmer himself. Of
+this she of course informed her cousin; but she did not find it to be
+necessary to show the letter of one rival to the other. Lady Aylmer's
+letter was cold in its expression of welcome, but very dictatorial in
+pointing out the absolute necessity that Clara should accept the
+invitation so given. 'I think you will not fail to agree with me,
+dear Miss Amedroz,' the letter said, 'that under these strange and
+perplexing circumstances, this is the only roof which can, with any
+propriety, afford you a shelter.' 'And why not the poor-house?' she
+said, aloud to her cousin, when she perceived that his eye had
+descended so far on the page. He shook his head angrily, but said
+nothing; and when he had finished the letter he folded it and gave it
+back still in silence. 'And what am I to do?' she said. 'You tell me
+that I am to come to you for advice in everything.'
+
+'You must decide for yourself here.'
+
+'And you won't advise me.. You won't tell me whether she is right?'
+
+'I suppose she is right.'
+
+'Then I had better go?'
+
+'If you mean to marry Captain Aylmer, you had better go.'
+
+'I am engaged to him.'
+
+'Then you had better go.'
+
+'But I will not submit myself to her tyranny.'
+
+'Let the marriage take place at once, and you will have to submit
+only to his. I suppose you are prepared for that?'
+
+'I do not know. I do not like tyranny.'
+
+Again he stood silent for awhile, looking at her, and then he
+answered: 'I should not tyrannize over you, Clara.'
+
+'Oh, Will, Will, do not speak like that. Do not destroy everything.'
+
+'What am I to say?'
+
+'What would you say if your sister, your real sister, asked advice in
+such a strait? If you had a sister, who came to you, and told you all
+her difficulty, you would advise her. You would not say words to make
+things worse for her.'
+
+'It would be very different.'
+
+'But you said you would be my brother.'
+
+'How am I to know what you feel for this man? It seems to me that you
+half hate him, half fear him, and sometimes despise him.'
+
+'Hate him! No I never hate him.'
+
+'Go to him, then, and ask him what you had better do. Don't ask me.'
+Then he hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind him. But
+before he had half gone down the stairs he remembered the ceremony at
+which he had just been present, and how desolate she was in the
+world, and he returned to her. 'I beg your pardon, Clara,' he said,
+'I am passionate; but I must be a beast to show my passion to you on
+such a day as this. If I were you I should accept Lady Aylmer's
+invitation merely thanking her for it in the ordinary way. I should
+then go and see how the land lay. That is the advice I should give my
+sister.'
+
+'And I will if it is only because you tell me.'
+
+'But as for a home tell her you have one of your own at Belton
+Castle, from which no one can turn you out, and where no one can
+intrude on you. This house belongs to you.' Then, before she could
+answer him, he had left the room and she listened to his heavy quick
+footsteps as he went across the hall and out of the front door.
+
+He walked across the park and entered the little gate of Colonel
+Askerton's garden, as though it were his habit to go to the cottage
+when he was at Belton. There had been various matters on which the
+two men had been brought into contact concerning the old squire's
+death and the tenancy of the cottage, so that they had become almost
+intimate. Belton had nothing new that he specially desired to say to
+Colonel Askerton, whom, indeed, he had seen only a short time before
+at the funeral; but he wanted the relief of speaking to some one
+before he returned to the solitude of the inn at Redicote. On this
+occasion, however, the colonel was out, and the maid asked him if he
+would see Mrs Askerton. When he said something about not troubling
+her, the girl told him that her mistress wished to speak to him, and
+then he had no alternative but to allow himself to be shown into the
+drawing-room.
+
+'I want to see you a minute,' said Mrs Askerton, bowing to him
+without putting out her hand, 'that I might ask you how you find your
+cousin.'
+
+'She is pretty well, I think.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has seen more of her than I have since her father's
+death, and he says that she does not bear it well. He thinks that she
+is ill.'
+
+'I do not think her ill. Of course she is not in good spirits.'
+
+'No; exactly. How should she be? But he thinks she seems so worn. I
+hope you will excuse me, Mr Belton, but I love her so well that I
+cannot bear to be quite in the dark as to her future. Is anything
+settled yet?'
+
+'She is going to Aylmer Castle.'
+
+'To Aylmer Castle! Is she indeed? At once?'
+
+'Very soon. Lady Aylmer has asked her.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer! Then I suppose--'
+
+'You suppose what?' Will Belton asked.
+
+'I did not think she would have gone to Aylmer Castle though I dare
+say it is the best thing she could do She seemed to me to dislike the
+Aylmers that is, Lady Aylmer so much! But I suppose she is right?'
+
+'She is right to go if she likes it.'
+
+'She is circumstanced so cruelly! Is she not? Where else could she
+go? I do so feel for her. I believe I need hardly tell you, Mr
+Belton, that, she would be as welcome here as flowers in May but that
+I do not dare to ask her to come to us.' She said this in a low
+voice, turning her eyes away from him, looking first upon the ground,
+and then again up at the window but still not daring to meet his eye.
+
+'I don't exactly know about that,' said Belton awkwardly.
+
+'You know, I hope, that I love her dearly.'
+
+'Everybody does that,' said Will.
+
+'You do, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Yes I do; just as though she were my sister.'
+
+'And as your sister would you let her come here to us?' He sat silent
+for awhile, thinking, and she waited patiently for his answer. But
+she spoke again before he answered her. 'I am well aware that you
+know all my history, Mr Belton.'
+
+'I shouldn't tell it her, if you mean that, though she were my
+sister. If she were my wife I should tell her.'
+
+'And why your wife?'
+
+'Because then I should be sure it would do no harm.'
+
+'Then I find that you can be generous, Mr Belton. But she knows it
+all as well as you do.'
+
+'I did not tell her.'
+
+'Nor did I but I should have done so had not Captain Aylmer been
+before me. And now tell me whether I could ask her to come here.'
+
+'It would be useless, as she is going to Aylmer Castle'.
+
+'But she is going there simply to find a home having no other.'
+
+'That is not so, Mrs Askerton. She has a home as perfectly her own as
+any woman in the land. Belton Castle is hers, to do what she may
+please with it. She can live here if she likes it, and nobody can say
+a word to her. She need not go to Aylmer Castle to look for a home.'
+
+'You mean you would lend her the house?'
+
+'It is hers.'
+
+'I do not understand you, Mr Belton.'
+
+'It does not signify we will say no more about it.'
+
+'And you think she likes going to Lady Aylmer's?'
+
+'How should I say what she likes?'
+
+Then there was another pause before Mrs Askerton spoke again. 'I can
+tell you one thing,' she said: 'she does not like him.'
+
+'That is her affair.'
+
+'But she should be taught to know her own mind before she throws
+herself away altogether. You would not wish your cousin to marry a
+man whom she does not love because at one time she had come to think
+that she loved him. That is the truth of it, Mr Belton. If she goes
+to Aylmer Castle she will marry him and she will be an unhappy woman
+always afterwards. If you would sanction her coming here for a few
+days, I think all that would be cured. She would come in a moment, if
+you advised her.'
+
+Then he went away, allowing himself to make no further answer at the
+moment, and discussed the matter with himself as he walked back to
+Redicote, meditating on it with all his mind, and all his heart, and
+all his strength. And, as he meditated, it came on to rain bitterly a
+cold piercing February rain and the darkness of night came upon him,
+and he floundered on through the thick mud of the Somersetshire
+lanes, unconscious of the weather and of the darkness. There was a
+way open to him by which he might even yet get what he wanted. He
+thought he saw that there was a way open to him through the policy of
+this woman, whom he perceived to have become friendly to him. He saw,
+or thought that he saw, it all. No day had absolutely been fixed for
+this journey to Yorkshire; and if Clara were induced to go first to
+the cottage, and stay there with Mrs Askerton, no such journey might
+ever be taken. He could well understand that such a visit on her part
+would give a mortal offence to all the Aylmers. That tyranny of which
+Clara spoke with so much dread would be exhibited then without
+reserve, and so there would be an end altogether of the Aylmer
+alliance. But were she once to start for Aylmer Park, then there
+would be no hope for him. Then her fate would be decided,--and his. As
+far as he could see, too,--as far as he could see then, there would be
+no dishonesty in this plan. Why should Clara not go to Mrs Askerton's
+house? What could be more natural than such a visit at such a time?
+If she were in truth his sister he would not interfere to prevent it
+if she wished it. He had told himself that the woman should be
+forgiven her offence, and had thought that that forgiveness should be
+complete. If the Aylmers were so unreasonable as to quarrel with her
+on this ground, let them quarrel with her. Mrs Askerton had told him
+that Clara did not really like Captain Aylmer. Perhaps it was so; and
+if so, what greater kindness could he do her than give her an
+opportunity for escaping such a union?
+
+The whole of the next day he remained at Redicote, thinking,
+doubting, striving to reconcile his wishes and his honesty. It rained
+all day, and as he sat alone, smoking in the comfortless inn, he told
+himself that the rain was keeping him but in truth it was not the
+rain. Had he resolved to do his best to prevent this visit to
+Yorkshire, or had he resolved to further it, I think he would have
+gone to Belton without much fear of the rain. On the second day after
+the funeral he did go, and he had then made up his mind. Clara, if
+she would listen to him, should show her independence of Lady Aylmer
+by staying a few days with the Askertons before she went to
+Yorkshire, and by telling Lady Aylmer that such was her intention.
+'If she really loves the man,' he said to himself, 'she will go at
+once, in spite of anything that I can say. If she does not, I shall
+be saving her.'
+
+'How cruel of you not to come yesterday!' Clara said, as soon as she
+saw him.
+
+'It rained hard,' he answered.
+
+'But men like you care so little for rain; but that is when you have
+business to take you out or pleasure.'
+
+'You need not be so severe. The truth is I had things to trouble me.'
+
+'What troubled you, Will. I thought all the trouble was mine.'
+
+'I suppose everybody thinks that his own shoe pinches the hardest.'
+
+'Your shoe can't pinch you very bad, I should think. Sometimes when I
+think of you it seems that you are an embodiment of prosperity and
+happiness.'
+
+'I don't see it myself that's all. Did you write to Lady Aylmer,
+Clara?'
+
+'I wrote; but I didn't send it. I would not send any letter till I
+had shown it to you, as you are my confessor and adviser. There; read
+it. Nothing, I think, could be more courteous or less humble.' He
+took the letter and read it. Clara had simply expressed herself
+willing to accept Lady Aylmer's invitation, and asked her ladyship to
+fix a day. There was no mention of Captain Aylmer's name in the note.
+
+'And you think this is best?' he said. His voice was hardly like his
+own as he spoke. There was wanting to it that tone of self-assurance
+which his voice almost always possessed, even when self-assurance
+was lacking to his words.
+
+'I thought it was your own advice,' she said.
+
+'Well yes; that is, I don't quite know. You couldn't go for a week or
+so yet, I suppose.'
+
+'Perhaps in about a week.'
+
+'And what will you do till then?'
+
+'What will I do!'
+
+'Yes where do you mean to stay?'
+
+'I thought, Will, that perhaps you would let me remain here.'
+
+'Let you! Oh, heavens! Look here, Clara.'
+
+'Before heaven I want what may be the best for you without thinking
+of you, if I could only help it.'
+
+'I have never doubted you. I never will doubt you. I believe in you
+next to my God. I do, Will; I do.' He walked up and down the room
+half-a-dozen times before he spoke again, while she stood by the
+table watching him. 'I wish,' she said, 'I knew what it is that
+troubles you.' To this he made no answer, but went on walking till
+she came up to him, and putting both her hands upon his arm said, 'It
+will be better, Will, that I should go will it not? Speak to me, and
+say so. I feel that it will be better.' Then he stopped in his walk
+and looked down upon her, as her hands still rested upon his
+shoulder. He gazed upon her for some few seconds, remaining quite
+motionless, and then, opening his arms, he surrounded her with his
+embrace, and pressing her with all his strength close to his bosom,
+kissed her forehead, and her cheeks, and her lips, and her eyes. His
+will was so masterful, his strength so great, and his motion so
+quick, that she was powerless to escape from him till he relaxed his
+hold. Indeed she hardly struggled, so much was she surprised and so
+soon released. But the moment that he left her he saw that her face
+was burning red, and that the tears were streaming from her eyes. She
+stood for a moment trembling, with her hands clenched, and with a
+look of scorn upon her lips and brow that he had never seen before;
+and then she threw herself on a sofa, and, burying her face, sobbed
+aloud; while her whole body was shaken as with convulsions. He leaned
+over her repentant, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to speak.
+All ideas of his scheme had gone from him now. He had offended her
+for ever past redemption. What could be the use now of any scheme?
+And as he stood there he hated himself because of his scheme. The
+utter misery and disgrace of the present moment had come upon him
+because he had thought more of himself than of her. It was but a few
+moments since she had told him that she trusted him next to her God;
+and yet in those few moments, he had shown himself utterly unworthy
+of that trust, and had destroyed all her confidence. But he could not
+leave, her without speaking to her. 'Clara!' he said 'Clara.' But she
+did not answer him. 'Clara; will you not speak to me? Will you not
+let me ask you to forgive me?' But still she only sobbed. For her, at
+that moment, we may say that sobbing was easier than speech. How was
+she to pardon so great an offence? How was she to resent such
+passionate love?
+
+But he could not continue to stand there motionless, all but
+speechless, while she lay with her face turned away from him. He must
+at any rate in some manner take himself away out of the room; and
+this he could not do, even in his present condition of unlimited
+disgrace, without a word of farewell. 'Perhaps I had better go and
+leave you,' he said.
+
+Then at last there came a voice, 'Oh, Will, why have you done this?
+Why have you treated me so badly?' When he had last seen her face her
+mouth had been full of scorn, but, there was, no scorn now in her
+voice. 'Why why why?'
+
+Why indeed except that it was needful for him that she should know
+the depth of his passion. 'If you will forgive me, Clara, I will not
+offend you so again,' he said.
+
+'You have offended me. What am I to say? What am I to do? I have no
+other friend.'
+
+'I am a wretch. I know that I am a wretch.'
+
+'I did not suspect that you would be so cruel. Oh, Will!'
+
+But before he went she told him that she had forgiven him, and she
+had preached to him a solemn, sweet sermon on the wickedness of
+yielding, to momentary impulses. Her low, grave words sank into his
+ears as though they were divine; and when she said a word to him,
+blushing as she spoke, of the sin of his passion and of what her sin
+would be, if she were to permit it, he sat by her weeping like an
+infant, tears which were certainly tears of innocence. She had been
+very angry with him; but I think she loved him better when, her
+sermon was finished than she had ever loved him before.
+
+There was no further question as to her going to Aylmer Castle, nor
+was any mention made of Mrs Askerton's invitation to the cottage. The
+letter for Lady Aylmer was sent, and it was agreed between them that
+Will should remain at Redicote till the answer from Yorkshire should
+come, and should then convey Clara as far as London on her journey.
+And when he took leave of her that afternoon, she was able to give
+him her hand in her old hearty, loving way, and to call him Will with
+the old hearty, loving tone. And he,--he was able to accept these
+tokens of her graciousness, as though they were signs of a pardon
+which she had been good to give, but which he certainly had not
+deserved.
+
+As he went back to Redicote, he swore to himself that he would never
+love any woman but her,--even though she must be the wife of Captain
+Aylmer.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE LAST DAY AT BELTON
+
+In course of post there came an answer from Lady Aylmer, naming a day
+for Clara's journey to Yorkshire, and also a letter from Captain
+Aylmer, in, which he stated that he would meet her in London and
+convey her down to Aylmer Park. 'The House is sitting,' he said, 'and
+therefore I shall be a little troubled about my time; but I cannot
+allow that your first meeting with my mother should take place in my
+absence.' This was all very well, but at the end of the letter there
+was a word of caution that was not so well. 'I am sure, my dear
+Clara, that you will remember how much is due to my mother's age, and
+character, and position. Nothing will be wanted to the happiness of
+our marriage, if you can succeed in gaining her affection, and
+therefore I make it my first request to you, that you should
+endeavour to win her good opinion.' There was nothing perhaps really
+amiss, certainly nothing unreasonable, in such words from a future
+husband to his future wife; but Clara, as she read them, shook her
+head and pressed her foot against the ground in anger. It would not
+do. Sorrow would come and trouble and disappointment. She did not say
+so, even to herself in words; but the words, though not spoken, were
+audible enough to herself. She could not, would not, bend to Lady
+Aylmer, and she knew that trouble would come of this visit.
+
+I fear that many ladies will condemn Miss Amedroz when I tell them
+that she showed this letter to her Cousin Will. It does not promise
+well for any of the parties concerned when a young woman with two
+lovers can bring herself to show the love-letters of him to whom she
+is engaged to the other lover whom she has refused! But I have two
+excuses to put forward in Clara's defence. In the first place,
+Captain Aylmer's love-letters were not in truth love-letters, but
+were letters of business; and in the next place, Clara was teaching
+herself to regard Will Belton as her brother, and to forget that he
+had ever assumed the part of a lover.
+
+She was so teaching herself, but I cannot say that the lesson was one
+easily learned; nor had the outrage upon her of which Will had been
+guilty, and which was described in the last chapter, made the
+teaching easier. But she had determined, nevertheless, that it should
+be so. When she thought of Will her heart would become very soft
+towards him; and sometimes, when she thought of Captain Aylmer, her
+heart would become anything but soft towards him. Unloving feelings
+would be very strong within her bosom as she re-read his letters, and
+remembered that he had not come to her, but had sent her seventy-five
+pounds to comfort her in her trouble! Nevertheless, he was to be her
+husband, and she would do her duty. What might have happened had Will
+Belton come to Belton Castle before she had known Frederic Aylmer of
+that she stoutly resolved that she would never think at all; and
+consequently the thought was always intruding upon her.
+
+'You will sleep one night in town, of course?' said Will.
+
+'I suppose so. You know all about it. I shall do as I'm told.'
+
+'You can't go down to Yorkshire from here in one day. Where would you
+like to stay in London?'
+
+'How on earth should I know? Ladies do sleep at hotels in London
+sometimes, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh yes. I can write and have rooms ready for you.'
+
+'Then that difficulty is over,' said Clara.
+
+But in Belton's estimation the difficulty was not exactly over.
+Captain Aylmer would, of course, be in London that night, and it was
+a question with Will whether or no Clara was not bound in honour to
+tell the--accursed beast, I am afraid Mr Belton called him in his
+soliloquies--where she would lodge on the occasion. Or would it
+suffice that he, Will, should hand her over to the enemy at the
+station of the Great Northern Railway on the following morning? All
+the little intricacies of the question presented themselves to Will's
+imagination. How carefully he would be with her, that the inn
+accommodation should suffice for her comfort! With what pleasure
+would he order a little dinner for them two, making something of a
+gentle _fete_ of the occasion! How sedulously would he wait upon her
+with those little attentions, amounting almost to worship, with which
+such men as Will Belton are prone to treat all women in exceptionable
+circumstances when the ordinary routine of life has been disturbed!
+If she had simply been his cousin, and if he had never regarded her
+otherwise, how happily could he have done all this! As things now
+were, if it was left to him to do, he should do it, with what
+patience and grace might be within his power; he would do it, though
+he would be mindful every moment of the bitterness of the transfer
+which he would so soon be obliged to make; but he doubted whether it
+would not be better for Clara's sake that the transfer should be made
+overnight. He would take her up to London, because in that way he
+could be useful; and then he would go away and hide himself. 'Has
+Captain Aylmer said where he would meet you?' he asked after a pause.
+
+'Of course I must write and tell him.'
+
+'And is he to come to you when you reach London?'
+
+'He has said nothing about that. 'He will probably be at the House of
+Commons, or too busy somewhere to come to me then. But why do you
+ask? Do you wish to hurry through town?'
+
+'Oh dear, no.'
+
+'Or perhaps you have friends you want to see. Pray don't let me be in
+your way. I shall do very well, you know.'
+
+Belton rebuked her by a look before he answered her. 'I was only
+thinking,' he said, 'of what would be most convenient for yourself. I
+have nobody to see, and nothing to do, and nowhere to go to.' Then
+Clara understood it all, and said that she would write to Captain
+Aylmer and ask him, to join them at the hotel.
+
+She determined that she would see Mrs Askerton before she went; and
+as that lady did not come to the Castle, Clara called upon her at the
+cottage. This she did the day before she left, and she took her
+cousin with her. Belton had been at the cottage once or twice since
+the day on which Mrs Askerton had explained to him how the Aylmer
+alliance might be extinguished, but Colonel Askerton had always been
+there, and no reference had been made to the former conversation.
+Colonel Askerton was not there now, and Belton was almost afraid that
+words would be spoken to which he would hardly know how to listen.
+
+'And so you are really going?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Yes; we start tomorrow,' said Clara.
+
+'I am not thinking of the journey to London,' said Mrs Askerton, 'but
+of the danger and privations of your subsequent progress to the
+North.'
+
+'I shall do very well. I am not afraid that any one will eat me.'
+
+'There are so many different ways of eating people! Are there not, Mr
+Belton?'
+
+'I don't know about eating, but there are a great many ways of boring
+people,' said he.
+
+'And I should think they will be great at that kind of thing at
+Aylmer Castle. One never hears of Sir Anthony, but I can fancy Lady
+Aylmer to be a terrible woman.'
+
+'I shall manage to hold my own, I dare say,' said Clara.
+
+'I hope you will; I do hope you will,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I don't
+know whether you will be powerful to do so, or whether you will fail;
+my heart is not absolute; but I do know what will be the result if
+you are successful.'
+
+'It is much more then than I know myself.'
+
+'That I can believe too. Do you travel down to Yorkshire alone?'
+
+'No; Captain Aylmer will meet me in town.'
+
+Then Mrs Askerton looked at Mr Belton, but made no immediate reply;
+nor did she say anything further about Clara's journey. She looked at
+Mr Belton, and Will caught her eye, and understood that he was being
+rebuked for not having carried out that little scheme which, had been
+prepared for him. But he had come to hate the scheme, and almost
+hated Mrs Askerton for proposing it. He had declared to himself that
+her welfare, Clara's welfare, was the one thing which the should
+regard; and he had told himself that he was not strong enough, either
+in purpose or in wit, to devise schemes for her welfare. She was
+better able to manage things for herself than he was to manage them
+for her. If she loved this 'accursed beast,' let her marry him; only
+for that was now his one difficulty only he could not bring himself
+to think it possible that she should love him.
+
+'I suppose you will never see this place again?' said Mrs Askerton
+after a long pause.
+
+'I hope I shall, very often,' said Clara. 'Why should I not see it
+again? It is not going out of the family.'
+
+'No not exactly out of the family. That is, it will belong to your
+cousin.'
+
+'And cousins may be as far apart as strangers, you mean; but Will and
+I are not like that; are we, Will?'
+
+'I hardly know what we are like,' said he.
+
+'You do not mean to say that you will throw me over? But the truth
+is, Mrs Askerton, that I do not mean to be thrown over. I look upon
+him as my brother, and I intend to cling to him as sisters do cling.'
+
+'You will hardly come back here before you are married,' said Mrs
+Askerton. It was a terrible speech for her to make, and could only be
+excused on the ground that the speaker was in truth desirous of doing
+that which she thought would benefit both of those whom she
+addressed.
+
+'Of course you are going to your wedding now?'
+
+'I am doing nothing of the kind,' said Clara. 'How can you speak in
+that way to me so soon after my father's death? It is a rebuke to me
+for being here at all.'
+
+'I intend no rebuke, as you well know. What I mean is this; if you do
+not stay in Yorkshire till you are married, let the time be when it
+may, where do you intend to go in the meantime?'
+
+'My plans are not settled yet.'
+
+'She will have this house if she pleases,' said Will. 'There will be
+no one else here. It will be her own, to do as she likes with it.'
+
+'She will hardly come here to be alone.'
+
+'I will not be inquired into, my dear,' said Clara, speaking with
+restored good-humour. 'Of course I am an unprotected female, and
+subject to disadvantages. Perhaps I have no plans for the future; and
+if I have plans, perhaps I do not mean to divulge them.'
+
+'I had better come to the point at once,' said Mrs Askerton. 'If if
+if it should ever suit you, pray come here to us. Flowers shall not
+be more welcome in May. It is difficult to speak of it all, though
+you both understand everything as well as I do. I cannot press my
+invitation as another woman might.'
+
+'Yes, you can,' said Clara with energy. 'Of course you can.'
+
+'Can I? Then I do. Dear Clara, do come to us.' And then as she spoke
+Mrs Askerton knelt on the ground at her visitor's knees. 'Mr Belton,
+do tell her that when she is tired with the grandeur of Aylmer Park
+she may come to us here.'
+
+'I don't know anything about the grandeur of Aylmer Park,' said Will,
+suddenly.
+
+'But she may come here may she not?'
+
+'She will not ask my leave,' said he.
+
+'She says that you are her brother. Whose leave should she ask?'
+
+'He knows that I should ask his rather than that of any living
+person,' said Clara.
+
+'There, Mr Belton. Now you must say that she may come or that she may
+not.'
+
+'I will say nothing. She knows what to do much better than I can tell
+her.'
+
+Mrs Askerton was still kneeling, and again appealed to Clara. 'You
+hear what he says. What do you say yourself? Will you come to us?
+that is, if such a visit will suit you in point of convenience?'
+
+'I will make no promise; but I know no reason why I should not.'
+
+'And I must be content with that? Well: I will be content.' Then she
+got up. 'For such a one as I am, that is a great deal. And, Mr
+Belton, let me tell you this I can be grateful to you, though you
+cannot be gracious to me.'
+
+'I hope I have not been ungracious,' said he.
+
+'Upon my word, I cannot compliment you. But there is something so
+much better than grace, that I can forgive you. You know, at any
+rate, how thoroughly I wish you well.'
+
+Upon this Clara got up to take her leave, and the demonstrative
+affection of an embrace between the two women afforded a remedy for
+the awkwardness of the previous conversation.
+
+'God bless you, dearest,' said Mrs Askerton. 'May I write to you?'
+
+'Certainly,' said Clara.
+
+'And you will answer my letters?'
+
+'Of course I will. You must tell me everything about the place and
+especially as to Bessy. Bessy is never to be sold is she, Will? Bessy
+was the cow which Belton had given her.
+
+'Not if you choose to keep her.'
+
+'I will go down and see to her myself,' said Mrs Askerton, and will
+utter little prayers of my own over her horns that certain events
+that I desire may come to pass. Good-bye, Mr Belton. You may be as
+ungracious as you please, but it will not make any difference.'
+
+When Clara and her cousin left the cottage they did not return to the
+house immediately, but took a last walk round the park, and through
+the shrubbery, and up to the rocks on which a remarkable scene had
+once taken place between them. Few words were spoken as they were
+walking, and there had been no agreement as to the path they would
+take. Each seemed to understand that there was much of melancholy in
+their present mood, and that silence was more fitting than speech.
+But when they reached the rocks Belton sat himself down, asking
+Clara's leave to stop there for a moment. 'I don't suppose I shall
+ever come to this place again,' said he.
+
+'You are as bad as Mrs Askerton,' said Clara.
+
+'I do not think I shall ever come to this place again,' said he,
+repeating his words very solemnly. At any rate, I will never do so
+willingly, unless--'
+
+'Unless what?'
+
+'Unless you are either my wife, or have promised to become so.'
+
+'Oh, Will; you know that that is impossible.'
+
+'Then it is impossible that I should come here again.'
+
+'You know that I am engaged to another man.'
+
+'Of course I do. I am not asking you to break your engagement. I am
+simply telling you that in spite of that engagement I love you as
+well as I did love you before you had made it. I have a right to let
+you know the truth.' As if she had not known it without his telling
+it to her now! 'It was here that I told you that I loved you. I now
+repeat it here; and will never come here again unless I may say the
+same thing over and over and over. That is all. We might as well go
+on now.' But when he got up she sat down, as though unwilling to
+leave the spot. It was still winter, and the rock was damp with cold
+drippings from the trees, and the moss around was wet, and little
+pools of water had formed themselves in the shallow holes upon the
+surface. She did not speak as she seated herself; but he was of
+course obliged to wait till she should be ready to accompany him. 'It
+is too cold for you to sit there,' he said. 'Come, Clara; I will not
+have you loiter here. It is cold and wet.'
+
+'It is not colder for me than for you.'
+
+'You are not used to that sort of thing as I am.'
+
+'Will,' she said, 'you must never speak to me again as you spoke
+just now. Promise me that you will not.'
+
+'Promises will do no good in such a matter.'
+
+'It is almost a repetition of what you did before though of course it
+is not so bad as that.'
+
+'Everything I do is bad.'
+
+'No, Will dear Will! Almost everything you do is good. But of what
+use can it be to either of us for you to be thinking of that which
+can never be? Cannot you think of me as your sister and only as your
+sister?
+
+'No; I cannot.'
+
+'Then it is not right that we should be together.'
+
+'I know nothing of right. You ask me a question, and I suppose you
+don't wish that I should tell you a lie.'
+
+'Of course I do not wish that.'
+
+'Therefore I tell you the truth. I love you as any other man loves
+the girl that he does love; and, as far as I know myself now, I never
+can be happy unless you are my own.'
+
+'Oh, Will, how can that be when I am engaged to marry another man?'
+
+'As to your engagement I should care nothing. Does he love you as I
+love you? If he loves you, why is he not here? If he loves you, why
+does he let his mother ill-use you, and treat you with scorn? If he
+loves you as I love you, how could he write to you as he does write?
+Would I write to you such a letter as that? Would I let you be here
+without coming to you to be looked after by any one else? If you had
+said that you would be my wife, would I leave you in solitude and
+sorrow, and then send you seventy-five pounds to console you? If you
+think he loves you, Clara--'
+
+'He thought he was doing right when he sent me the money.'
+
+'But he shouldn't have thought it right. Never mind. I don't want to
+accuse him; but this I know,--and you know; he does not love you as I
+love you.'
+
+'What can I say to answer you?'
+
+'Say that you will wait till you have seen him. Say that I may have a
+hope,--a chance; that if he is cold, and hard, and,--and,--and, just
+what we know he is, then I may have a chance.'
+
+'How can I say that when I am engaged to him? Cannot you understand
+that I am wrong to let you speak of him as you do?'
+
+'How else am I to speak of him? Tell me this. Do you love him?' 'Yes
+I do.'
+
+'I don't believe it!'
+
+'Will!'
+
+'I don't believe it. Nothing on earth shall make me believe it. It is
+impossible;--impossible!'
+
+'Do you mean to insult me, Will?'
+
+'No; I do not mean to insult you, but I mean to tell you the truth. I
+do not think you love that man as you ought to love the man whom you
+are going to marry. I should tell you just the same thing if I were
+really your brother. Of course it isn't that I suppose you love any
+one else me for instance. I'm not such a fool as that. But I don't
+think you love him; and I'm quite sure he doesn't love you. That's
+just what I believe; and if I do believe it, how am I to help telling
+you?'
+
+'You've no right to have such beliefs.'
+
+'How am I to help it? Well;--never mind. I won't let you sit there any
+longer. At any rate you'll be able to understand now that I shall
+never come to this place any more.' Clara, as she got up to obey
+him, felt that she also ought never to see it again;--unless,
+indeed,--unless--
+
+They passed that evening together without any reference to the scene
+on the rock, or any allusion to their own peculiar troubles. Clara,
+though she would not admit to Mrs Askerton that she was going away
+from the place for ever, was not the less aware that such might very
+probably be the case. She had no longer any rights of ownership at
+Belton Castle, and all that had taken place between her and her
+cousin tended to make her feel that under no circumstances could she
+again reside there. Nor was it probable that she would be able to
+make to Mrs Askerton the visit of which they had been talking. If
+Lady Aylmer were wise so Clara thought there would be no mention of
+Mrs Askerton at Aylmer Park; and, if so, of course she would not
+outrage her future husband by proposing to go to a house of which she
+knew that he disapproved. If Lady Aylmer were not wise if she should
+take upon herself the task of rebuking Clara for her friendship then,
+in such circumstances as those, Clara believed that the visit to Mrs
+Askerton might be possible.
+
+But she determined that she would leave the home in which she had
+been born, and had passed so many happy and so many unhappy days, as
+though she were never to see it again. All her packing had been done,
+down to the last fragment of an old letter that was stuffed into her
+writing-desk; but, nevertheless, she went about the house with a
+candle in her hand, as though she were still looking that nothing had
+been omitted, while she was in truth saying farewell in her heart to
+every corner which she knew so well. When at last she came down to
+pour out for her desolate cousin his cup of tea, she declared that
+everything was done. 'You may go to work now, Will,' she said, and do
+what you please with the old place. My jurisdiction is over.'
+
+'Not altogether,' said he. He no longer spoke like a despairing
+lover. Indeed there was a smile round his mouth, and his voice was
+cheery.
+
+'Yes altogether. I give over my sovereignty from this moment and a
+dirty dilapidated sovereignty it is.'
+
+'That's all very well to say.'
+
+'And also very well to do. What best pleases me in going to Aylmer
+Castle just now is the power it gives me of doing at once that which
+otherwise I might have put off till the doing of it had become much
+more unpleasant. Mr Belton, there is the key of the cellar which I
+believe gentlemen always regard as the real sign of possession. I
+don't advise you to trust much to the contents.' He took the key from
+her, and without saying a word chucked it across the room on to an
+old sofa. 'If you won't take it, you had better, at any rate, have it
+tied up with the others,' she said.
+
+'I dare say you'll know where to find it when you want it,' he
+answered.
+
+'I shall never want it.'
+
+'Then it's as well there as anywhere else.'
+
+'But you won't remember, Will.'
+
+'I don't suppose I shall have occasion for remembering.' Then he
+paused a moment before he went on. 'I have told you before that I do
+not intend to take possession of the place. I do not regard it as
+mine at all.'
+
+'And whose is it, then?'
+
+'Yours.'
+
+'No, dear Will; it is not mine. You know that.'
+
+'I intend that it shall be so, and therefore you might as well put
+the keys where you will know how to find them.'
+
+Alter he had gone she did take up the key, and tied it with sundry
+others, which she intended to give to the old servant who was to be
+left in charge of the house. But after a few moments' consideration
+she took the cellar key again off the bunch, and put it back upon the
+sofa in the place to which he had thrown it.
+
+On the following morning they started on their journey. The old fly
+from Redicote was not used on this occasion, as Belton had ordered a
+pair of post-horses and a comfortable carriage from Taunton. 'I think
+it such a shame,' said Clara, 'going away for the last time without
+having Jerry and the grey horse.' Jerry was the man who had once
+driven her to Taunton when the old horse fell with her on the road.
+'But Jerry and the grey horse could not have taken you and me too,
+and all our luggage,' said Will. 'Poor Jerry! I suppose not,' said
+Clara; 'but still there is an injury done in going without him.'
+
+There were four or five old dependents of the family standing round
+the door to bid her adieu, to all of whom she gave her hand with a
+cordial pressure. They, at least, seemed to regard her departure as
+final. And of course it was final. She had assured herself of that
+during the night. And just as they were about to start, both Colonel
+and Mrs Askerton walked up to the door. 'He wouldn't let you go
+without bidding you farewell,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I am so glad to
+shake hands with him,' Clara answered. Then the colonel spoke a word
+to her, and, as he did so, his wife contrived to draw Will Belton for
+a moment behind the carriage. 'Never give it up, Mr Belton,' said she
+eagerly. 'If you persevere she'll be yours yet.' 'I fear not,' he
+said. 'Stick to her like a man,' said she, pressing his hand in her
+vehemence. 'If you do, you'll live to thank me for having told you
+so.' Will had not a word to say for himself, but he thought that he
+would stick to her. Indeed, he thought that he had stuck to her
+pretty well.
+
+At last they were off, and the village of Belton was behind them;
+Will, glancing into his cousin's face, saw that her eyes were laden
+with tears, and refrained from speaking. As they passed the ugly
+red-brick rectory-house, Clara for a moment put her face to the
+window, and then withdrew it. 'There is nobody there,' she said, 'who
+will care to see me. Considering that I have lived here all my life,
+is it not odd that there should be so few to bid me good-bye?'
+
+'People do not like to put themselves forward on such occasions,'
+said Will.
+
+'People there are no people. No one ever had so few to care for them
+as I have. And now But never mind; I mean to do very well, and I
+shall do very well.' Belton would not take advantage of her in her
+sadness, and they reached the station at Taunton almost without
+another word.
+
+Of course they had to wait there for half an hour, and of course the
+waiting was very tedious. To Will it was very tedious indeed, as he
+was not by nature good at waiting. To Clara, who on this occasion sat
+perfectly still in the waiting-room, with her toes on the fender
+before the fire, the evil of the occasion was not so severe. 'The man
+would take two hours for the journey, though I told him an hour and a
+half would be enough,' said Will, querulously.
+
+'But we might have had an accident.'
+
+'An accident! What accident? People don't have accidents every day.'
+
+At last the train came and they started. Clara, though she had with
+her her best friend I may almost say the friend whom in the world she
+loved the best did not have an agreeable journey. Belton would not
+talk; but as he made no attempt at reading, Clara did not like to
+have recourse to the book which she had in her travelling-bag. He sat
+opposite to her, opening the window and shutting it as he thought she
+might like it, but looking wretched and forlorn. At Swindon he
+brightened up for a moment under the excitement of getting her
+something to eat, but that relaxation lasted only for a few minutes.
+Alter that he relapsed again into silence till the train had passed
+Slough and he knew that in another half-hour they would be in London.
+Then he leant over her and spoke.
+
+'This will probably be the last opportunity I shall have of saying a
+few words to you alone.'
+
+'I don't know that at all, Will.'
+
+'It will be the last for a long time at any rate. And as I have got
+something to say, I might as well say it now. I have thought a great
+deal about the property the Belton estate, I mean; and I don't intend
+to take it as mine.'
+
+'That is sheer nonsense, Will. You must take it, as it is yours, and
+can't belong to any one else.'
+
+'I have thought it over, and I am quite sure that all the business of
+the entail was wrong radically wrong from first to last. You are to
+understand that my special regard for you has nothing whatever to do
+with it. I should do the same thing if I felt that I hated you.'
+
+'Don't hate me, Will!'
+
+'You know what I mean. I think the entail was all wrong, and I shan't
+take advantage of it. It's not common sense that I should have
+everything because of poor Charley's misfortune.'
+
+'But it seems to me that it does not depend upon you or upon me, or
+upon anybody. It is yours by law, you know.'
+
+'And therefore it won't be sufficient for me to give it up without
+making it yours by law also which I intend to do. I shall stay in
+town tomorrow and give instructions to Mr Green. I have thought it
+proper to tell you this now, in order that you may mention it to
+Captain Aylmer.'
+
+They were leaning over in the carriage one towards the other; her
+face had been slightly turned away from him; but now she slowly
+raised her eyes till they met his, and looking into the depth of
+them, and seeing there all his love and all his suffering, and the
+great nobility of his nature, her heart melted within her. Gradually,
+as her tears came,--would come, in spite of all her constraint, she
+again turned her face towards the window. 'I can't talk now,' she
+said, 'indeed I can't.'
+
+'There is no need for any more talking about it,' he replied. And
+there was no more talking between them, on that subject or on any
+other, till the tickets had been taken and the train was again in
+motion. Then he referred to it again for a moment. 'You will tell
+Captain Aylmer, my dear.'
+
+'I will tell him what you say, that he may know your generosity. But
+of course he will agree with me that no such offer can be accepted.
+It is quite,--quite,--quite out of the question.'
+
+'You had better tell him and say nothing more; or you can ask him to
+see Mr Green after tomorrow. He, as a man who understands business,
+will know that this arrangement must be made, if I choose to make it.
+Come; here we are. Porter, a four-wheeled cab. Do you go with him,
+and I'll look after the luggage.'
+
+Clara, as she got into the cab, felt that she ought to have been more
+stout in her resistance to his offer. But it would be better,
+perhaps, that she should write to him from Aylmer Park, and get
+Frederic to write also.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY HOTEL
+
+At the door of the hotel of the Great Northern Railway Station they
+met Captain Aylmer. Rooms had been taken there because they were to
+start by an early train on that line in the morning, and Captain
+Aylmer had undertaken to order dinner. There was nothing particular
+in the meeting to make it unpleasant to our friend Will. The
+fortunate rival could do no more in the hall of the inn than give his
+hand to his affianced bride, as he might do to any other lady, and
+then suggest to her that she should go upstairs and see her room.
+When he had done this, he also offered his hand to Belton; and Will,
+though he would almost sooner have cut off his own, was obliged to
+take it. In a few minutes the two men were standing alone together in
+the sitting-room.
+
+'I suppose you found it cold coming up?' said the captain.
+
+'Not particularly,' said Will.
+
+'It's rather a long journey from Belton.'
+
+'Not very long,' said Will.
+
+'Not for you, perhaps; but Miss Amedroz must be tired.'
+
+Belton was angry at having his cousin called Miss Amedroz feeling
+that the reserve of the name was intended to keep him at a distance.
+But he would have been equally angry had Aylmer called her Clara.
+
+'My cousin,' said Will, stoutly, 'is able to bear slight fatigue of
+that kind without suffering.'
+
+'I didn't suppose she suffered; but journeys are always tedious,
+especially where there is so much roadwork. I believe you are twenty
+miles from the station?'
+
+'Belton Castle is something over twenty miles from Taunton.'
+
+'We are seven from our station at Aylmer Park, and we think that a
+great deal.'
+
+'I'm more than that at Plaistow,' said Will.
+
+'Oh, indeed. Plaistow is in Norfolk, I believe?'
+
+'Yes Plaistow is in Norfolk.'
+
+'I suppose you'll leave it now and go into Somersetshire,' suggested
+Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Certainly not. Why should I leave it?'
+
+'I thought, perhaps as Belton Castle is now your own'
+
+'Plaistow Hall is more my own than Belton Castle, if that signifies
+anything which it doesn't.' This he said in an angry tone, which, as
+he became conscious of it, he tried to rectify. 'I've a deal of stock
+and all that sort of thing at Plaistow, and couldn't very well leave
+it, even if I wished it,' he said.
+
+'You've pretty good shooting too, I suppose,' said Aylmer.
+
+'As far as partridges go I'll back it against most properties of the
+same extent in any county.'
+
+'I'm too busy a man myself,' said the captain, 'to do much at
+partridges. We think more of pheasants down with us.'
+
+'I dare say.'
+
+'But a Norfolk man like you is of course keen about birds.'
+
+'We are obliged to put up with what we've got, you know not but what
+I believe there is a better general head of game in Norfolk than in
+any other county in England.'
+
+'That's what makes your hunting rather poor.'
+
+'Our hunting poor! Why do you say it's poor?'
+
+'So many of you are against preserving foxes.'
+
+'I'll tell you what, Captain Aylmer; I don't know what pack you hunt
+with, but I'll bet you a five-pound note that we killed more
+foxes last year than you did;--that is, taking three days a week.
+Nine-and-twenty brace and a half in a short season I don't call poor
+at all.'
+
+Captain Aylmer saw that the man was waxing angry, and made no further
+allusion either to the glories or deficiencies of Norfolk. As he
+could think of no other subject on which to speak at the spur of the
+moment, he sat himself down and took up a paper; Belton took up
+another, and so they remained till Clara made her appearance. That
+Captain Aylmer read his paper is probable enough. He was not a man
+easily disconcerted, and there was nothing in his present position to
+disconcert him. But I feel sure that Will Belton did not read a word.
+He was angry with this rival, whom he hated, and was angry with
+himself for showing his anger. He would have wished to appear to the
+best advantage before this man, or rather before Clara in this man's
+presence; and he knew that in Clara's absence he was making such a
+fool of himself that he would be unable to recover his prestige. He
+had serious thoughts within his own breast whether it would not be as
+well for him to get up from his seat and give Captain Aylmer a
+thoroughly good thrashing: 'Drop into him and punch his head,' as he
+himself would have expressed it. For the moment such an exercise
+would give him immense gratification. The final results would, no
+doubt, be disastrous; but then, all future results, as far as he
+could see them, were laden with disaster. He was still thinking of
+this, eyeing the man from under the newspaper, and telling himself
+that the feat would probably be too easy to afford much enjoyment,
+when Clara re-entered the room. Then he got up, acting on the spur of
+the moment got up quickly and suddenly, and began to bid her adieu.
+
+'But you are going to dine here, Will?' she said.
+
+'No; I think not.'
+
+'You promised you would. You told me you had nothing to do to-night.'
+Then she turned to Captain Aylmer. 'You expect my cousin to dine with
+us today?'
+
+'I ordered dinner for three,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Oh, very well; it's all the same thing to me,' said Will.
+
+'And to me,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'It's not all the same thing to me,' said Clara. 'I don't know when I
+may see my cousin again. I should think it very bad of you, Will, if
+you went away this evening.'
+
+'I'll go out just for half an hour,' said he, 'and be back to
+dinner.'
+
+'We dine at seven,' said the captain. Then Belton took his hat and
+left the two lovers together.
+
+'Your cousin seems to be a rather surly sort of gentleman.' Those
+were the first words which Captain Aylmer spoke when he was alone
+with the lady of his love. Nor was he demonstrative of his affection
+by any of the usual signs of regard which are permitted to accepted
+lovers. He did not offer to kiss her, nor did he attempt to take her
+hand with a warmer pressure now that he was alone with her. He
+probably might have gone through some such ceremony had he first met
+Clara in a position propitious to such purposes; but, as it was, he
+had been a little ruffled by Will Belton's want of good breeding, and
+had probably forgotten that any such privileges might have been his.
+I wonder whether any remembrance flashed across Clara's mind at this
+moment of her Cousin Will's great iniquity in the sitting-room at
+Belton Castle. She thought of it very often, and may possibly have
+thought of it now.
+
+'I don't believe that he is surly, Frederic,' she said. 'He may,
+perhaps, be out of humour.'
+
+'And why should he be out of humour with me? I only suggested to him
+that it might suit him to live at Belton instead of at that farm of
+his, down in Norfolk.'
+
+'He is very fond of Plaistow, I fancy.'
+
+'But that's no reason why he should be cross with me. I don't envy
+him his taste, that's all. If he can't understand that he, with his
+name, ought to live on the family property which belongs to him, it
+isn't likely that anything that I can say will open his eyes upon the
+subject.'
+
+'The truth is, Frederic, he has some romantic notion about the Belton
+estate.'
+
+'What romantic notion?'
+
+'He thinks it should not be his at all.'
+
+'Whose then? Who does he think should have it?'
+
+'Of course there can be nothing in it, you know; of course, it's all
+nonsense.'
+
+'But what is his idea? Who does he think should be the owner?'
+
+'He means that it should be mine. But of course, Frederic, it is all
+nonsense; we know that.'
+
+It did not seem to be quite clear at the moment that Frederic had
+altogether made up his mind upon the subject. As he heard those
+tidings from Clara there came across his face a puzzled, dubious
+look, as though he did not quite understand the proposition which had
+been suggested to him as though some consideration were wanted before
+he could take the idea home to himself and digest it, so as to enable
+himself to express an opinion upon it. There might be something in it
+some show of reason which did not make itself clear to Clara's
+feminine mind. 'I have never known what was the precise nature of
+your father's marriage settlement,' said he.
+
+Then Clara began to explain with exceeding eagerness that there was
+no question as to the accuracy of the settlement, or the legality of
+the entail that indeed there was no question as to anything. Her
+Cousin Will was romantic, and that was the end of it. Of course quite
+as a matter of course, this romance would lead to nothing; and she
+had only mentioned the subject now to show that her cousin's mind
+might possibly be disturbed when the question of his future residence
+was raised. 'I quite feel with you,' she said, 'that it will be much
+nicer that he should live at the old family place; but just at
+present I do not speak about it.'
+
+'If he is thinking of not claiming Belton, it is quite another
+thing,' said Aylmer.
+
+'It is his without any claiming,' said Clara.
+
+'Ah, well; it will all be settled before long,' said Aylmer.
+
+'It is settled already,' said Clara.
+
+At seven the three met again, and when the dinner was on the table
+there was some little trouble as to the helping of the fish. Which of
+the two men should take the lead on the occasion? But Clara decided
+the question by asking her cousin to make himself useful. There can
+be little doubt but that Captain Aylmer would have distributed the
+mutton chops with much more grace, and have carved the roast fowl
+with much more skill; but it suited Clara that Will should have the
+employment, and Will did the work. Captain Aylmer, throughout the
+dinner, endeavoured to be complaisant, and Clara exerted herself to
+talk as though all matters around them were easy. Will, too, made his
+effort, every now and then speaking a word, and restraining himself
+from snapping at his rival; but the restraint was in itself evident,
+and there were symptoms throughout the dinner that the untamed man
+was longing to fly at the throat of the man that was tamed.
+
+'Is it supposed that I ought to go away for a little while?' said
+Clara, as soon as she had drunk her own glass of wine.
+
+'Oh dear, no,' said the captain. 'We'll have a cup of coffee that is,
+if Mr Belton likes it.'
+
+'It's all the same to me,' said Will.
+
+'But won't you have some more wine?' Clara asked.
+
+'No more for me,' said Captain Aylmer. 'Perhaps Mr Belton--'
+
+'Who; I? No; I don't want any more wine,' said Will; and then they
+were all silent.
+
+It was very hard upon Clara. After a while the coffee came, and even
+that was felt to be a comfort. Though there was no pouring out to be
+done, no actual employment enacted, still the manoeuvring of the cups
+created a diversion. 'If either of you like to smoke,' she said, 'I
+shan't mind it in the least.' But neither of them would smoke. 'At
+what hour shall we get to Aylmer Park tomorrow?' Clara asked.
+
+'At half-past four,' said the captain.
+
+'Oh, indeed;--so early as that.' What was she to say next? Will, who
+had not touched his coffee, and who was sitting stiffly at the table
+as though he were bound in duty not to move, was becoming more and
+more grim every moment. She almost repented that she had asked him to
+remain with them. Certainly there was no comfort in his company,
+either to them or to himself. 'How long shall you remain in town,
+Will, before you go down to Plaistow?' she asked.
+
+'One day,' he replied.
+
+'Give my kind love,--my very kindest love to Mary. I wish I knew her. I
+wish I could think that I might soon know her.'
+
+'You'll never know her,' said Belton. The tone of his voice was
+actually savage as he spoke so much so that Aylmer turned in his
+chair to look at him, and Clara did not dare to answer him. But now
+that he had been made to speak, it seemed that he was determined to
+persevere. 'How should you ever know her? Nothing will ever bring you
+into Norfolk, and nothing will ever take her out of it.'
+
+'I don't quite see why either of those assertions should be made.'
+
+'Nevertheless they're both true. Had you ever meant to come to
+Norfolk you would have come now.' He had not even asked her to come,
+having arranged with his sister that in their existing circumstances
+any such asking would not be a kindness; and yet he rebuked her now
+for not coming!
+
+'My mother is very anxious that Miss Amedroz should pay her a visit
+at Aylmer Park,' said the captain.
+
+'And she's going to Aylmer Park, so your mother's anxiety need not
+disturb her any longer.'
+
+'Come, Will, don't be out of temper with us,' said Clara. 'It is our
+last night together. We, who are so dear to each other, ought not to
+quarrel.'
+
+'I'm not quarrelling with you, said he.
+
+'I can hardly suppose that Mr Belton wants to quarrel with me,' said
+Captain Aylmer, smiling.
+
+'I'm sure he does not,' said Clara. Belton sat silent, with his eyes
+fixed upon the table, and with a dark frown upon his brow. He did
+long to quarrel with Captain Aylmer; but was still anxious, if it
+might be possible, to save himself from what he knew would be a
+transgression.
+
+'To use a phrase common with us down in Yorkshire,' said Aylmer, 'I
+should say that Mr Belton had got out of bed the wrong side this
+morning.'
+
+'What the d---- does it matter to you, sir, what side I got out of bed?'
+said Will, clenching both his fists. Oh--if he might have only been
+allowed to have a round of five minutes with Aylmer, he would have
+been restored to good temper for that night, let the subsequent
+results have been what they might. He moved his feet impatiently on
+the floor, as though he were longing to kick something; and then he
+pushed his coffee-cup away from him, upsetting half the contents upon
+the table, and knocking down a wineglass, which was broken.
+
+'Will;--Will!' said Clara, looking at him with imploring eyes.
+
+'Then he shouldn't talk to me about getting out of bed on the wrong
+side; I didn't say anything to him.'
+
+'It is unkind of you, Will, to quarrel with Captain Aylmer because he
+is my friend.'
+
+'I don't want to quarrel with him; or, rather, as I won't quarrel
+with him because you don't wish it, I'll go away. I can't do more
+than that. I didn't want to dine with him here. There's my cousin
+Clara, Captain Aylmer; I love her better than all the world besides.
+Love her! It seems to me that there's nothing else in the world for
+me to love. I'd give my heart for her this minute. All that I have in
+the world is hers. Oh love her! I don't believe that it's in you to
+know what I mean when I say that I love her! She tells me that he's
+going to be your wife. You can't suppose that I can be very
+comfortable under those circumstances or that I can be very fond of
+you. I'm not very fond of you. Now I'll go away, and then I shan't
+trouble you any more. But look here if ever you should ill-treat her,
+whether you marry her or whether you don't, I'll crush every bone in
+your skin.' Having so spoken he went to the door, but stopped himself
+before he left the room. 'Good-bye, Clara. I've got a word or two
+more to say to you, but I'll write you a line down-stairs. You can
+show it to him if you please. It'll only be about business.
+Good-night.'
+
+She had got up and followed him to the door, and he had taken her by
+the hand. 'You shouldn't let your passion get the better of you in
+this way,' she said; but the tone of her voice was very soft, and her
+eyes were full of love.
+
+'I suppose not,' said he.
+
+'I can forgive him,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'D---- your forgiveness,' said Will Belton. Then Clara dropped the hand
+and started back, and the door was shut, and Will Belton was gone.
+
+'Your cousin seems to be a nice sort of young man,' said Aylmer.
+
+'Cannot you understand it all, Frederic, and pardon him?'
+
+'I can pardon him easily enough; but one doesn't like men who are
+given to threatening. He's not the sort of man that I took him to
+be.'
+
+'Upon my word I think he's as nearly perfect as a man can be.'
+
+'Then you like men to swear at you, and to swagger like Bobadils and
+to misbehave themselves, so that one has to blush for them if a
+servant chances to hear them. Do you really think that he has
+conducted himself today like a gentleman?'
+
+'I know that he is a gentleman,' said Clara.
+
+'I must confess I have no reason for supposing him to be so but your
+assurance.'
+
+'And I hope that is sufficient, Frederic.'
+
+Captain Aylmer did not answer her at once, but sat for awhile silent,
+considering what he would say. Clara, who understood his moods, knew
+that he did not mean to drop the subject, and resolved that she would
+defend her cousin, let Captain Aylmer attack him as he would.
+
+'Upon my word, I hardly know what to say about it,' said Aylmer.
+
+'Suppose then, that we say nothing more. Will not that be best?'
+
+'No, Clara. I cannot now let the matter pass by in that way. You have
+asked me whether I do not think Mr Belton to be a gentleman, and I
+must say that I doubt it. Pray hear me out before you answer me. I do
+not want to be harder upon him than I can help; and I would have
+borne, and I did bear from him, a great deal in silence. But he said
+that to me which I cannot allow to pass without notice. He had the
+bad taste to speak to me of his his regard for you.'
+
+'I cannot see what harm he did by that except to himself.'
+
+'I believe that it is understood among gentlemen that one man never
+speaks to another man about the lady the other man means to marry,
+unless they are very intimate friends indeed. What I mean is, that if
+Mr Belton had understood how gentlemen live together he would never
+have said anything to me about his affection for you. He should at
+any rate have supposed me to be ignorant of it. There is something in
+the very idea of his doing so that is in the highest degree
+in-delicate. I wonder, Clara, that you do not see this yourself.'
+
+'I think he was indiscreet.'
+
+'Indiscreet! Indiscreet is not the word for such conduct. I must say,
+that as far as my opinion goes, it was ungentlemanlike.'
+
+'I don't believe that there is a nobler-minded gentleman in all
+London than my Cousin Will.'
+
+'Perhaps it gratified you to hear from him the assurance of his
+love?' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'If it is your wish to insult me, Frederic, I will leave you'.
+
+'It is my wish to make you understand that your judgment has been
+wrong.'
+
+'That is simply a matter of opinion, and as I do not wish to argue
+with you about it, I had better go. At any rate I am very tired.
+Goodnight, Frederic.' He then told her what arrangements he had made
+for the morrow, and what hour she would be called, and when she would
+have her breakfast. After that he let her go without making any
+further allusion to Will Belton.
+
+It must be admitted that the meeting between the lovers had not been
+auspicious; and it must be acknowledged, also, that Will Belton had
+behaved very badly. I am not aware of the existence of that special
+understanding among gentlemen in respect to the ladies they are going
+to marry which Captain Aylmer so eloquently described; but,
+nevertheless, I must confess that Belton would have done better had
+he kept his feelings to himself. And when he talked of crushing his
+rival's bones, he laid himself justly open to severe censure. But,
+for all that, he was no Bobadil. He was angry, sore, and miserable;
+and in his anger, soreness, and misery, he had allowed himself to be
+carried away. He felt very keenly his own folly, even as he was
+leaving the room, and as he made his way out of the hotel he hated
+himself for his own braggadocio. 'I wish some one would crush my
+bones,' he said to himself almost audibly. 'No one ever deserved to
+be crushed better than I do.'
+
+Clara, when she got to her own room, was very serious and very sad.
+What was to be the end of it all? This had been her first meeting
+after her father's death with the man whom she had promised to marry;
+indeed, it was the first meeting after her promise had been given;
+and they had only met to quarrel. There had been no word of love
+spoken between them. She had parted from him now almost in anger,
+without the slightest expression of confidence between them almost as
+those part who are constrained by circumstances to be together, but
+who yet hate each other and know that they hate each other. Was there
+in truth any love between him and her? And if there was none, could
+there be any advantage, any good either to him or to her, in this
+journey of hers to Aylmer Park? Would it not be better that she
+should send for him and tell him that they were not suited for each
+other, and that thus she should escape from all the terrors of Lady
+Aylmer? As she thought of this, she could not but think of Will
+Belton also. Not a gentleman! If Will Belton was not a gentleman, she
+desired to know nothing further of gentlemen. Women are so good and
+kind that those whom they love they love almost the more when they
+commit offences, because of the offences so committed. Will Belton
+had been guilty of great offences,--of offences for which Clara was
+prepared to lecture him in the gravest manner should opportunities
+for such lectures ever come;--but I think that they had increased her
+regard for him rather than diminished it. She could not, however,
+make up her mind to send for Captain Aylmer, and when she went to bed
+she had resolved that the visit to Yorkshire must be made.
+
+Before she left the room the following morning, a letter was brought
+to her from her cousin, which had been written that morning. She
+asked the maid to inquire for him, and sent down word to him that if
+he were in the house she specially wished to see him; but the tidings
+came from the hall porter that he had gone out very early, and had
+expressly said that he should not breakfast at the inn.
+
+The letter was as follows:--
+
+
+'Dear Clara,
+
+'I meant to have handed to you the enclosed in person, but I lost my
+temper last night like a fool as I am and so I couldn't do it. You
+need not have any scruple about the money which I send,L100 in ten,
+ten-pound notes,--as it is your own. There is the rent due up to your
+father's death, which is more than what I now enclose, and there will
+be a great many other items, as to all of which you shall have a
+proper account. When you want more, you had better draw on me, till
+things are settled. It shall all be done as soon as possible. It
+would not be comfortable for you to go away without money of your
+own, and I suppose you would not wish that he should pay for your
+journeys and things before you are married.
+
+'Of course I made a fool of myself yesterday. I believe that I usually
+do. It is not any good my begging your pardon, for I don't suppose I
+shall ever trouble you any more. Good-bye, and God bless you.
+
+'Your affectionate Cousin,
+
+'WILLIAM BELTON.
+
+'It was a bad day for me when I made up my mind to go to Belton Castle
+last summer.'
+
+
+Clara, when she had read the letter, sat down and cried, holding the
+bundle of notes in her hand. What would she do with them? Should she
+send them back? Oh no she would do nothing to displease him, or to
+make him think that she was angry with him. Besides, she had none of
+that dislike to taking his money which she had felt as to receiving
+money from Captain Aylmer. He had said that she would be his sister,
+and she would take from him any assistance that a sister might
+properly take from a brother.
+
+She went down-stairs and met Captain Aylmer in the sitting-room. He
+stepped up to her as soon as the door was closed, and she could at
+once see that he had determined to forget the unpleasantness of the
+previous evening. He stepped up to her, and gracefully taking her by
+one hand, and passing the other behind her waist, saluted her in a
+becoming and appropriate manner. She did not like it. She especially
+disliked it, believing in her heart of hearts that she would never
+become the wife of this man whom she had professed to love and whom
+she really had once loved. But she could only bear it. And, to say
+the truth, there was not much suffering of that kind to be borne.
+
+Their journey down to Yorkshire was very prosperous. He maintained
+his good humour throughout the day, and never once said a word about
+Will Belton. Nor did he say a word about Mrs Askerton. 'Do your best
+to please my mother, Clara,' he said, as they were driving up from
+the park lodges to the house. This was fair enough, and she therefore
+promised him that she would do her best.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+MISS AMEDROZ HAS SOME HASHED CHICKEN
+
+Clara felt herself to be a coward as the Aylmer Park carriage, which
+had been sent to meet her at the station, was drawn up at Sir Anthony
+Aylmer's door. She had made up her mind that she would not bow down
+to Lady Aylmer, and yet she was afraid of the woman. As she got out
+of the carriage, she looked up, expecting to see her in the hall; but
+Lady Aylmer was too accurately acquainted with the weights and
+measures of society for any such movement as that. Had her son
+brought Lady Emily to the house as his future bride, Lady Aylmer
+would probably have been in the hall when the arrival took place; and
+had Clara possessed ten thousand pounds of her own, she would
+probably have been met at the drawing-room door; but as she had
+neither money nor title as she in fact brought with her no advantages
+of any sort Lady Aylmer was found stitching a bit of worsted, as
+though she had expected no one to come to her. And Belinda Aylmer was
+stitching also by special order from her mother. The reader will
+remember that Lady Aylmer was not without strong hope that the
+engagement might even yet be broken off. Snubbing, she thought, might
+probably be efficacious to this purpose, and so Clara was to be
+snubbed.
+
+Clara, who had just promised to do her best to gain Lady Aylmer's
+opinion, and who desired to be in some way true to her promise,
+though she thoroughly believed that her labour would be in vain, put
+on her pleasantest smile as she entered the room. Belinda, under the
+pressure of the circumstances, forgetting somewhat of her mother's
+injunctions, hurried to the door to welcome the stranger. Lady Aylmer
+kept her chair, and even maintained her stitch, till Clara was half
+across the room. Then she got up, and with great mastery over her
+voice, made her little speech.
+
+'We are delighted to see you, Miss Amedroz,' she said, putting out
+her hand of which Clara, however, felt no more than the finger.
+
+'Quite delighted,' said Belinda, yielding a fuller grasp. Then there
+were affectionate greetings between Frederic and his mother and
+Frederic and his sister, during which Clara stood by, ill at ease.
+Captain Aylmer said not a word as to the footing on which his future
+wife had come to his father's house. He did not ask his mother to
+receive her as another daughter, or his sister to take his Clara to
+her heart as a sister. There had been no word spoken of recognized
+intimacy. Clara knew that the Aylmers were cold people. She had
+learned as much as that from Captain Aylmer's words to herself, and
+from his own manner. But she had not expected to be so frozen by them
+as was the case with her now. In ten minutes she was sitting down
+with her bonnet still on, and Lady Aylmer was again at her stitches.
+
+'Shall I show you your room?' said Belinda.
+
+'Wait a moment, my dear,' said Lady Aylmer. 'Frederic has gone to see
+if Sir Anthony is in his study.'
+
+Sir Anthony was found in his study, and now made his appearance.
+
+'So this is Clara Amedroz,' he said. 'My dear, you are welcome to
+Aylmer Park.' This was so much better, that the kindness expressed
+though there was nothing special in it brought a tear into Clara's
+eye, and almost made her love Sir Anthony.
+
+'By the by, Sir Anthony, have you seen Darvel? Darvel was wanting to
+see you especially about Nuggins. Nuggins says that he'll take the
+bullocks now.' This was said by Lady Aylmer, and was skilfully
+arranged by her to put a stop to anything like enthusiasm on the part
+of Sir Anthony. Clara Amedroz had been invited to Aylmer Park, and
+was to be entertained there, but it would not be expedient that she
+should be made to think that anybody was particularly glad to see
+her, or that the family was at all proud of the proposed connexion.
+Within five minutes after this she was up in her room, and had
+received from Belinda tenders of assistance as to her lady's maid.
+Both the mother and daughter had been anxious to learn whether Clara
+would bring her own maid. Lady Aylmer, thinking that she would do so,
+had already blamed her for extravagance. 'Of course Fred will have to
+pay for the journey and all the rest of it,' she had said. But as
+soon as she had perceived that Clara had come without a servant, she
+had perceived that any young woman who travelled in that way must be
+unfit to be mated with her son. Clara, whose intelligence in such
+matters was sharp enough, assured Belinda that she wanted no
+assistance. 'I dare say you think it very odd,' she said, 'but I
+really can dress myself.' And when the maid did come to unpack the
+things, Clara would have sent her away at once had she been able. But
+the maid, who was not a young woman, was obdurate. 'Oh no, miss; my
+lady wouldn't be pleased. If you please, miss, I'll do it.' And so
+the things were unpacked.
+
+Clara was told that they dined at half-past seven, and she remained
+alone in her room till dinner-time, although it had not yet struck
+five when she had gone upstairs. The maid had brought her up a cup of
+tea, and she seated herself at her fire, turning over in her mind the
+different members of the household in which she found herself. It
+would never do. She told herself over and over again that it would
+never come to pass that that woman should be her mother-in-law, or
+that that other woman should be her sister. It was manifest to her
+that she was distasteful to them; and she had not lost a moment in
+assuring herself that they were distasteful to her. What purpose
+could it answer that she should strive not to like them, for no such
+strife was possible but to appear to like them? The whole place and
+everything about it was antipathetic to her. Would it not be simply
+honest to Captain Aylmer that she should tell him so at once, and go
+away? Then she remembered that Frederic had not spoken to her a
+single word since she had been under his father's roof. What sort of
+welcome would have been accorded to her had she chosen to go down to
+Plaistow Hall?
+
+At half-past seven she made her way by herself downstairs. In this
+there was some difficulty, as she remembered nothing of the rooms
+below, and she could not at first find a servant. But a man at last
+did come to her in the hall, and by him she was shown into the
+drawing-room. Here she was alone for a few minutes. As she looked
+about her, she thought that no room she had ever seen had less of the
+comfort of habitation. It was not here that she had met Lady Aylmer
+before dinner. There had, at any rate, been in that other room work
+things, and the look of life which life gives to a room. But here
+there was no life. The furniture was all in its place, and everything
+was cold and grand and comfortless. They were making company of her
+at Aylmer Park!
+
+Clara was intelligent in such matters, and understood it all
+thoroughly.
+
+Lady Aylmer was the first person to come to her. 'I hope my maid has
+been with you,' said she to which Clara muttered something intended
+for thanks. 'You'll find Richards a very clever woman, and quite a
+proper person.'
+
+'I don't at all doubt that.'
+
+'She has been here a good many years, and has perhaps little ways of
+her own but she means to be obliging.'
+
+'I shall give her very little trouble, Lady Aylmer. I am used to
+dress myself.' I am afraid this was not exactly true as to Clara's
+past habits; but she could dress herself, and intended to do so in
+future, and in this way justified the assertion to herself.
+
+'You had better let Richards come to you, my dear, while you are
+here,' said Lady Aylmer, with a slight smile on her countenance which
+outraged Clara more even than the words. 'We like to see young ladies
+nicely dressed here.' To be told that she was to be nicely dressed
+because she was at Aylmer Park! Her whole heart was already up in
+rebellion. Do her best to please Lady Aylmer! It would be utterly
+impossible to her to make any attempt whatever in that direction.
+There was something in her ladyship's eye a certain mixture of
+cunning, and power, and hardness in the slight smile that would
+gather round her mouth, by which Clara was revolted. She already
+understood much of Lady Aylmer, but in one thing she was mistaken.
+She thought that she saw simply the natural woman; but she did, in
+truth, see the woman specially armed with an intention of being
+disagreeable, made up to give offence, and prepared to create dislike
+and enmity. At the present moment nothing further was said, as
+Captain Aylmer entered the room, and his mother immediately began to
+talk to him in whispers.
+
+The first two days of Clara's sojourn at Aylmer Park passed by
+without the occurrence of anything that was remarkable. That which
+most surprised and annoyed her, as regarded her own position, was the
+coldness of all the people around her, as connected with the actual
+fact of her engagement. Sir Anthony was very courteous to her, but
+had never as yet once alluded to the fact that she was to become one
+of his family as his daughter-in-law. Lady Aylmer called her Miss
+Amedroz using the name with a peculiar emphasis, as though determined
+to show that Miss Amedroz was to be Miss Amedroz as far as any one at
+Aylmer Park was concerned and treated her almost as though her
+presence in the house was intrusive. Belinda was as cold as her
+mother in her mother's presence; but when alone with Clara would thaw
+a little. She, in her difficulty, studiously avoided calling the
+new-corner by any name at all. As to Captain Aylmer, it was manifest
+to Clara that he was suffering almost more than she suffered herself.
+His position was so painful that she absolutely pitied him for the
+misery to which he was subjected by his own mother. They still called
+each other Frederic and Clara, and that was the only sign of special
+friendship which manifested itself between them. And Clara, though
+she pitied him, could not but learn to despise him. She had hitherto
+given him credit at any rate for a will of his own. She had believed
+him to be a man able to act in accordance with the dictates of his
+own conscience. But now she perceived him to be so subject to his
+mother that he did not dare to call his heart his own. What was to be
+the end of it all? And if there could only be one end, would it not
+be well that that end should be reached at once, so that she might
+escape from her purgatory?
+
+But on the afternoon of the third day there seemed to have come a
+change over Lady Aylmer. At lunch she was especially civil,--civil to
+the extent of picking out herself for Clara, with her own fork, the
+breast of a hashed fowl from a dish that was before her. This she did
+with considerable care,--I may say, with a show of care; and then,
+though she did not absolutely call Clara by her Christian name, she
+did call her 'my dear'. Clara saw it all, and felt that the usual
+placidity of the afternoon would be broken by some special event. At
+three o'clock, when the carriage as usual came to the door, Belinda
+was out of the way, and Clara was made to understand that she and
+Lady Aylmer were to be driven out without any other companion.
+'Belinda is a little busy, my dear. So, if you don't mind, we'll go
+alone.' Clara of course assented, and got into the carriage with a
+conviction that now she would hear her fate. She was rather inclined
+to think that Lady Aylmer was about to tell her that she had failed
+in obtaining the approbation of Aylmer Park, and that she must be
+returned as goods of a description inferior to the order given. If
+such were the case, the breast of the chicken had no doubt been
+administered as consolation. Clara had endeavoured, since she had
+been at Aylmer Park, to investigate her own feelings in reference to
+Captain Aylmer; but had failed, and knew that she had failed. She
+wished to think that she loved him, as she could not endure the
+thought of having accepted a man whom she did not love. And she told
+herself that he had done nothing to forfeit her love. A woman who
+really loves will hardly allow that her love should be forfeited by
+any fault. True love breeds forgiveness for all faults. And, after
+all, of what fault had Captain Aylmer been guilty? He had preached to
+her out of his mother's mouth. That had been all! She had first
+accepted him, and then rejected him, and then accepted him again; and
+now she would fain be firm, if firmness were only possible to her.
+Nevertheless, if she were told that she was to be returned as
+inferior, she would hold up her head under such disgrace as best she
+might, and would not let the tidings break her heart.
+
+'My dear,' said Lady Aylmer, as soon as the trotting horses and
+rolling wheels made noise enough to prevent her words from reaching
+the servants on the box. 'I want to say a few words to you and I
+think that this will be a good opportunity.'
+
+'A very good opportunity,' said Clara.
+
+'Of course, my dear, you are aware that I have heard of something
+going on between you and my son Frederic.' Now that Lady Aylmer had
+taught herself to call Clara 'my dear', it seemed that she could
+hardly call her so often enough.
+
+'Of course I know that Captain Aylmer has told you of our engagement.
+But for that, I should not be here.'
+
+'I don't know how that might be,' said Lady Aylmer; 'but at any rate,
+my dear, he has told me that since the day of my sister's death there
+has been--in point of fact, a sort of engagement.'
+
+'I don't think Captain Aylmer has spoken of it in that way.'
+
+'In what way? Of course he has not said a word that was not nice and
+lover-like, and all that sort of thing. I believe he would have done
+anything in the world that his aunt had told him; and as to his--'
+
+'Lady Aylmer!' said Clara, feeling that her voice was almost
+trembling with anger,' I am sure you cannot intend to be unkind to
+me?'
+
+'Certainly not.'
+
+'Or to insult me?'
+
+'Insult you, my dear! You should not use such strong words, my dear;
+indeed you should not. Nothing of the kind is near my thoughts.'
+
+'If you disapprove of my marrying your son, tell me so at once, and I
+shall know what to do.'
+
+'It depends, my dear it depends on circumstances, and that is just
+why I want to speak to you.'
+
+'Then tell me the circumstances though indeed I think it would have
+been better if they could have been told to me by Captain Aylmer
+himself.'
+
+'There, my dear, you must allow me to judge. As a mother, of course I
+am anxious for my son. Now Frederic is a poor man. Considering the
+kind of society in which he has to live, and the position which he
+must maintain as a Member of Parliament, he is a very poor man.'
+
+This was an argument which Clara certainly had not expected that any
+of the Aylmer family would condescend to use. She had always regarded
+Captain Aylmer as a rich man since he had inherited Mrs Winterfield's
+property, knowing that previously to that he had been able to live in
+London as rich men usually do live. 'Is he?' said she. 'It may seem
+odd to you, Lady Aylmer, but I do not think that a word has ever
+passed between me and your son as to the amount of his income.'
+
+'Not odd at all, my dear. Young ladies are always thoughtless about
+those things, and when they are looking to be married think that
+money will come out of the skies.'
+
+'If you mean that I have been looking to be married--'
+
+'Well;--expecting. I suppose you have been expecting it.' Then she
+paused; but as Clara said nothing, she went on. 'Of course, Frederic
+has got my sister's moiety of the Perivale property;--about eight
+hundred a year, or something of that sort, when all deductions are
+made. He will have the moiety when I die, and if you and he can be
+satisfied to wait for that event,--which may not perhaps be very
+long--'. Then there was another pause, indicative of the melancholy
+natural to such a suggestion, during which Clara looked at Lady
+Aylmer, and made up her mind that her ladyship would live for the
+next twenty-five years at least. 'If you can wait for that,' she
+continued, it may be all very well, and though you will be poor
+people, in Frederic's rank of life, you will be able to live.'
+
+'That will be so far fortunate,' said Clara.
+
+'But you'll have to wait,' said Lady Aylmer, turning upon her
+companion almost fiercely. 'That is, you certainly will have to do so
+if you are to depend upon Frederic's income alone.'
+
+'I have nothing of my own as he knows; absolutely nothing.'
+
+'That does not seem to be quite so clear,' said Lady Aylmer, speaking
+now very cautiously or rather with a purpose of great caution; 'I
+don't think that that is quite so clear. Frederic has been telling me
+that there seems to be some sort of a doubt about the settlement of
+the Belton estate.'
+
+'There is no sort of doubt whatsoever no shadow of a doubt. He is
+quite mistaken.'
+
+'Don't be in such a hurry, my dear. It is not likely that you
+yourself should be a very good lawyer.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer, I must be in a hurry lest there should be any mistake
+about this. There is no question here for lawyers. Frederic must have
+been misled by a word or two which I said to him with quite another
+purpose. Everybody concerned knows that the Belton estate goes to my
+cousin Will. My poor father was quite aware of it.'
+
+'That is all very well; and pray remember, my dear, that you need not
+attack me in this way. I am endeavouring, if possible, to arrange the
+accomplishment of your own wishes. It seems that Mr Belton himself
+does not claim the property.'
+
+'There is no question of claiming. Because he is a man more generous
+than any other person in the world,--romantically generous he has
+offered to give me the property which was my father's for his
+lifetime; but I do not suppose that you would wish, or that Captain
+Aylmer would wish, that I should accept such an offer as that.' There
+was a tone in her voice as she said this, and a glance in her eye as
+she turned her face full upon her companion, which almost prevailed
+against Lady Aylmer's force of character.
+
+'I really don't know, my dear,' said Lady Aylmer. 'You are so
+violent.'
+
+'I certainly am eager about this. No consideration on earth would
+induce me to take my cousin's property from him.'
+
+'It always seemed to me that that entail was a most unfair
+proceeding.'
+
+'What would it signify even if it were which it was not? Papa got
+certain advantages on those conditions. But what can all that matter?
+It belongs to Will Belton.'
+
+Then there was another pause, and Clara thought that that subject was
+over between them. But Lady Aylmer had not as yet completed her
+purpose. Shall I tell you, my dear, what I think you ought to do?'
+
+'Certainly, Lady Aylmer; if you wish it.'
+
+'I can at any rate tell you what it would become any young lady to do
+under such circumstances. I suppose you will give me credit for
+knowing as much as that. Any young lady placed as you are would be
+recommended by her friends if she had friends able and fit to give
+her advice to put the whole matter into the hands of her natural
+friends and her lawyer together. Hear me out, my dear, if you please.
+At least you can do that for me, as I am taking a great deal of
+trouble on your behalf. You should let Frederic see Mr Green. I
+understand that Mr Green was your father's lawyer. And then Mr Green
+can see Mr Belton. And so the matter can be arranged. It seems to me,
+from what I hear, that in this way, and in this way only; something
+can be done as to the proposed marriage. In no other way can anything
+be done.'
+
+Then Lady Aylmer had finished her argument, and throwing herself back
+into the carriage, seemed to intimate that she desired no reply. She
+had believed and did believe that her guest was so intent upon
+marrying her son, that no struggle would be regarded as too great for
+the achievement of that object. And such belief was natural on her
+part. Mothers always so think of girls engaged to their sons, and so
+think especially when the girls are penniless and the sons are
+well-to-do in the world. But such belief, though it is natural, is
+sometimes wrong and it was altogether wrong in this instance. 'Then,'
+said Clara, speaking very plainly,' nothing can be done.'
+
+'Very well, my dear.'
+
+After that there was not a word said between them till the carriage
+was once more within the park. Then Lady Aylmer spoke again. 'I
+presume you see, my dear, that under these circumstances any thought
+of marriage between you and my son must be quite out of the question
+at any rate for a great many years.'
+
+'I will speak to Captain Aylmer about it, Lady Aylmer.'
+
+'Very well, my dear. So do. Of course he is his own master. But he is
+my son as well, and I cannot see him sacrificed without an effort to
+save him.'
+
+When Clara came down to dinner on that day she was again Miss
+Amedroz, and she could perceive from Belinda's manner quite as
+plainly as from that of her ladyship that she was to have no more
+tit-bits of hashed chicken specially picked out for her by Lady
+Aylmer's own fork. That evening and the two next days passed, just
+as had passed the two first days, and everything was dull, cold, and
+uncomfortable. Twice she had walked out with Frederic, and on each
+occasion had thought that he would refer to what his mother had said;
+but he did not venture to touch upon the subject. Clara more than
+once thought that she would do so herself; but when the moment came
+she found that it was impossible. She could not bring herself to say
+anything that should have had the appearance of a desire on her part
+to hurry on a marriage. She could not say to him, 'If you are too
+poor to be married or even if you mean to put forward that pretence
+say so at once.' He still called her Clara, and still asked her to
+walk with him, and still talked, when they were alone together, in a
+distant cold way, of the events of their future combined life. Would
+they live at Perivale? Would it be necessary to refurnish the house?
+Should he keep any of the land on his own hands? These are all
+interesting subjects of discussion between an engaged man and the
+girl to whom he is engaged; but the man, if he wish to make them
+thoroughly pleasant to the lady, should throw something of the
+urgency of a determined and immediate purpose into the discussion.
+Something should be said as to the actual destination of the rooms. A
+day should be fixed for choosing the furnishing. Or the gentleman
+should declare that he will at once buy the cows for the farm. But
+with Frederic Aylmer all discussions seemed to point to some cold,
+distant future, to which Clara might look forward as she did to the
+joys of heaven. Will Belton would have bought the ring long since,
+and bespoken the priest, and arranged every detail of the honeymoon,
+tour and very probably would have stood looking into a cradle shop
+with longing eyes.
+
+At last there came an absolute necessity for some plain speaking.
+Captain Aylmer declared his intention of returning to London that he
+might resume his parliamentary duties. He had purposed to remain till
+after Easter, but it was found to be impossible. 'I find I must go up
+tomorrow,' he said at breakfast. 'They are going to make a stand
+about the poor-rates, and I must be in the House in the evening.'
+Clara felt herself to be very cold and uncomfortable. As things were
+at present arranged, she was to be left at Aylmer Park without a
+friend. And how long was she to remain there? No definite ending had
+been proposed for her visit. Something must be said and something
+settled before Captain Aylmer went away.
+
+'You will come down for Easter, of course,' said his mother.
+
+'Yes; I shall come down for Easter, I think or at any rate at
+Whitsuntide.'
+
+'You must come at Easter, Frederic,' said his mother.
+
+'I don't doubt but I shall,' said he.
+
+'Miss Amedroz should lay her commands upon him,' said Sir Anthony
+gallantly.
+
+'Nonsense,' said Lady Aylmer.
+
+'I have commands to lay upon him all the same,' said Clara; 'and if
+he will give me half an hour this morning he shall have them.' To
+this Captain Aylmer, of course, assented as how could he escape from
+such assent and a regular appointment was made, Captain Aylmer and
+Miss Amedroz were to be closeted together in the little back
+drawing-room immediately after breakfast. Clara would willingly have
+avoided any such formality could she have done so compatibly with the
+exigencies of the occasion. She had been obliged to assert herself
+when Lady Aylmer had rebuked Sir Anthony, and then Lady Aylmer had
+determined that an air of business should be assumed. Clara, as she
+was marched off into the back drawing-room followed by her lover with
+more sheep-like gait even than her own, felt strongly the absurdity
+and the wretchedness of her position. But she was determined to go
+through with her purpose.
+
+'I am very sorry that I have to leave you so soon,' said Captain
+Aylmer, as soon as the door was shut and they were alone together.
+
+'Perhaps it may be better as it is, Frederic; as in this way we shall
+all come to understand each other, and something will be settled.'
+
+'Well, yes; perhaps that will be best.'
+
+'Your mother has told me that she disapproves of our marriage.'
+
+'No; not that, I think, I don't think she can have quite said that.'
+
+'She says that you cannot marry while she is alive that is, that you
+cannot marry me because your income would not be sufficient.'
+
+'I certainly was speaking to her about my income.'
+
+'Of course I have got nothing.' Here she paused. 'Not a penny-piece
+in the world that I can call my own.'
+
+'Oh yes, you have.'
+
+'Nothing. Nothing!'
+
+'You have your aunt's legacy?'
+
+'No; I have not. She left me no legacy. But as that is between you
+and me, if we think of marrying each other, that would make no
+difference.'
+
+'None at all, of course.'
+
+'But in truth I have got nothing. Your mother said something to me
+about the Belton estate; as though there was some idea that possibly
+it might come to me.'
+
+'Your cousin himself seemed to think so.'
+
+'Frederic, do not let us deceive ourselves. There can be nothing of
+the kind. I could not accept any portion of the property from my
+cousin even though our marriage were to depend upon it.'
+
+'Of course it does not.'
+
+'But if your means are not sufficient for your wants I am quite ready
+to accept that reason as being sufficient for breaking our
+engagement.'
+
+'There need be nothing of the kind.'
+
+'As for waiting for the death of another person for your mother's
+death, I should think it very wrong. Of course, if our engagement
+stands there need be no hurry; but some time should be fixed.' Clara
+as she said this felt that her face and forehead were suffused with a
+blush; but she was determined that it should be said, and the words
+were pronounced.
+
+'I quite think so too,' said he.
+
+'I am glad that we agree. Of course, I will leave it to you to fix
+the time.'
+
+'You do not mean at this very moment?' said Captain Aylmer, almost
+aghast.
+
+'No; I did not mean that.'
+
+'I'll tell you what. I'll make a point of coming down at Easter. I
+wasn't sure about it before, but now I will be. And then it shall be
+settled.'
+
+Such was the interview; and on the next morning Captain Aylmer
+started for London. Clara felt, aware that she had not done or said
+all that should have been done and said; but, nevertheless, a step in
+the right direction had been taken.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE AYLMER PARK HASHED CHICKEN COMES TO AN END
+
+Easter in this year fell about the middle of April, and it still
+wanted three weeks of that time when Captain Aylmer started for
+London. Clara was quite alive to the fact that the next three weeks
+would not be a happy time for her. She looked forward, indeed, to so
+much wretchedness during this period, that the days as they came were
+not quite so bad as she had expected them to be. At first Lady Aylmer
+said little or nothing to her. It seemed to be agreed between them
+that there was to be war, but that there was no necessity for any of
+the actual operations of war during the absence of Captain Aylmer.
+Clara had become Miss Amedroz again; and though an offer to be driven
+out in the carriage was made to her every day, she was in general
+able to escape the infliction so that at last it came to be
+understood that Miss Amedroz did not like carriage exercise. She has
+never been used to it,' said Lady Aylmer to her daughter. 'I suppose
+not,' said Belinda; 'but if she wasn't so very cross she'd enjoy it
+just for that reason.' Clara sometimes walked about the grounds with
+Belinda, but on such occasions there was hardly anything that could
+be called conversation between them, and Frederic Aylmer's name was
+never mentioned.
+
+Captain Aylmer had not been gone many days before she received a
+letter from her cousin, in which he spoke with absolute certainty of
+his intention of giving up the estate. He had, he said, consulted Mr
+Green, and the thing was to be done. 'But it will be better, I
+think,' he went on to say, 'that I should manage it for you till
+after your marriage. I simply mean what I say. You are not to suppose
+that I shall interfere in any way afterwards. Of course there will be
+a settlement, as to which I hope you will allow me to see Mr Green on
+your behalf.' In the first draught of his letter he had inserted a
+sentence in which he expressed a wish that the property should be so
+settled that it might at last all come to some one bearing the name
+of Belton. But as he read this over, the condition for coming from
+him it would be a condition seemed to him to be ungenerous, and he
+expunged it. 'What does it matter who has it,' he said to himself
+bitterly, 'or what he is called? I will never set eyes upon his
+children, nor yet upon the place when he has become the master of
+it.' Clara wrote both to her cousin and to the lawyer, repeating her
+assurance with great violence, as Lady Aylmer would have said that
+she would have nothing to with the Belton estate. She told Mr Green
+that it would be useless for him to draw up any deeds. 'It can't be
+made mine unless I choose to have it,' she said, 'and I don't choose
+to have it.' Then there came upon her a terrible fear. What if she
+should marry Captain Aylmer after all; and what if he, when he should
+be her husband, should take the property on her behalf! Something
+must be done before her marriage to prevent the possibility of such
+results something as to the efficacy of which for such prevention she
+could feel altogether certain.
+
+But could she marry Captain Aylmer at all in her present mood? During
+these three weeks she was unconsciously teaching herself to hope that
+she might be relieved from her engagement. She did not love him. She
+was becoming aware that she did not love him. She was beginning to
+doubt whether, in truth, she had ever loved him. But yet she felt
+that she could not escape from her engagement if he should show
+himself to be really actuated by any fixed purpose to carry it out;
+nor could she bring herself to be so weak before Lady Aylmer as to
+seem to yield. The necessity of not striking her colours was forced
+upon her by the warfare to which she was subjected. She was unhappy,
+feeling that her present position in life was bad, and unworthy of
+her. She could have brought herself almost to run away from Aylmer
+Park, as a boy runs away from school, were it not that she had no
+place to which to run. She could not very well make her appearance at
+Plaistow Hall, and say that she had come there for shelter and
+succour. She could, indeed, go to Mrs Askerton's cottage for awhile;
+and the more she thought of the state of her affairs, the more did
+she feel sure that that would, before long, be her destiny. It must
+be her destiny unless Captain Aylmer should return at Easter with
+purposes so firmly fixed that even his mother should not be able to
+prevail against them.
+
+And now, in these days, circumstances gave her a new friend or
+perhaps, rather, a new acquaintance, where she certainly had looked
+neither for the one or for the other. Lady Aylmer and Belinda and the
+carriage and the horses used, as I have said, to go off without her.
+This would take place soon after luncheon. Most of us know how the
+events of the day drag themselves on tediously in such a country
+house as Aylmer Park--a country house in which people neither read,
+nor flirt, nor gamble, nor smoke, nor have resort to the excitement
+of any special amusement. Lunch was on the table at half-past one,
+and the carriage was at the door at three. Eating and drinking and
+the putting on of bonnets occupied the hour and a half. From
+breakfast to lunch Lady Aylmer, with her old 'front', would occupy
+herself with her household accounts. For some days after Clara's
+arrival she put on her new 'front' before lunch; but of late since
+the long conversation in the carriage the new 'front' did not appear
+till she came down for the carriage. According to the theory of her
+life, she was never to be seen by any but her own family in her old
+'front'. At breakfast she would appear with head so mysteriously
+enveloped with such a bewilderment of morning caps that old 'front'
+or new 'front' was all the same. When Sir Anthony perceived this
+change when he saw that Clara was treated as though she belonged to
+Aylmer Park then he told himself that his son's marriage with Miss
+Amedroz was to be; and, as Miss Amedroz seemed to him to be a very
+pleasant young woman, he would creep out of his own quarters when the
+carriage was gone and have a little chat with her being careful to
+creep away again before her ladyship's return. This was Clara's new
+friend.
+
+'Have you heard from Fred since he has been gone?' the old man asked
+one day, when he had come upon Clara still seated in the parlour in
+which they had lunched. He had been out, at the front of the house,
+scolding the under-gardener; but the man had taken away his barrow
+and left him, and Sir Anthony had found himself without employment.
+
+'Only a line to say that he is to be here on the sixteenth.'
+
+'I don't think people write so many love-letters as they did when I
+was young,' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'To judge from the novels, I should think not. The old novels used to
+be full of love-letters.'
+
+'Fred was never good at writing, I think.'
+
+'Members of Parliament have too much to do, I suppose,' said Clara.
+
+'But he always writes when there is any business. He's a capital man
+of business. I wish I could say as much for his brother or for
+myself.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer seems to like work of that sort.'
+
+'So she does. She's fond of it I am not. I sometimes think that Fred
+takes after her. Where was it you first knew him?'
+
+'At Perivale. We used, both of us, to be staying with Mrs
+Winterfield.'
+
+'Yes, yes; of course. The most natural thing in life. Well, my dear,
+I can assure you that I am quite satisfied.'
+
+'Thank you, Sir Anthony. I'm glad to hear you say even as much as
+that.'
+
+'Of course money is very desirable for a man situated like Fred; but
+he'll have enough, and if he is pleased, I am. Personally, as regards
+yourself, I am more than pleased. I am indeed.'
+
+'It's very good of you to say so.'
+
+Sir Anthony looked at Clara, and his heart was softened towards her
+as he saw that there was a tear in her eye. A man's heart must be
+very hard when it does not become softened by the trouble of a woman
+with whom he finds himself alone. 'I don't know how you and Lady
+Aylmer get on together,' he said; 'but it will not be my fault if we
+are not friends.'
+
+'I am afraid that Lady Aylmer does not like me,' said Clara.
+
+'Indeed. I was afraid there was something of that. But you must
+remember she is hard to please. You'll find she'll come round in
+time.'
+
+'She thinks that Captain Aylmer should not marry a woman without
+money.'
+
+'That's all very well; but I don't see why Fred shouldn't please
+himself, He's old enough to know what he wants.'
+
+'Is he, Sir Anthony? That's just the question. I'm not quite sure
+that he does know what he wants.'
+
+'Fred doesn't know, do you mean?'
+
+'I don't quite think he does, sir. And the worst of it is, I am in
+doubt as well as he.'
+
+'In doubt about marrying him?'
+
+'In doubt whether it will be good for him or for any of us. I don't
+like to come into a family that does not desire to have me.'
+
+'You shouldn't think so much of Lady Aylmer as all that, my dear.'
+
+'But I do think a great deal of her.'
+
+'I shall be very glad to have you as a daughter-in-law. And as for
+Lady Aylmer between you and me, my dear, you shouldn't take every
+word she says so much to heart. She's the best woman in the world,
+and I'm sure I'm bound to say so. But she has her temper, you know;
+and I don't think you ought to give way to her altogether. There's
+the carriage. It won't do you any good if we're found together
+talking over it all; will it?' Then the baronet hobbled off, and Lady
+Aylmer, when she entered the room, found Clara sitting alone.
+
+Whether it was that the wife was clever enough to extract from her
+husband something of the conversation that had passed between him and
+Clara, or whether she had some other source of information or whether
+her conduct might proceed from other grounds, we need not inquire;
+but from that afternoon Lady Aylmer's manner and words to Clara
+became much less courteous than they had been before. She would
+always speak as though some great iniquity was being committed, and
+went about the house with a portentous frown, as though some terrible
+measure must soon be taken with the object of putting an end to the
+present extremely improper state of things. All this was so manifest
+to Clara, that she said to Sir Anthony one day that she could no
+longer bear the look of Lady Aylmer's displeasure and that she would
+be forced to leave Aylmer Park before Frederic's return, unless the
+evil were mitigated. She had by this time told Sir Anthony that she
+much doubted whether the marriage would be possible, and that she
+really believed that it would be best for all parties that the idea
+should be abandoned. Sir Anthony, when he heard this, could only
+shake his head and hobble away. The trouble was too deep for him to
+cure.
+
+But Clara still held on; and now there wanted but two days to Captain
+Aylmer's return, when, all suddenly, there arose a terrible storm at
+Aylmer Park, and then came a direct and positive quarrel between Lady
+Aylmer and Clara a quarrel direct and positive and, on the part of
+both ladies, very violent.
+
+Nothing had hitherto been said at Aylmer Park about Mrs Askerton
+nothing, that is, since Clara's arrival. And Clara had been thankful
+for this silence. The letter which Captain Aylmer had written to her
+about Mrs Askerton will perhaps be remembered, and Clara's answer to
+that letter. The Aylmer Park opinion as to this poor woman, and as to
+Clara's future conduct towards the poor woman, had been expressed
+very strongly; and Clara had as strongly resolved that she would not
+be guided by Aylmer Park opinions in that matter. She had anticipated
+much that was disagreeable on this subject, and had therefore
+congratulated herself not a little on the absence of all allusion to
+it. But Lady Aylmer had, in truth, kept Mrs Askerton in reserve, as a
+battery to be used against Miss Amedroz if all other modes of attack
+should fail as a weapon which would be powerful when other weapons
+had been powerless. For a while she had thought it possible that
+Clara might be the owner of the Belton estate, and then it had been
+worth the careful mother's while to be prepared to accept a
+daughter-in-law so dowered. We have seen how the question of such
+ownership had enabled her to put forward the plea of poverty which
+she had used on her son's behalf. But since that, Frederic had
+declared his intention of marrying the young woman in spite of his
+poverty, and Clara seemed to be equally determined. 'He has been fool
+enough to speak the word, and she is determined to keep him to it,'
+said Lady Aylmer to her daughter. Therefore the Askerton battery was
+brought to bear not altogether unsuccessfully.
+
+The three ladies were sitting together in the drawing-room, and had
+been as mute as fishes for half an hour. In these sittings they were
+generally very silent, speaking only in short little sentences. 'Will
+you drive with us today, Miss Amedroz?' 'Not today, I think, Lady
+Aylmer.' 'As you are reading, perhaps you won't mind our leaving
+you?' 'Pray do not put yourself to inconvenience for me, Miss
+Aylmer,' Such and such like was their conversation; but on a sudden,
+after a full half-hour's positive silence, Lady Aylmer asked a
+question altogether of another kind. 'I think, Miss Amedroz, my son
+wrote to you about a certain Mrs Askerton?'
+
+Clara put down her work and sat for a moment almost astonished. It
+was not only that Lady Aylmer had asked so very disagreeable a
+question, but that she had asked it with so peculiar a voice a voice
+as it were a command, in a manner that was evidently intended to be
+taken as serious, and with a look of authority in her eye, as though
+she were resolved that this battery of hers should knock the enemy
+absolutely in the dust! Belinda gave a little spring in her chair,
+looked intently at her work, and went on stitching faster than
+before. 'Yes, he did,' said Clara, finding that an answer was
+imperatively demanded from her.
+
+'It was quite necessary that he should write. I believe it to be an
+undoubted fact that Mrs Askerton is is is not at all what she ought
+to be.'
+
+'Which of us is what we ought to be?' said Clara.
+
+'Miss Amedroz, on this subject I am not at all inclined to joke. Is
+it not true that Mrs Askerton--'
+
+'You must excuse me, Lady Aylmer, but what I know of Mrs Askerton, I
+know altogether in confidence; so that I cannot speak to you of her
+past life.'
+
+'But, Miss Amedroz, pray excuse me if I say that I must speak of it.
+When I remember the position in which you do us the honour of being
+our visitor here, how can I help speaking of it?' Belinda was
+stitching very hard, and would not even raise her eyes. Clara, who
+still held her needle in her hand, resumed her work, and for a moment
+or two made no further answer. But Lady Aylmer had by no means
+completed her task. 'Miss Amedroz,' she said, 'you must allow me to
+judge for myself in this matter. The subject is one on which I feel
+myself obliged to speak to you.'
+
+'But I have got nothing to say about it.'
+
+'You have, I believe, admitted the truth of the allegations made by
+us as to this woman.' Clara was becoming very angry. A red spot
+showed itself on each cheek, and a frown settled upon her brow. She
+did not as yet know what she would say or how she would conduct
+herself. She was striving to consider how best she might assert her
+own independence. But she was fully determined that in this matter
+she would not bend an inch to Lady Aylmer. 'I believe we may take
+that as admitted?', said her ladyship.
+
+'I am not aware that I have admitted anything to you, Lady Aylmer, or
+said anything that can justify you in questioning me on the subject.'
+
+'Justify me in questioning a young woman who tells me that she is to
+be my future daughter-in-law!'
+
+'I have not told you so. I have never told you anything of the kind.'
+
+'Then on what footing, Miss Amedroz, do you do us the honour of being
+with us here at Aylmer Park?'
+
+'On a very foolish footing.'
+
+'On a foolish footing! What does that mean?'
+
+'It means that I have been foolish in coming to a house in which I am
+subjected to such questioning.'
+
+'Belinda, did you ever hear anything like this? Miss Amedroz, I must
+persevere, however much you may dislike it. The story of this woman's
+life whether she be Mrs Askerton or not, I don't know--'
+
+'She is Mrs Askerton,' said Clara.
+
+'As to that I do not profess to know, and I dare say that you are no
+wiser than myself. But what she has been we do know.' Here Lady
+Aylmer raised her voice and continued to speak with all the eloquence
+which assumed indignation could give her. 'What she has been we do
+know, and I ask you, as a duty which I own to my son, whether you
+have put an end to your acquaintance with so very disreputable a
+person a person whom even to have known is a disgrace?'
+
+'I know her, and--'
+
+'Stop one minute, if you please. My questions are these--Have you put
+an end to that acquaintance? Are you ready to give a promise that it
+shall never be resumed?
+
+'I have not put an end to that acquaintance,--or rather that
+affectionate friendship as I should call it, and I am ready to
+promise that it shall be maintained with all my heart.'
+
+'Belinda, do you hear her?'
+
+'Yes, mamma.' And Belinda slowly shook her head, which was now bowed
+lower than ever over her lap.
+
+'And that is your resolution?'
+
+'Yes, Lady Aylmer; that is my resolution.'
+
+'And you think that becoming to you, as a young woman?'
+
+'Just so; I think that becoming to me as a young woman.'
+
+'Then let me tell you, Miss Amedroz, that I differ from you
+altogether altogether.' Lady Aylmer, as she repeated the last word,
+raised her folded hands as though she were calling upon heaven to
+witness how thoroughly she differed from the young woman!
+
+'I don't see how I am to help that, Lady Aylmer. I dare say we may
+differ on many subjects.'
+
+'I dare say we do. I dare say we do. And I need not point out to you
+how very little that would be a matter of regret to me but for the
+hold you have upon my unfortunate son.'
+
+'Hold upon him, Lady Aylmer! How dare you insult me by such
+language?' Hereupon Belinda again jumped in her chair; but Lady
+Aylmer looked as though she enjoyed the storm.
+
+'You undoubtedly have a hold upon him, Miss Amedroz, and I think that
+it is a great misfortune. Of course, when he hears what your conduct
+is with reference to this person, he will release himself from his
+entanglement.'
+
+'He can release himself from his entanglement whenever he chooses,'
+said Clara, rising from her chair. 'Indeed, he is released. I shall
+let Captain Aylmer know that our engagement must be at an end, unless
+he will promise that I shall never in future be subjected to the
+unwarrantable insolence of his mother.' Then she walked off to the
+door, not regarding, and indeed not hearing, the parting shot that
+was fired at her.
+
+And now what was to be done! Clara went up to her own room, making
+herself strong and even comfortable, with an inward assurance that
+nothing should ever induce her even to sit down to table again with
+Lady Aylmer. She would not willingly enter the same room with Lady
+Aylmer, or have any speech with her. But what should she at once do?
+She could not very well leave Aylmer Park without settling whither
+she would go; nor could she in any way manage to leave the house on
+that afternoon. She almost resolved that she would go to Mrs
+Askerton. Everything was of course over between her and Captain
+Aylmer, and therefore there was no longer any hindrance to her doing
+so on that score. But what would be her Cousin Will's wish? He, now,
+was the only friend to whom she could trust for good counsel. What
+would be his advice? Should she write and ask him? No she could not
+do that. She could not bring herself to write to him, telling him
+that the Aylmer 'entanglement' was at an end. Were she to do so, he,
+with his temperament, would take such letter as meaning much more
+than it was intended to mean. But she would write a letter to Captain
+Aylmer. This she thought that she would do at once, and she began it.
+
+She got as far as 'My dear Captain Aylmer,' and then she found that
+the letter was one which could not be written very easily. And she
+remembered, as the greatness of the difficulty of writing the letter
+became plain to her, that it could not now be sent so as to reach
+Captain Aylmer before he would leave London. If written at all, it
+must be addressed to him at Aylmer Park, and the task might be done
+tomorrow as well as today. So that task was given up for the present.
+
+But she did write a letter to Mrs Askerton a letter which she would
+send or not on the morrow, according to the state of her mind as it
+might then be. In this she declared her purpose of leaving Aylmer
+Park on the day after Captain Aylmer's arrival, and asked to be taken
+in at the cottage. An answer was to be sent to her, addressed to the
+Great Northern Railway Hotel.
+
+Richards, the maid, came up to her before dinner, with offers of
+assistance for dressing offers made in a tone which left no doubt on
+Clara's mind that Richards knew all about the quarrel. But Clara
+declined to be dressed, and sent down a message saying that she would
+remain in her room, and begging to be supplied with tea. She would
+not even condescend to say that she was troubled with a headache.
+Then Belinda came up to her, just before dinner was announced, and
+with a fluttered gravity advised Miss Amedroz to come down-stairs.
+'Mamma thinks it will be much better that you should show yourself,
+let the final result be what it may.'
+
+'But I have not the slightest desire to show myself.'
+
+'There are the servants, you know.'
+
+'But, Miss Aylmer, I don't care a straw for the servants really not a
+straw.'
+
+'And papa will feel it so.'
+
+'I shall be sorry if Sir Anthony is annoyed but I cannot help it. It
+has not been my doing.'
+
+'And mamma says that my brother would of course wish it.'
+
+'After what your mother has done, I don't see what his wishes would
+have to do with it,--even if she knew them,--which I don't think she
+does.'
+
+'But if you will think of it, I'm sure you'll find it is the proper
+thing to do. There is nothing to be avoided so much as an open
+quarrel, that all the servants can see.'
+
+'I must say, Miss Aylmer, that I disregard the servants. After what
+passed down-stairs, of course I have had to consider what I should do.
+Will you tell your mother that I will stay here, if she will permit
+it?'
+
+'Of course. She will be delighted.'
+
+'I will remain, if she will permit it, till the morning after Captain
+Aylmer's arrival. Then I shall go.'
+
+'Where to, Miss Amedroz?'
+
+'I have already written to a friend, asking her to receive me.'
+
+Miss Aylmer paused a moment before she asked her next question but
+she did ask it, showing by her tone and manner that she had been
+driven to summon up all her courage to enable her to do so. 'To what
+friend, Miss Amedroz? Mamma will be glad to know.'
+
+'That is a question which Lady Aylmer can have no right to ask,' said
+Clara.
+
+'Oh very well. Of course, if you don't like to tell, there's no more
+to be said.'
+
+'I do not like to tell, Miss Aylmer.'
+
+Clara had her tea in her room that evening, and lived there the whole
+of the next day. The family down-stairs was not comfortable. Sir
+Anthony could not be made to understand why his guest kept her
+room,--which was not odd, as Lady Aylmer was very sparing in the
+information she gave him; and Belinda found it to be impossible to sit
+at table, or to say a few words to her father and mother, without
+showing at every moment her consciousness that a crisis had occurred.
+By the next day's post the letter to Mrs Askerton was sent, and at the
+appointed time Captain Aylmer arrived. About an hour after he entered
+the house, Belinda went up-stairs with a message from him;--would Miss
+Amedroz see him? Miss Amedroz would see him, but made it a condition
+of doing so that she should not be required to meet Lady Aylmer. She
+need not be afraid,' said Lady Aylmer. 'Unless she sends me a full
+apology, with a promise that she will have no further intercourse
+whatever with that woman, I will never willingly see her again.' A
+meeting was therefore arranged between Captain Aylmer and Miss
+Amedroz in a sitting-room upstairs.
+
+'What is all this, Clara?' said Captain Aylmer, at once.
+
+'Simply this that your mother has insulted me most wantonly.'
+
+'She says that it is you who have been uncourteous to her.'
+
+'Be it so you can of course believe whichever you please, and it is
+desirable, no doubt, that you should prefer to believe your mother.'
+
+'But I do not wish there to be any quarrel.'
+
+'But there is a quarrel, Captain Aylmer, and I must leave your
+father's house. I cannot stay here after what has taken place. Your
+mother told me I cannot tell you what she told me, but she made
+against me just those accusations which she knew it would be the
+hardest for me to bear.'
+
+'I'm sure you have mistaken her.'
+
+'No; I have not mistaken her.'
+
+'And where do you propose to go?'
+
+'To Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'Oh, Clara!'
+
+'I have written to Mrs Askerton to ask her to receive me for awhile.
+Indeed, I may almost say that I had no other choice.'
+
+'If you go there, Clara, there will be an end to everything.'
+
+'And there must be an end of what you call everything, Captain
+Aylmer,' said she, smiling. 'It cannot be for your good to bring into
+your family a wife of whom your mother would think so badly as she
+thinks of me.'
+
+There was a great deal said, and Captain Aylmer walked very often up
+and down the room, endeavouring to make some arrangement which might
+seem in some sort to appease his mother. Would Clara only allow a
+telegram to be sent to Mrs Askerton, to explain that she had changed
+her mind? But Clara would allow no such telegram to be sent, and on
+that evening she packed up all her things. Captain Aylmer saw her
+again and again, sending Belinda backwards and forwards, and making
+different appointments up to midnight; but it was all to no purpose,
+and on the next morning she took her departure alone in the Aylmer
+Park carriage for the railway station. Captain Aylmer had proposed to
+go with her; but she had so stoutly declined his company that he was
+obliged to abandon his intention. She saw neither of the ladies on
+that morning, but Sir Anthony came out to say a word of farewell to
+her in the hall. 'I am very sorry for all this,' said he. 'It is a
+pity,' said Clara, 'but it cannot be helped. Good-bye, Sir Anthony.'
+'I hope we may meet again under pleasanter circumstances,' said the
+baronet. To this Clara made no reply, and was then handed into the
+carriage by Captain Aylmer.
+
+'I am so bewildered,' said he, 'that I cannot now say anything
+definite, but I shall write to you, and probably follow you.'
+
+'Do not follow me, pray, Captain Aylmer,' said she, Then she was
+driven to the station; and as she passed through the lodges of the
+park entrance she took what she intended to be a final farewell of
+Aylmer Park.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+ONCE MORE BACK TO BELTON
+
+When the carriage was driven away, Sir Anthony and Captain Aylmer
+were left standing alone at the hall door of the house. The servants
+had slunk off, and the father and son, looking at each other, felt
+that they also must slink away, or else have some words together on
+the subject of their guest's departure. The younger gentleman would
+have preferred that there should be no words, but Sir Anthony was
+curious to know something of what had passed in the house during the
+last few days. 'I'm afraid things are not going quite comfortable,'
+he said.
+
+'It seems to me, sir,' said his son, 'that things very seldom do go
+quite comfortable.'
+
+'But, Fred what is it all about? Your mother says that Miss Amedroz
+is behaving very badly.'
+
+'And Miss Amedroz says that my mother is behaving very badly.'
+
+'Of course that's only natural. And what do you say?'
+
+'I say nothing, sir. The less said the soonest mended.'
+
+'That's all very well; but it seems to me that you, in your position,
+must say something. The long and the short of it is this. Is she to
+be your wife?'
+
+'Upon my word, sir, I don't know.'
+
+They were still standing out under the portico, and as Sir Anthony
+did not for a minute or two ask any further questions, Captain Aylmer
+turned as though he were going into the house. But his father had
+still a word or two to say. Stop a moment, Fred. I don't often
+trouble you with advice.'
+
+'I'm sure I'm always glad to hear it when you offer any.'
+
+'I know very well that in most things your opinion is better than
+mine. You've had advantages which I never had. But I've had more
+experience than you, my dear boy. It stands to reason that in some
+things I must have had more experience than you.' There was a tone of
+melancholy in the father's voice as he said this which quite touched
+his son, and which brought the two closer together out in the porch.
+'Take my word for it,' continued Sir Anthony, 'that you are much
+better off as you are than you could be with a wife.'
+
+'Do you mean to say that no man should marry?'
+
+'No I don't mean to say that. An eldest son ought to marry, so that
+the property may have an heir. And poor men should marry, I suppose,
+as they want wives to do for them. And sometimes, no doubt, a man
+must marry when he has got to be very fond of a girl, and has
+compromised himself, and all that kind of thing. I would never advise
+any man to sully his honour.' As Sir Anthony said this he raised
+himself a little with his two sticks and spoke out in a bolder voice.
+The voice however, sank again as he descended from the realms of
+honour to those of prudence. 'But none of these cases are yours,
+Fred. To be sure you'll have the Perivale property; but that is not a
+family estate, and you'll be much better off by turning it into
+money. And in the way of comfort, you can be a great deal more
+comfortable without a wife than you can with one. What do you want a
+wife for? And then, as to Miss Amedroz,--for myself I must say that I
+like her uncommonly. She has been very pleasant in her ways with me.
+But somehow or another, I don't think you are so much in love with
+her but what you can do without her.' Hereupon he paused and looked
+his son full in the face. Fred had also been thinking of the matter
+in his own way, and asking himself the same question,--whether he was
+in truth so much in love with Clara that he could not live without
+her. 'Of course I don't know,' continued Sir Anthony, 'what has
+taken place just now between you and her, or what between her and
+your mother; but I suppose the whole thing might fall through without
+any further trouble to you,--or without anything unhandsome on your
+part?' But Captain Aylmer still said nothing. The whole thing might,
+no doubt, fall through, but he wished to be neither unjust nor
+ungenerous,--and he specially wished to avoid anything unhandsome.
+After a further pause of a few minutes, Sir Anthony went on again,
+pouring forth the words of experience. 'Of course marriage is all
+very well. I married rather early in life, and have always found your
+mother to be a most excellent woman. A better woman doesn't breathe.
+I'm as sure of that as I am of anything. But God bless me of course
+you can see. I can't call anything my own. I'm tied down here and I
+can't move. I've never got a shilling to spend, while all these lazy
+hounds about the place are eating me up. There isn't a clerk with a
+hundred a year in London that isn't better off than I am as regards
+ready money. And what comfort have I in a big house, and no end of
+gardens, and a place like this? What pleasures do I get out of it?
+That comes of marrying and keeping up one's name in the county
+respectably! What do I care for the county? D---- the county! I often
+wish that I'd been a younger son as you are.'
+
+Captain Aylmer had no answer to make to all this. It was, no doubt,
+the fact that age and good living had made Sir Anthony altogether
+incapable of enjoying the kind of life which he desiderated, and that he
+would probably have eaten and drunk himself into his grave long since
+had that kind of life been within his reach. This, however, the son
+could not explain to the father. But in fitting, as he endeavoured to
+do, his father's words to his own case, Captain Aylmer did perceive
+that a bachelor's life might perhaps be the most suitable to his own
+peculiar case. Only he would do nothing unhandsome. As to that he was
+quite resolved. Of course Clara must show herself to be in some
+degree amenable to reason and to the ordinary rules of the world; but
+he was aware that his mother was hot-tempered, and he generously
+made up his mind that he would give Miss Amedroz even yet another
+chance.
+
+At the hotel in London Clara found a short note from Mrs Askerton, in
+which she was warmly assured that everything should be done to make
+her comfortable at the cottage as long as she should wish to stay
+there. But the very warmth of affection thus expressed made her
+almost shrink from what she was about to do. Mrs Askerton was no
+doubt anxious for her coming; but would her Cousin Will Belton
+approve of the visit; and what would her Cousin Mary say about it? If
+she was being driven into this step against her own approval, by the
+insolence of Lady Aylmer if she was doing this thing simply because
+Lady Aylmer had desired her not to do it, and was doing it in
+opposition to the wishes of the man she had promised to marry as well
+as to her own judgment, there could not but be cause for shrinking.
+And yet she believed that she was right. If she could only have had
+some one to tell her some one in whom she could trust implicitly to
+direct her! She had hitherto been very much prone to rebel against
+authority. Against her aunt she had rebelled, and against her father,
+and against her lover. But now she wished with all her heart that
+there might be some one to whom she could submit with perfect faith.
+If she could only know what her Cousin Will would think. In him she
+thought she could have trusted with that perfect faith if only he
+would have been a brother to her.
+
+But it was too late now for doubting, and on the next day she found
+herself getting out of the old Redicote fly, at Colonel Askerton's
+door. He came out to meet her, and his greeting was very friendly.
+Hitherto there had been no great intimacy between him and her, owing
+rather to the manner of life adopted by him than to any cause of
+mutual dislike between them. Mrs Askerton had shown herself desirous
+of some social intercourse since she had been at Belton, but with
+Colonel Askerton there had been nothing of this. He had come there
+intending to live alone, and had been satisfied to carry out his
+purpose. But now Clara had come to his house as a guest, and he
+assumed towards her altogether a new manner. 'We are so glad to have
+you,' he said, taking both her hands. Then she passed on into the
+cottage, and in a minute was in her friend's arms.
+
+'Dear Clara;--dearest Clara, I am so glad to have you here.'
+
+'It is very good of you.'
+
+'No, dear; the goodness is with you to come. But we won't quarrel
+about that. We will both be ever so good. And he is so happy that you
+should be here. You'll get to know him now. But come up-stairs.
+There's a fire in your room, and I'll be your maid for the
+occasion,--because then we can talk.' Clara did as she was bid and went
+up-stairs; and as she sat over the fire while her friend knelt beside
+her,--for Mrs Askerton was given to such kneelings,--she could not but
+tell herself that Belton Cottage was much more comfortable than
+Aylmer Park. During the whole time of her sojourn at Aylmer Park no
+word of real friendship had once greeted her ears. Everything there
+had been cold and formal, till coldness and formality had given way
+to violent insolence.
+
+'And so you have quarrelled with her ladyship,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I
+knew you would.'
+
+'I have not said anything about quarrelling with her.'
+
+'But of course you have. Come, now; don't make yourself disagreeable.
+You have had a downright battle have you not?'
+
+'Something very like it, I'm afraid.'
+
+'I am so glad,' said Mrs Askerton, rubbing her hands.
+
+'That is ill-natured.'
+
+'Very well. Let it be ill-natured. One isn't to be good-natured all
+round, or what would be the use of it? And what sort of a woman is
+she?'
+
+'Oh dear; I couldn't describe her. She is very large, and wears a
+great wig, and manages everything herself, and I've no doubt she's a
+very good woman in her own way.'
+
+'I can see her at once and a very pillar of virtue as regards
+morality and going to church. Poor me! Does she know that you have
+come here?'
+
+'I have no doubt she does. I did not tell her, nor would I tell her
+daughter; but I told Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'That was right. That was very right. I'm so glad of that. But who
+would doubt that you would show a proper spirit? And what did he
+say?'
+
+'Not much, indeed.'
+
+'I won't trouble you about him. I don't in the least doubt but all
+that will come right. And what sort of man is Sir Anthony?'
+
+'A common-place sort of a man; very gouty, and with none of his
+wife's strength. I liked him the best of them all.'
+
+'Because you saw the least of him, I suppose.'
+
+'He was kind in his manner to me.'
+
+'And they were like she-dragons. I understand it all, and can see
+them just as though I had been there. I felt that I knew what would
+come of it when you first told me that you were going to Aylmer Park,
+I did, indeed. I could have prophesied it all.'
+
+'What a pity you did not.'
+
+'It would have done no good and your going there has done good. It
+has opened your eyes to more than one thing, I don't doubt. But tell
+me have you told them in Norfolk that you were coming here?'
+
+'No I have not written to my cousin.'
+
+'Don't be angry with me if I tell you something. I have.'
+
+'Have what?'
+
+'I have told Mr Belton that you were coming here. It was in this way.
+I had to write to him about our continuing in the cottage. Colonel
+Askerton always makes me write if it's possible, and of course we
+were obliged to settle something as to the place.'
+
+'I'm sorry you said anything about me.'
+
+'How could I help it? What would you have thought of me, or what
+would he have thought, if, when writing to him, I had not mentioned
+such a thing as your visit? Besides, it's much better that he should
+know.'
+
+'I am sorry that you said anything about it.'
+
+'You are ashamed that he should know that you are here,' said Mrs
+Askerton, in a tone of reproach.
+
+'Ashamed! No; I am not ashamed. But I would sooner that he had not
+been told as yet. Of course he would have been told before long.'
+
+'But you are not angry with me?'
+
+'Angry! How can I be angry with any one who is so kind to me?'
+
+That evening passed by very pleasantly, and when she went again to
+her own room, Clara was almost surprised to find how completely she
+was at home. On the next day she and Mrs Askerton together went up to
+the house, and roamed through all the rooms, and Clara seated herself
+in all the accustomed chairs. On the sofa, just in the spot to which
+Belton had thrown it, she found the key of the cellar. She took it up
+in her hand, thinking that she would give it to the servant; but
+again she put it back upon the sofa. It was his key, and he had left
+it there, and if ever there came an occasion she would remind him
+where he had put it. Then they went out to the cow, who was at her
+ease in a little home paddock.
+
+'Dear Bessy,' said Clara, 'see how well she knows me.' But I think
+the tame little beast would have known any one else as well who
+had gone up to her as Clara did, with food in her hand. 'She is
+quite as sacred as any cow that ever was worshipped among the
+cow-worshippers,' said Mrs Askerton. I suppose they milk her and sell
+the butter, but otherwise she is not regarded as an ordinary cow at
+all.' 'Poor Bessy,' said Clara. 'I wish she had never come here. What
+is to be done with her?' 'Done with her! She'll stay here till she
+dies a natural death, and then a romantic pair of mourners will
+follow her to her grave, mixing their sympathetic tears comfortably
+as they talk of the old days; and in future years, Bessy will grow to
+be a divinity of the past, never to be mentioned without tenderest
+reminiscences. I have not the slightest difficulty in prophesying as
+to Bessy's future life and posthumous honours.' They roamed about the
+place the whole morning, through the garden and round the farm
+buildings, and in and out of the house; and at every turn something
+was said about Will Belton. But Clara would not go up to the rocks,
+although Mrs Askerton more than once attempted to turn in that
+direction. He had said that he never would go there again except
+under certain circumstances. She knew that those circumstances would
+never come to pass; but yet neither would she go there. She would
+never go there till her cousin was married. Then, if in those days
+she should ever be present at Belton Castle, she would creep up to
+the spot all alone, and allow herself to think of the old days.
+
+On the following morning there came to her a letter bearing the
+Downham post-mark but at the first glance she knew that it was not
+from her Cousin Will. Will wrote with a bold round hand, that was
+extremely plain and caligraphic when he allowed himself time for
+the work in hand, as he did with the commencement of his epistles,
+but which would become confused and altogether anti-caligraphic when
+he fell into a hurry towards the end of his performance as was his
+wont. But the address of this letter was written in a pretty, small,
+female hand,--very careful in the perfection of every letter, and very
+neat in every stroke. It was from Mary Briton, between whom and Clara
+there had never hitherto been occasion for correspondence. The letter
+was as follows:--
+
+
+'Plaistow Hall, April, 186--.
+
+'My Dear Cousin Clara,
+
+'William has heard from your friends at Belton, who are tenants on the
+estate, and as to whom there seems to be some question whether they
+are to remain. He has written, saying, I believe, that there need be
+no difficulty if they wish to stay there. But we learn, also, from
+Mrs Askerton's letter, that you are expected at the cottage, and
+therefore I will address this to Belton, supposing that it may find
+you there.
+
+'You and I have never yet known each other which has been a grief to
+me; but this grief, I hope, may be cured some day before long. I
+myself, as you know, am such a poor creature that I cannot go about
+the world to see my friends as other people do at least, not very
+well; and therefore I write to you with the object of asking you to
+come and see me here. This is an interesting old house in its way;
+and though I must not conceal from you that life here is very, very
+quiet, I would do my best to make the days pass pleasantly with you.
+I had heard that you were gone to Aylmer Park. Indeed, William told
+me of his taking you up to London. Now it seems you have left
+Yorkshire, and I suppose you will not return there very soon. If it
+be so, will it not be well that you should come to me for a short
+time?
+
+'Both William and I feel that just for the present for a little time
+you would perhaps prefer to be alone with me. He must go to London
+for awhile, and then on to Belton, to settle your affairs and his. He
+intends to be absent for six weeks. If you would not be afraid of the
+dullness of this house for so long a time, pray come to us. The
+pleasure to me would be very great, and I hope that you have some of
+that feeling, which with me is so strong, that we ought not to be any
+longer personally strangers to each other. You could then make up
+your mind as to what you would choose to do afterwards. I think that
+by the end of that time that is, when William returns my uncle and
+aunt from Sleaford will be with us. He is a clergyman, you know; and
+if you then like to remain, they will be delighted to make your
+acquaintance.
+
+'It seems to be a long journey for a young lady to make alone, from
+Belton to Plaistow; but travelling is so easy now-a-days, and young
+ladies seem to be so independent, that you may be able to manage it.
+Hoping to see you soon, I remain
+
+'Your affectionate Cousin,
+
+'MARY BELTON.'
+
+
+This letter she received before breakfast, and was therefore able to
+read it in solitude, and to keep its receipt from the knowledge of
+Mrs Askerton, if she should be so minded. She understood at once all
+that it intended to convey a hint that Plaistow Hall would be a
+better resting place for her than Mrs Askerton's cottage; and an
+assurance that if she would go to Plaistow Hall for her convenience,
+no advantage should be taken of her presence there by the owner of
+the house for his convenience. As she sat thinking of the offer which
+had been made to her she fancied that she could see and hear her
+Cousin Will as he discussed the matter with his sister, and with a
+half assumption of surliness declared his own intention of going
+away. Captain Aylmer, after that interview in London, had spoken of
+Belton's conduct as being unpardonable; but Clara had not only
+pardoned him, but had, in her own mind, pronounced his virtues to be
+so much greater than his vices as to make him almost perfect. 'But I
+will not drive him out of his own house,' she said. 'What does it
+matter where I go?'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has had a letter from your cousin,' said Mrs
+Askerton as soon as the two ladies were alone together.
+
+'And what does he say?'
+
+'Not a word about you.'
+
+'So much the better. I have given him trouble enough, and am glad to
+think that he should be free of me for awhile. Is Colonel Askerton to
+stay at the cottage?'
+
+'Now, Clara, you are a hypocrite. You know that you are a hypocrite.'
+
+'Very likely but I don't know why you should accuse me just now.'
+
+'Yes, you do. Have not you heard from Norfolk also?'
+
+'Yes;--I have.'
+
+'I was sure of it. I knew he would never have written in that way, in
+answer to my letter, ignoring your visit here altogether, unless he
+had written to you also.'
+
+'But he has not written to me. My letter is from his sister. There it
+is.' Whereupon she handed the letter to Mrs Askerton, and waited
+patiently while it was being read. Her friend returned it to her
+without a word, and Clara was the first to speak again. 'It is a nice
+letter, is it not? I never saw her, you know.'
+
+'So she says.'
+
+'But is it not a kind letter?'
+
+'I suppose it is meant for kindness. It is not very complimentary to
+me. It presumes that such a one as I may be treated without the
+slightest consideration. And so I may. It is only fit that I should
+be so treated. If you ask my advice, I advise you to go at once at
+once.'
+
+'But I have not asked your advice, dear; nor do I intend to ask it.'
+
+'You would not have shown it me if you had not intended to go.'
+
+'How unreasonable you are! You told me just now that I was a
+hypocrite for not telling you of my letter, and now you are angry
+with me because I have shown it you.'
+
+'I am not angry. I think you have been quite right to show it me. I
+don't know how else you could have acted upon it.'
+
+'But I do not mean to act upon it. I shall not go to Plaistow. There
+are two reasons against it, each sufficient. I shall not leave you
+just yet unless you send me away; and I shall not cause my cousin to
+be turned out of his own house.'
+
+'Why should he be turned out? Why should you not go to him? You love
+him and as for him, he is more in love than any man I ever knew. Go
+to Plaistow Hall, and everything will run smooth.'
+
+'No, dear; I shall not do that.'
+
+'Then you are foolish. I am bound to tell you so, as I have inveigled
+you here.'
+
+'I thought I had invited myself.'
+
+'No; I asked you to come, and when I asked you I knew that I was
+wrong. Though I meant to be kind, I knew that I was unkind. I saw
+that my husband disapproved it, though he had not the heart to tell
+me so. I wish he had. I wish he had.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I cannot tell you how much you wrong yourself, and how
+you wrong me also. I am more than contented to be here.'
+
+'But you should not be contented to be here. It is just that. In
+learning to love me or rather, perhaps, to pity me, you lower
+yourself. Do you think that I do not see it all, and know it all? Of
+course it is bad to be alone, but I have no right not to be alone.'
+There was nothing for Clara to do but to draw herself once again
+close to the poor woman, and to embrace her with protestations of
+fair, honest, equal regard and friendship. 'Do you think I do not
+understand that letter?' continued Mrs Askerton. 'If it had come from
+Lady Aylmer I could have laughed at it, because I believe Lady Aylmer
+to be an overbearing virago, whom it is good to put down in every way
+possible. But this comes from a pure-minded woman, one whom I believe
+to be little given to harsh judgments on her fellow-sinners; and she
+tells you, in her calm wise way, that it is bad for you to be here
+with me.'
+
+'She says nothing of the kind.'
+
+'But does she not mean it? Tell me honestly do you not know that she
+means it?'
+
+'I am not to be guided by what she means.'
+
+'But you are to be guided by what her brother means. It is to come to
+that, and you may as well bend your neck at once. It is to come to
+that, and the sooner the better for you. It is easy to see that you
+are badly off for guidance when you take up me as your friend.' When
+she had so spoken Mrs Askerton got up and went to the door. 'No,
+Clara, do not come with me; not now,' she said, turning to her
+companion, who had risen as though to follow her. 'I will come to you
+soon, but I would rather be alone now. And, look here, dear; you must
+answer your cousin's letter. Do so at once, and say that you will go
+to Plaistow. In any event it will be better for you.'
+
+Clara, when she was alone, did answer her cousin's letter, but she
+did not accept the invitation that had been given her. She assured
+Miss Belton that she was most anxious to know her, and hoped that she
+might do so before long, either at Plaistow or at Belton; but that at
+present she was under an engagement to stay with her friend Mrs
+Askerton. In an hour or two Mrs Askerton returned, and Clara handed
+to her the note to read. 'Then all I can say is you are very silly,
+and don't know on which side your bread is buttered.' It was evident
+from Mrs Askerton's voice that she had recovered her mood and tone of
+mind. 'I don't suppose it will much signify, as it will all come
+right at last,' she said afterwards. And then, after luncheon, when
+she had been for a few minutes with her husband in his own room, she
+told Clara that the colonel wanted to speak to her. 'You'll find him
+as grave as a judge, for he has got something to say to you in
+earnest. Nobody can be so stern as he is when he chooses to put on
+his wig and gown.' So Clara went into the colonel's study, and seated
+herself in a chair which he had prepared for her.
+
+She remained there for over an hour, and during the hour the
+conversation became very animated. Colonel Askerton's assumed gravity
+had given way to ordinary eagerness, during which he walked about the
+room in the vehemence of his argument; and Clara, in answering him,
+had also put forth all her strength. She had expected that he also
+was going to speak to her on the propriety of her going to Norfolk;
+but he made no allusion to that subject, although all that he did say
+was founded on Will Belton's letter to himself. Belton, in speaking
+of the cottage, had told Colonel Askerton that Miss Amedroz would be
+his future landlord, and had then gone on to explain that it was his,
+Belton's, intention to destroy the entail, and allow the property to
+descend from the father to the daughter. 'As Miss Amedroz is with you
+now,' he said, 'may I beg you to take the trouble to explain the
+matter to her at length, and to make her understand that the estate
+is now, at this moment, in fact her own. Her possession of it does
+not depend on any act of hers or, indeed, upon her own will or wish
+in the matter.' On this subject Colonel Askerton had argued, using
+all his skill to make Clara in truth perceive that she was her
+father's heiress through the generosity undoubtedly of her cousin and
+that she had no alternative but to assume the possession which was
+thus thrust upon her.
+
+And so eloquent was the colonel that Clara was staggered, though she
+was not convinced. 'It is quite impossible,' she said. 'Though he may
+be able to make it over to me, I can give it back again.'
+
+'I think not. In such a matter as this a lady in your position can
+only be guided by her natural advisers her father's lawyer and other
+family friends.'
+
+'I don't know why a young lady should be in any way different from an
+old gentleman.'
+
+'But an old gentleman would not hesitate under such circumstances.
+The entail in itself was a cruelty, and the operation of it on your
+poor brother's death was additionally cruel.'
+
+'It is cruel that any one should be poor,' argued Clara; 'but that
+does not take away the right of a rich man to his property.'
+
+There was much more of this sort said between them, till Clara was at
+any rate convinced that Colonel Askerton believed that she ought to
+be the owner of the property. And then at last he ventured upon
+another argument which soon drove Clara out of the room. 'There is, I
+believe, one way in which it can all be made right,' said he.
+
+'What way? 'said Clara, forgetting in her eagerness the obviousness
+of the mode which her companion was about to point out.
+
+'Of course, I know nothing of this myself,' he said smiling; 'but
+Mary thinks that you and your cousin might arrange it between you if
+you were together.'
+
+'You must not listen to what she says about that, Colonel Askerton.'
+'Must I not? Well; I will not listen to more than I can help; but
+Mary, as you know, is a persistent talker. I, at any rate, have done
+my commission.' Then Clara left him and was alone for what remained
+of the afternoon.
+
+It could not be, she said to herself, that the property ought to be
+hers. It would make her miserable, were she once to feel that she had
+accepted it. Some small allowance out of it, coming to her from the
+brotherly love of her cousin some moderate stipend sufficient for her
+livelihood, she thought she could accept from him. It seemed to her
+that it was her destiny to be dependent on charity to eat bread given
+to her from the benevolence of a friend; and she thought that she
+could endure his benevolence better than that of any other.
+Benevolence from Aylmer Park or from Perivale would be altogether
+unendurable.
+
+But why should it not be as Colonel Askerton had proposed? That this
+cousin of hers loved her with all his heart with a constancy for
+which she had at first given him no credit she was well aware. And,
+as regarded herself, she loved him better than all the world beside.
+She had at last become conscious that she could not now marry Captain
+Aylmer without sin without false vows, and fatal injury to herself
+and him. To the prospect of that marriage, as her future fate, an end
+must be put at any rate an end, if that which had already taken place
+was not to be regarded as end enough. But yet she had been engaged to
+Captain Aylmer was engaged to him even now. When last her cousin had
+mentioned to her Captain Aylmer's name she had declared that she
+loved him still. How then could she turn round now, and so soon
+accept the love of another man? How could she bring herself to let
+her cousin assume to himself the place of a lover, when it was but
+the other day that she had rebuked him for expressing the faintest
+hope in that direction?
+
+But yet,--yet--! As for going to Plaistow, that was quite out of the
+question.
+
+'So you are to be the heiress after all,' said Mrs Askerton to her
+that night in her bedroom.
+
+'No; I am not to be the heiress after all,' said Clara, rising
+against her friend impetuously.
+
+'You'll have to be lady of Belton in one way or the other at any
+rate,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ IS PURSUED
+
+'I suppose now, my dear, it may be considered that everything is
+settled about that young lady,' said Lady Aylmer to her son, on the
+same day that Miss Amedroz left Aylmer Park.
+
+'Nothing is settled, ma'am,' said the captain.
+
+'You don't mean to tell me that after what has passed you intend to
+follow her up any farther.'
+
+'I shall certainly endeavour to see her again.'
+
+'Then, Frederic, I must tell you that you are very wrong indeed
+almost worse than wrong. I would say wicked, only I feel sure that
+you will think better of it. You cannot mean to tell me that you
+would marry her after what has taken place?'
+
+'The question is whether she would marry me.'
+
+'That is nonsense, Frederic. I wonder that you, who are so generally
+so clear-sighted, cannot see more plainly than that. She is a
+scheming, artful young woman, who is playing a regular game to catch
+a husband.'
+
+'If that were so, she would have been more humble to you, ma'am.'
+
+'Not a bit, Fred. That's just it. That has been her cleverness. She
+tried that on at first, and found that she could not get round me.
+Don't allow yourself to be deceived by that, I pray. And then there
+is no knowing how she may be bound up with those horrid people, so
+that she cannot throw them over, even if she would.'
+
+'I don't think you understand her, ma'am.'
+
+'Oh very well. But I understand this, and you had better understand
+it too that she will never again enter a house of which I am the
+mistress; nor can I ever enter a house in which she is received. If
+you choose to make her your wife after that, I have done.' Lady
+Aylmer had not done, or nearly done; but we need hear no more of her
+threats or entreaties. Her son left Aylmer Park immediately after
+Easter Sunday, and as he went, the mother, nodding her head, declared
+to her daughter that that marriage would never come off, let Clara
+Amedroz be ever so sly, or ever so clever.
+
+'Think of what I have said to you, Fred,' said Sir Anthony, as he
+took his leave of his son.
+
+'Yes, sir, I will.'
+
+'You can't be better off than you are;--you can't, indeed.' With
+these words in his ears Captain Aylmer started for London, intending
+to follow Clara down to Belton. He hardly knew his own mind on this
+matter of his purposed marriage. He was almost inclined to agree with
+his father that he was very well off as he was. He was almost
+inclined to agree with his mother in her condemnation of Clara's
+conduct. He was almost inclined to think that he had done enough
+towards keeping the promise made to his aunt on her deathbed,--but
+still he was not quite contented with himself. He desired to be
+honest and true, as far as his ideas went of honesty and truth, and
+his conscience told him that Clara had been treated with cruelty by
+his mother. I am inclined to think that Lady Aylmer, in spite of her
+high experience and character for wisdom, had not fought her battle
+altogether well. No man likes to be talked out of his marriage by his
+mother, and especially not so when the talking takes the shape of
+threats. When she told him that under no circumstances would she
+again know Clara Amedroz, he was driven by his spirit of manhood to
+declare to himself that that menace from her should not have the
+slightest influence on him. The word or two which his father said was
+more effective. After all it might be better for him in his peculiar
+position to have no wife at all. He did begin to believe that he had
+no need for a wife. He had never before thought so much of his
+father's example as he did now. Clara was manifestly a hot-tempered
+woman,--a very hot-tempered woman indeed! Now his mother was also a
+hot-tempered woman, and he could see the result in the present
+condition of his father's life. He resolved that he would follow
+Clara to Belton, so that some final settlement might be made between
+them; but in coming to this resolution he acknowledged to himself
+that should she decide against him he would not break his heart. She,
+however, should have her chance. Undoubtedly it was only right that
+she should have her chance.
+
+But the difficulty of the circumstances in which he was placed was so
+great, that it was almost impossible for him to make up his mind
+fixedly to any purpose in reference to Clara. As he passed through
+London on his way to Belton he called at Mr Green's chambers with
+reference to that sum of fifteen hundred pounds, which it was now
+absolutely necessary that he should make over to Miss Amedroz, and
+from Mr Green he learned that William Belton had given positive
+instructions as to the destination of the Belton estate. He would not
+inherit it, or have anything to do with it under the entail from the
+effects of which he desired to be made entirely free. Mr Green, who
+knew that Captain Aylmer was engaged to marry his client, and who
+knew nothing of any interruption to that agreement, felt no
+hesitation in explaining all this to Captain Aylmer. 'I suppose you
+had heard of it before,' said Mr Green. Captain Aylmer certainly had
+heard of it, and had been very much struck by the idea; but up to
+this moment he had not quite believed in it. Coming simply from
+William Belton to Clara Amedroz, such an offer might be no more than
+a strong argument used in love-making. 'Take back the property, but
+take me with it, of course.' That Captain Aylmer thought might have
+been the correct translation of Mr William Belton's romance. But he
+was forced to look at the matter differently when he found that it
+had been put into a lawyer's hands. 'Yes,' said he,' I have heard of
+it. Mr Belton mentioned it to me himself.' This was not strictly
+true. Clara had mentioned it to him; but Belton had come into the
+room immediately afterwards, and Captain Aylmer might probably have
+been mistaken.
+
+'He's quite in earnest,' said Mr Green.
+
+'Of course, I can say nothing, Mr Green, as I am myself so nearly
+interested in the matter. It is a great question, no doubt, how far
+such an entail as that should be allowed to operate.'
+
+'I think it should stand, as a matter of course. I think Belton is
+wrong,' said Mr Green.
+
+'Of course I can give no opinion,' said the other.
+
+'I'll tell you what you can do, Captain Aylmer. You can suggest to
+Miss Amedroz that there should be a compromise. Let them divide it.
+They are both clients of mine, and in that way I shall do my duty to
+each. Let them divide it. Belton has money enough to buy up the other
+moiety, and in that way would still be Belton of Belton.'
+
+Captain Aylmer had not the slightest objection to such a plan.
+Indeed, he regarded it as in all respects a wise and salutary
+arrangement. The moiety of the Belton estate might probably be worth
+twenty-five thousand pounds, and the addition of such a sum as that
+to his existing means would make all the difference in the world as
+to the expediency of his marriage. His father's arguments would all
+fall to the ground if twenty-five thousand pounds were to be obtained
+in this way; and he had but little doubt that such a change in
+affairs would go far to mitigate his mother's wrath. But he was by no
+means mercenary in his views so, at least, he assured himself. Clara
+should have her chance with or without the Belton estate or with or
+without the half of it. He was by no means mercenary. Had he not made
+his offer to her and repeated it almost with obstinacy, when she had
+no prospect of any fortune? He could always remember that of himself
+at least; and remembering that now, he could take a delight in these
+bright money prospects without having to accuse himself in the
+slightest degree of mercenary motives. This fortune was a godsend
+which he could take with clean hands if only he should ultimately be
+able to take the lady who possessed the fortune!
+
+From London he wrote to Clara, telling her that he proposed to visit
+her at Belton. His letter was written before he had seen Mr Green,
+and was not very fervent in its expressions; but, nevertheless, it
+was a fair letter, written with the intention of giving her a fair
+chance. He had seen with great sorrow 'with heartfelt grief,' that
+quarrel between his mother and his own Clara. Thinking, as he felt
+himself obliged to think, about Mrs Askerton, he could not but feel
+that his mother had cause for her anger. But he himself was
+unprejudiced, and was ready, and anxious also the word anxious was
+underscored to carry out his engagement. A few words between them
+might probably set everything right, and therefore be proposed to
+meet her at the Belton Castle house, at such an hour, on such a day.
+He should run down to Perivale on his journey, and perhaps Clara
+would let him have a line addressed to him there. Such was his
+letter.
+
+'What do you think of that?' said Clara, showing it to Mrs Askerton
+on the afternoon of the day on which she had received it.
+
+'What do you think of it?' said Mrs Askerton. 'I can only hope, that
+he will not come within reach of my hands.'
+
+'You are not angry with me for showing it to you?'
+
+'No why should I be angry with you? Of course I knew it all without
+any showing. Do not tell Colonel Askerton, or they will be killing
+each other.'
+
+'Of course I shall not tell Colonel Askerton; but I could not help
+showing this to you.'
+
+'And you will meet him?'
+
+'Yes; I shall meet him. What else can I do?'
+
+'Unless, indeed, you were to write and tell him that it would do no
+good.'
+
+'It will be better that he should come.'
+
+'If you allow him to talk you over you will be a wretched woman all
+your life.'
+
+'It will be better that he should come,' said Clara again. And then
+she wrote to Captain Aylmer at Perivale, telling him that she would
+be at the house at the hour he had named, on the day he had named.
+
+When that day came she walked across the park a little before the
+time fixed, not wishing to meet Captain Aylmer before she had reached
+the house. It was now nearly the middle of April, and the weather was
+soft and pleasant. It was almost summer again, and as she felt this,
+she thought of all the events which had occurred since the last
+summer of their agony of grief at the catastrophe which had closed
+her brother's life, of her aunt's death first, and then of her
+father's following so close upon the other, and of the two offers of
+marriage made to her as to which she was now aware that she had
+accepted the wrong man and rejected the wrong man. She was steadily
+minded, now, at this moment, that before she parted from Captain
+Aylmer, her engagement with him should be brought to a close. Now, at
+this coming interview, so much at any rate should be done. She had
+tried to make herself believe that she felt for him that sort of
+affection which a woman should have for the man she is to marry, but
+she had failed. She hardly knew whether she had in truth ever loved
+him; but she was quite sure that she did not love him now. No she had
+done with Aylmer Park, and she could feel thankful, amidst all her
+troubles, that that difficulty should vex her no more. In showing
+Captain Aylmer's letter to Mrs Askerton she had made no such promise
+as this, but her mind had been quite made up. 'He certainly shall not
+talk me over,' she said to herself as she walked across the park.
+
+But she could not see her way so clearly out of that further
+difficulty with regard to her cousin. It might be that she would be
+able to rid herself of the one lover with comparative ease; but she
+could not bring herself to entertain the idea of accepting the other.
+It was true that this man longed for her,--desired to call her his own,
+with a wearing, anxious, painful desire which made his heart
+grievously heavy as though with lead hanging to its strings;
+and it was true that Clara knew that it was so. It was true also that
+his spirit had mastered her spirit, and that his persistence had
+conquered her resistance,--the resistance, that is, of her feelings.
+But there remained with her a feminine shame, which made it seem to
+her to be impossible that she should now reject Captain Aylmer, and
+as a consequence of that rejection, accept Will Belton's hand. As she
+thought of this, she could not see her way out of her trouble in that
+direction with any of that clearness which belonged to her in
+reference to Captain Aylmer.
+
+She had been an hour in the house before he came, and never did an
+hour go so heavily with her. There was no employment for her about
+the place, and Mrs Bunce, the old woman who now lived there, could
+not understand why her late mistress chose to remain seated among the
+unused furniture. Clara had of course told her that a gentleman was
+coming. 'Not Mr Will?' said the woman. 'No; it is not Mr Will,' said
+Clara; 'his name is Captain Aylmer.' 'Oh, indeed.' And then Mrs Bunce
+looked at her with a mystified look. Why on earth should not the
+gentleman call on Miss Amedroz at Mrs Askerton's cottage? 'I'll be
+sure to show 'un up, when a comes, at any rate,' said the old woman
+solemnly and Clara felt that it was all very uncomfortable.
+
+At last the gentleman did come, and was shown up with all the
+ceremony of which Mrs Bunce was capable. 'Here he be, mum.' Then Mrs
+Bunce paused a moment before she retreated, anxious to learn whether
+the new corner was a friend or a foe. She concluded from the
+captain's manner that he was a very dear friend, and then she
+departed.
+
+'I hope you are not surprised at my coming,' said Captain Aylmer,
+still holding Clara by the hand.
+
+'A little surprised,' she said, smiling.
+
+'But not annoyed?'
+
+'No;--not annoyed.'
+
+'As soon as you had left Aylmer Park I felt that it was the right
+thing to do;--the only thing to do,--as I told my mother.'
+
+'I hope you have not come in opposition to her wishes,' said Clara,
+unable to control a slight tone of banter as she spoke.
+
+'In this matter I found myself compelled to act in accordance with my
+own judgment,' said he, untouched by her sarcasm.
+
+'Then I suppose that Lady Aylmer is,--is vexed with you for coming
+here. I shall be so sorry for that;--so very sorry, as no good can
+come of it.'
+
+'Well;--I am not so sure of that. My mother is a most excellent woman,
+one for whose opinions on all matters I have the highest possible
+value a value so high, that--that--that--'
+
+'That you never ought to act in opposition to it. That is what you
+really mean, Captain Aylmer; and upon my word I think that you are
+right.'
+
+'No, Clara; that is not what I mean not exactly that. Indeed, just at
+present I mean the reverse of that. There are some things on which a
+man must act on his own judgment, irrespectively of the opinions of
+any one else.'
+
+'Not of a mother, Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes of a mother. That is to say, a man must do so. With a lady of
+course it is different. I was very, very sorry that there should have
+been any unpleasantness at Aylmer Park.'
+
+'It was not pleasant to me, certainly.'
+
+'Nor to any of us, Clara.'
+
+'At any rate, it need not be repeated.'
+
+'I hope not.'
+
+'No it certainly need not be repeated. I know now that I was wrong to
+go to Aylmer Park. I felt sure beforehand that there were many things
+as to which I could not possibly agree with Lady Aylmer, and I ought
+not to have gone.'
+
+'I don't see that at all, Clara.'
+
+'I do see it now.'
+
+'I can't understand you. What things? Why should you be determined to
+disagree with my mother? Surely you ought at any rate to endeavour to
+think as she thinks.'
+
+'I cannot do that, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'I am sorry to hear you speak in this way. I have come here all the
+way from Yorkshire to try to put things straight between us; but you
+receive me as though you would remember nothing but that unpleasant
+quarrel.'
+
+'It was so unpleasant,--so very unpleasant! I had better speak out
+the truth at once. I think that Lady Aylmer ill-used me cruelly. I
+do. No one can talk me out of that conviction. Of course I am sorry
+to be driven to say as much to you,--and I should never have said it,
+had you not come here. But when you speak of me and your mother
+together, I must say what I feel. Your mother and I, Captain Aylmer,
+are so opposed to each other, not only in feeling, but in opinions
+also, that it is impossible that we should be friends;--impossible that
+we should not be enemies if we are brought together.'
+
+This she said with great energy, looking intently into his face as
+she spoke. He was seated near her, on a chair from which he was
+leaning over towards her, holding his hat in both hands between his
+legs. Now, as he listened to her, he drew his chair still nearer,
+ridding himself of his hat, which he left upon the carpet, and
+keeping his eyes upon hers as though he were fascinated. 'I am sorry
+to hear you speak like this,' he said.
+
+'It is best to say the truth.'
+
+'But, Clara, if you intend to be my wife--'
+
+'Oh, no that is impossible now.'
+
+'What is impossible?'
+
+'Impossible that I should become your wife. Indeed I have convinced
+myself that you do not wish it.'
+
+'But I do wish it.'
+
+'No no. If you will question your heart about it quietly, you will
+find that you do not wish it.'
+
+'You wrong me, Clara.'
+
+'At any rate it cannot be so.'
+
+'I will not take that answer from you,' he said, getting up from his
+chair, and walking once up and down the room. Then he returned to it,
+and repeated his words. 'I will not take that answer from you. An
+engagement such as ours cannot be put aside like an old glove. You do
+not mean to tell me that all that has been between us is to mean
+nothing.' There was something now like feeling in his tone, something
+like passion in his gesture, and Clara, though she had no thought of
+changing her purpose, was becoming unhappy at the idea of his
+unhappiness.
+
+'It has meant nothing,' she said. 'We have been like children
+together, playing at being in love. It is a game from which you will
+come out scatheless, but I have been scalded.'
+
+'Scalded!'
+
+'Well never mind. I do not mean to complain, and certainly not of
+you.'
+
+'I have come here all the way from Yorkshire in order that things may
+be put right between us.'
+
+'You have been very good,--very good to come, and I will not say that
+I regret your trouble. It is best, I think, that we should meet each
+other once more face to face, so that we may understand each other.
+There was no understanding anything during those terrible days at
+Aylmer Park.' Then she paused, but as he did not speak at once she
+went on. 'I do not blame you for anything that has taken place, but I
+am quite sure of this that you and I could never be happy together as
+man and wife.'
+
+'I do not know why you say so; I do not indeed.'
+
+'You would disapprove of everything that I should do. You do
+disapprove of what I am doing now.'
+
+'Disapprove of what?'
+
+'I am staying with my friend, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+He felt that this was hard upon him. As she had shown herself
+inclined to withdraw herself from him, he had become more resolute in
+his desire to follow her up, and to hold by his engagement. He was
+not employed now in giving her another chance as he had proposed to
+himself to do but was using what eloquence he had to obtain another
+chance for himself. Lady Aylmer had almost made him believe that
+Clara would be the suppliant, but now he was the suppliant himself.
+In his anxiety to keep her he was willing even to pass over her
+terrible iniquity in regard to Mrs Askerton that great sin which had
+led to all these troubles. He had once written to her about Mrs
+Askerton, using very strong language, and threatening her with his
+mother's full displeasure. At that time Mrs Askerton had simply been
+her friend. There had been no question then of her taking refuge
+under that woman's roof. Now she had repelled Lady Aylmer's counsels
+with scorn, was living as a guest in Mrs Askerton's house; and yet he
+was willing to pass over the Askerton difficulty without a word. He
+was willing not only to condone past offences, but to wink at
+existing iniquity! But she,--she who was the sinner, would not permit
+of this. She herself dragged up Mrs Askerton's name, and seemed to
+glory in her own shame.
+
+'I had not intended,' said he, 'to speak of your friend.'
+
+'I only mention her to show how impossible it is that we should ever
+agree upon some subjects as to which a husband and wife should always
+be of one mind. I knew this from the moment in which I got your
+letter and only that I was a coward I should have said so then.'
+
+'And you mean to quarrel with me altogether?'
+
+'No why should we quarrel?'
+
+'Why, indeed?' said he.
+
+'But I wish it to be settled,--quite settled, as from the nature of
+things it must be, that there shall be no attempt at renewal of our
+engagement. After what has passed, how could I enter your mother's
+house?'
+
+'But you need not enter it.' Now, in his emergency he was willing to
+give up anything,--everything. He had been prepared to talk her over
+into a reconciliation with his mother, to admit that there had been
+faults on both sides, to come down from his high pedestal and discuss
+the matter as though Clara and his mother stood upon the same
+footing. Having recognized the spirit of his lady-love, he had told
+himself that so much indignity as that must be endured. But now, he
+had been carried so far beyond this, that he was willing, in the
+sudden vehemence of his love, to throw his mother over altogether,
+and to accede to any terms which Clara might propose to him. 'Of
+course, I would wish you to be friends,' he said, using now all the
+tones of a suppliant; 'but if you found that it could not be so--'
+
+'Do you think that I would divide you from your mother?'
+
+'There need be no question as to that.'
+
+'Ah there you are wrong. There must be such questions. I should have
+thought of it sooner.'
+
+'Clara, you are more to me than my mother. Ten times more.' As he
+said this he came up and knelt down beside her. 'You are everything
+to me. You will not throw me over.' He was a suppliant indeed, and
+such supplications are very potent with women. Men succeed often by
+the simple earnestness of their prayers. Women cannot refuse to give
+that which is asked for with so much of the vehemence of true desire.
+'Clara, you have promised to be my wife. You have twice promised; and
+can have no right to go back because you are displeased with what my
+mother may have said. I am not responsible for my mother. Clara, say
+that you will be my wife.' As he spoke he strove to take her hand,
+and his voice sounded as though there were in truth something of
+passion in his heart.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+THERE IS NOTHING TO TELL
+
+Captain Aylmer had never before this knelt to Clara Amedroz. Such
+kneeling on the part of lovers used to be the fashion because lovers
+in those days held in higher value than they do now that which they
+asked their ladies to give or because they pretended to do so. The
+forms at least of supplication were used; whereas in these wiser days
+Augustus simply suggests to Caroline that they two might as well make
+fools of themselves together and so the thing is settled without the
+need of much prayer. Captain Aylmer's engagement had been originally
+made somewhat after this fashion. He had not, indeed, spoken of the
+thing contemplated as a folly, not being a man given to little
+waggeries of that nature; but he had been calm, unenthusiastic, and
+reasonable. He had not attempted to evince any passion, and would
+have been quite content that Clara should believe that he married as
+much from obedience to his aunt as from love for herself, had he not
+found that Clara would not take him at all under such a conviction.
+But though she had declined to come to him after that fashion though
+something more than that had been needed still she had been won
+easily, and, therefore, lightly prized. I fear that it is so with
+everything that we value with our horses, our houses, our wines, and,
+above all, with our women. Where is the man who has heart and soul
+big enough to love a woman with increased force of passion because
+she has at once recognized in him all that she has herself desired?
+Captain Aylmer having won his spurs easily, had taken no care in
+buckling them, and now found, to his surprise, that he was like to
+lose them. He had told himself that he would only be too glad to
+shuffle his feet free of their bondage; but now that they were going
+from him, he began to find that they were very necessary for the road
+that he was to travel. 'Clara,' he said, kneeling by her side,' you
+are more to me than my mother; ten times more!'
+
+This was all new to her. Hitherto, though she had never desired that
+he should assume such attitude as this, she had constantly been
+unconsciously wounded by his coldness by his cold propriety and
+unbending self-possession. His cold propriety and unbending
+self-possession were gone now, and he was there at her feet. Such an
+argument, used at Aylmer Park, would have conquered her would have
+won her at once, in spite of herself; but now she was minded to be
+resolute. She had sworn to herself that she would not peril herself,
+or him, by joining herself to a man with whom she had so little
+sympathy, and who apparently had none with her. But in what way was
+she to answer such a prayer as that which was now made to her? The
+man who addressed her was entitled to use all the warmth of an
+accepted lover. He only asked for that which had already been given
+to him.
+
+'Captain Aylmer--' she began.
+
+'Why is it to be Captain Aylmer? What have I done that you should use
+me in this way? It was not I who,--who,--made you unhappy at Aylmer
+Park.'
+
+'I will not go back to that. It is of no use. Pray get up. It shocks
+me to see you in this way.'
+
+'Tell me, then, that it is once more all right between us. Say that,
+and I shall be happier than I ever was before yes, than I ever was
+before. I know how much I love you now, how sore it would be to lose
+you. I have been wrong. I had not thought enough of that, but I will
+think of it now.'
+
+She found that the task before her was very difficult,--so difficult
+that she almost broke down in performing it. It would have been so
+easy and, for the moment, so pleasant to have yielded. He had his
+hand upon her arm, having attempted to take her hand. In preventing
+that she had succeeded, but she could not altogether make herself
+free from him without rising. For a moment she had paused,--paused as
+though she were about to yield. For a moment, as he looked into her
+eyes, he had thought that he would again be victorious. Perhaps there
+was something in his glance, some too visible return of triumph to
+his eyes, which warned her of her danger. 'No!' she said, getting up
+and walking away from him; 'no!'
+
+'And what does "no" mean, Clara?' Then he also rose, and stood
+leaning on the table. 'Does it mean that you will be forsworn?'
+
+'It means this that I will not come between you and your mother; that
+I will not be taken into a family in which I am scorned; that I will
+not go to Aylmer Park myself or be the means of preventing you from
+going there.'
+
+'There need be no question of Aylmer Park.'
+
+'There shall be none!'
+
+'But, so much being allowed, you will be my wife?'
+
+'No, Captain Aylmer no. I cannot be your wife. Do not press it
+further; you must know that on such a subject I would think much
+before I answered you. I have thought much, and I know that I am
+right.'
+
+'And your promised word is to go for nothing?'
+
+'If it will comfort you to say so, you may say it. If you do not
+perceive that the mistake made between us has been as much your
+mistake as mine, and has injured me more than it has injured you, I
+will not remind you of it,--will never remind you of it after this.'
+
+'But there has been no mistake and there shall be no injury.'
+
+'Ah, Captain Aylmer you do not understand; you cannot understand. I
+would not for worlds reproach you; but do you think I suffered
+nothing from your mother?'
+
+'And must I pay for her sins?'
+
+'There shall be no paying, no punishment, and no reproaches. There
+shall be none at least from me. But,--do not think that I speak in
+anger or in pride,--I will not marry into Lady Aylmer's family.'
+
+'This is too bad,--too bad! After all that is past, it is too bad!'
+
+'What can I say? Would you advise me to do that which would make us
+both wretched?'
+
+'It would not make me wretched. It would make me happy. It would
+satisfy me altogether.'
+
+'It cannot be, Captain Aylmer. It cannot be. When I speak to you in
+that way, will you not let it be final?'
+
+He paused a moment before he spoke again, and then he turned sharp
+upon her. 'Tell me this, Clara; do you love me? Have you ever loved
+me?' She did not answer him, but stood there, listening quietly to
+his accusations. 'You have never loved me, and yet you have allowed
+yourself to say that you did. Is not that true?' Still she did not
+answer. 'I ask you whether that is not true?' But though he asked
+her, and paused for an answer, looking the while full into her face,
+yet she did not speak. And now I suppose you will become your
+cousin's wife?' he said. 'It will suit you to change, and to say that
+you love him.'
+
+Then at last she spoke. 'I did not think that you would have treated
+me in this way, Captain Aylmer! I did not expect that you would
+insult me!'
+
+'I have not insulted you.'
+
+'But your manner to me makes my task easier than I could have hoped
+it to be. You asked me whether I ever loved you? I once thought that
+I did so; and so thinking, told you, without reserve, all my feeling.
+When I came to find that I had been mistaken, I conceived myself
+bound by my engagement to rectify my own error as best I could; and I
+resolved, wrongly as I now think, very wrongly that I could learn as
+your wife to love you. Then came circumstances which showed me that a
+release would be good for both of us, and which justified me in
+accepting it. No girl could be bound by any engagement to a man who
+looked on and saw her treated in his own home, by his own mother, as
+you saw me treated at Aylmer Park. I claim to be released myself, and
+I know that this release is as good for you as it is for me.'
+
+'I am the best judge of that.'
+
+'For myself at any rate I will judge. For myself I have decided. Now
+I have answered the questions which you asked me as to my love for
+yourself. To that other question which you have thought fit to put to
+me about my cousin, I refuse to give any answer whatsoever.' Then,
+having said so much, she walked out of the room, closing the door
+behind her, and left him standing there alone.
+
+We need not follow her as she went up, almost mechanically, into her
+own room the room that used to be her own and then shut herself in,
+waiting till she should be assured, first by sounds in the house, and
+then by silence, that he was gone. That she fell away greatly from
+the majesty of her demeanour when she was thus alone, and descended
+to the ordinary ways of troubled females, we may be quite sure. But
+to her there was no further difficulty. Her work for the day was
+done. In due time she would take herself to the cottage, and all
+would be well, or, at any rate, comfortable with her. But what was he
+to do? How was he to get himself out of the house, and take himself
+back to London? While he had been in pursuit of her, and when he was
+leaving his vehicle at the public-house in the village of Belton, he
+like some other invading generals had failed to provide adequately
+for his retreat. When he was alone he took a turn or two about the
+room, half thinking that Clara would return to him. She could hardly
+leave him alone in a strange house him, who, as he had twice told
+her, had come all the way from Yorkshire to see her. But she did not
+return, and gradually he came to understand that he must provide for
+his own retreat without assistance. He was hardly aware, even now,
+how greatly he had transcended his usual modes of speech and action,
+both in the energy of his supplication and in the violence of his
+rebuke. He had been lifted for awhile out of himself by the
+excitement of his position, and now that he was subsiding into
+quiescence, he was unconscious that he had almost mounted into
+passion that he had spoken of love very nearly with eloquence. But he
+did recognize this as a fact that Clara was not to be his wife, and
+that he had better get back from Belton to London as quickly as
+possible. It would be well for him to teach himself to look back on
+the result of his aunt's dying request as an episode in his life
+satisfactorily concluded. His mother had undoubtedly been right.
+Clara, he could see now, would have led him a devil of a life; and
+even had she come to him possessed of a moiety of the property a
+supposition as to which he had very strong doubts still she might
+have been dear at the money. 'No real feeling,' he said to himself,
+as he walked about the room 'none whatever; and then so deficient in
+delicacy!' But still he was discontented because he had been
+rejected, and therefore tried to make himself believe that he could
+still have her if he chose to persevere. 'But no,' he said, as he
+continued to pace the room, 'I have done everything,--more than
+everything that honour demands. I shall not ask her again. It is her own
+fault. She is an imperious woman, and my mother read her character
+aright.' It did not occur to him, as he thus consoled himself for
+what he had lost, that his mother's accusation against Clara had been
+altogether of a different nature. When we console ourselves by our
+own arguments, we are not apt to examine their accuracy with much
+strictness.
+
+But whether he were consoled or not, it was necessary that he should
+go, and in his going he felt himself to be ill-treated. He left the
+room, and as he went down stairs was disturbed and tormented by the
+creaking of his own boots. He tried to be dignified as he walked
+through the hall, and was troubled at his failure, though he was not
+conscious of any one looking at him. Then it was grievous that he
+should have to let himself out of the front door without attendance.
+At ordinary times he thought as little of such things as most men,
+and would not be aware whether he opened a door for himself or had it
+opened for him by another but now there was a distressing awkwardness
+in the necessity for self-exertion. He did not know the turn of the
+handle, and was unfamiliar with the manner of exit. He was being
+treated with indignity, and before he had escaped from the house had
+come to think that the Amedroz and Belton people were somewhat below
+him. He endeavoured to go out without a noise, but there was a slam
+of the door, without which he could not get the lock to work; and
+Clara, up in her own room, knew all about it.
+
+'Carriage;--yes; of course I want the carriage,' he said to the
+unfortunate boy at the public-house. 'Didn't you hear me say that I
+wanted it?' He had come down with a pair of horses, and as he saw
+them being put to the vehicle he wished he had been contented with
+one. As he was standing there, waiting, a gentleman rode by, and the
+boy, in answer to his question, told him that the horseman was
+Colonel Askerton. Before the day was over Colonel Askerton would
+probably know all that had happened to him. 'Do move a little
+quicker; will you?' he said to the boy and the old man who was to
+drive him. Then he got into the carriage, and was driven out of
+Belton, devoutly purposing that he never would return; and as he made
+his way back to Perivale he thought of a certain Lady Emily, who
+would, as he assured himself, have behaved much better than Clara
+Amedroz had done in any such scene as that which had just taken
+place.
+
+When Clara was quite sure that Captain Aylmer was off the premises,
+she, too, descended, but she did not immediately leave the house. She
+walked through the room, and rang for the old woman, and gave certain
+directions as to the performance of which she certainly was not very
+anxious, and was careful to make Mrs Bunce understand that nothing
+had occurred between her and the gentleman that was either exalting
+or depressing in its nature. 'I suppose Captain Aylmer went out, Mrs
+Bunce?' 'Oh yes, miss, a went out. I stood and see'd un from the top
+of the kitchen stairs.' 'You might have opened the door for him, Mrs
+Bunce.' 'Indeed then I never thought of it, miss, seeing the house so
+empty and the like.' Clara said that it did not signify; and then,
+after an hour of composure, she walked back across the park to the
+cottage.
+
+'Well?' said Mrs Askerton as soon as Clara was inside the
+drawing-room.
+
+'Well,' replied Clara.
+
+'What have you got to tell? Do tell me what you have to tell.'
+
+'I have nothing to tell.'
+
+'Clara, that is impossible. Have you seen him? I know you have seen
+him, because he went by from the house about an hour since.'
+
+'Oh yes; I have seen him.'
+
+'And what have you said to him?'
+
+'Pray do not ask me these questions just now. I have got to think of
+it all to think what he did say and what I said.'
+
+'But you will tell me.'
+
+'Yes; I suppose so.' Then Mrs Askerton was silent on the subject for
+the remainder of the day, allowing Clara even to go to bed without
+another question. And nothing was asked on the following morning
+nothing till the usual time for the writing of letters.
+
+'Shall you have anything for the post?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'There is plenty of time yet.'
+
+'Not too much if you mean to go out at all. Come, Clara, you had
+better write to him at once.'
+
+'Write to whom? I don't know that I have any letter to write at all.'
+Then there was a pause. 'As far as I can see,' she said, 'I may give
+up writing altogether for the future, unless some day you may care to
+hear from me.'
+
+'But you are not going away.'
+
+'Not just yet if you will keep me. To tell you the truth, Mrs
+Askerton, I do not yet know where on earth to take myself.'
+
+'Wait here till we turn you out.'
+
+'I have got to put my house in order. You know what I mean. The job
+ought not to be a troublesome one, for it is a very small house.'
+
+'I suppose I know what you mean.'
+
+'It will not be a very smart establishment. But I must look it all in
+the face; must I not? Though it were to be no house at all, I cannot
+stay here all my life.'
+
+'Yes, you may. You have lost Aylmer Park because you were too noble
+not to come to us.'
+
+'No,' said Clara, speaking aloud, with bright eyes almost with her
+hands clenched. 'No I deny that.'
+
+'I shall choose to think so for my own purposes. Clara, you are
+savage to me;--almost always savage; but next to him I love you better
+than all the world beside. And so does he. "It's her courage," he
+said to me the other day. "That she should dare to do as she pleases
+here, is nothing; but to have dared to persevere in the fangs of that
+old dragon,"--it was just what he said,--"that was wonderful!"'
+
+'There is an end of the old dragon now, so far as I am concerned.'
+
+'Of course there is and of the young dragon too. You wouldn't have
+had the heart to keep me in suspense if you had accepted him again.
+You couldn't have been so pleasant last night if that had been so.'
+
+'I did not know I was very pleasant.'
+
+'Yes, you were. You were soft and gracious gracious for you, at
+least. And now, dear, do tell me about it. Of course I am dying to
+know.'
+
+'There is nothing to tell.'
+
+'That is nonsense. There must be a thousand things to tell. At any
+rate it is quite decided?'
+
+'Yes; it is quite decided.'
+
+'All the dragons, old and young, are banished into outer darkness.'
+
+'Either that, or else they are to have all the light to themselves.'
+
+'Such light as glimmers through the gloom of Aylmer Park. And was he
+contented? I hope not. I hope you had him on his knees before he left
+you.'
+
+'Why should you hope that? How can you talk such nonsense?'
+
+'Because I wish that he should recognize what he has lost that he
+should know that he has been a fool a mean fool.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I will not have him spoken of like that. He is a man
+very estimable of estimable qualities.'
+
+'Fiddle-de-dee. He is an ape a monkey to be carried on his mother's
+organ. His only good quality was that you could have carried him on
+yours. I can tell you one thing there is not a woman breathing that
+will ever carry William Belton on hers. Whoever his wife may be, she
+will have to dance to his piping.'
+
+'With all my heart and I hope the tunes will be good.'
+
+'But I wish I could have been present to have heard what passed
+hidden, you know, behind a curtain. You won't tell me?'
+
+'I will tell you not a word more.'
+
+'Then I will get it out from Mrs Bunce. I'll be bound she was
+listening.'
+
+'Mrs Bunce will have nothing to tell you; I do not know why you
+should be so curious.'
+
+'Answer me one question at least when it came to the last, did he
+want to go on with it? Was the final triumph with him or with you?'
+
+'There was no final triumph. Such things, when they have to end, do
+not end triumphantly.'
+
+'And is that to be all?' 'Yes that is to be all.'
+
+'And you say that you have no letter to write.'
+
+'None no letter; none at present; none about this affair. Captain
+Aylmer, no doubt, will write to his mother, and then all those who
+are concerned will have been told.'
+
+Clara Amedroz held her purpose and wrote no letter, but Mrs Askerton
+was not so discreet, or so indiscreet as the case might be. She did
+write not on that day or on the next, but before a week had passed
+by. She wrote to Norfolk, telling Clara not a word of her letter, and
+by return of post the answer came. But the answer was for Clara, not
+for Mrs Askerton, and was as follows:--
+
+
+'Plaistow Hall, April, 186--.
+
+'My dear Clara,
+
+'I don't know whether I ought to tell you but I suppose I may as well
+tell you, that Mary has had a letter from Mrs Askerton. It was a
+kind, obliging letter, and I am very grateful to her. She has told us
+that you have separated yourself altogether from the Aylmer Park
+people. I don't suppose you'll think I ought to pretend to be very
+sorry. I can't be sorry, even though I know how much you have lost in
+a worldly point of view. I could not bring myself to like Captain
+Aylmer, though I tried hard.' Oh Mr Belton, Mr Belton! 'He and I
+never could have been friends, and it is no use my pretending regret
+that you have quarrelled with them. But that, I suppose, is all over,
+and I will not say a word more about the Aylmers.
+
+'I am writing now chiefly at Mary's advice, and because she says that
+something should be settled about the estate. Of course it is
+necessary that you should feel yourself to be the mistress of your
+own income, and understand exactly your own position. Mary says that
+this should be arranged at once, so that you may be able to decide
+how and where you will live. I therefore write to say that I will
+have nothing to do with your father's estate at Belton nothing, that
+is, for myself. I have written to Mr Green to tell him that you are
+to be considered as the heir. If you will allow me to undertake the
+management of the property as your agent, I shall be delighted. I
+think I could do it as well as any one else: and, as we agreed that
+we would always be dear and close friends, I think that you will not
+refuse me the pleasure of serving you in this way.
+
+'And now Mary has a proposition to make, as to which she will write
+herself tomorrow, but she has permitted me to speak of it first. If
+you will accept her as a visitor, she will go to you at Belton. She
+thinks, and I think too, that you ought to know each other. I suppose
+nothing would make you come here, at present, and therefore she must
+go to you. She thinks that all about the estate would be settled more
+comfortably if you two were together. At any rate, it would be very
+nice for her and I think you would like my sister Mary. She proposes
+to start about the 10th of May. I should take her as far as London
+and see her off, and she would bring her own maid with her. In this
+way she thinks that she would get as far as Taunton very well. She
+had, perhaps, better stay there for one night, but that can all be
+settled if you will say that you will receive her at the house.
+
+'I cannot finish my letter without saying one word for myself. You
+know what my feelings have been, and I think you know that they still
+are, and always must be, the same. From almost the first moment that
+I saw you I have loved you. When you refused me I was very unhappy;
+but I thought I might still have a chance, and therefore I resolved
+to try again. Then, when I heard that you were engaged to Captain
+Aylmer, I was indeed broken-hearted. Of course I could not be angry
+with you. I was not angry, but I was simply broken-hearted. I found
+that I loved you so much that I could not make myself happy without
+you. It was all of no use, for I knew that you were to be married to
+Captain Aylmer. I knew it, or thought that I knew it. There was
+nothing to be done only I knew that I was wretched. I suppose it is
+selfishness, but I felt, and still feel, that unless I can have you
+for my wife, I cannot be happy or care for anything. Now you are free
+again free, I mean, from Captain Aylmer and how is it possible that I
+should not again have a hope? Nothing but your marriage or death
+could keep me from hoping.
+
+'I don't know much about the Aylmers. I know nothing of what has made
+you quarrel with the people at Aylmer Park nor do I want to know. To
+me you are once more that Clara Amedroz with whom I used to walk in
+Belton Park, with your hand free to be given wherever your heart can
+go with it. While it is free I shall always ask for it. I know that
+it is in many ways above my reach. I quite understand that in
+education and habits of thinking you are my superior. But nobody can
+love you better than I do. I sometimes fancy that nobody could ever
+love you so well. Mary thinks that I ought to allow a time to go by
+before I say all this again but what is the use of keeping it back?
+It seems to me to be more honest to tell you at once that the only
+thing in the world for which I care one straw is that you should be
+my wife.
+
+'Your most affectionate Cousin,
+
+'WILLIAM BELTON.'
+
+
+'Miss Belton is coming here, to the castle, in a fortnight,' said
+Clara that morning at breakfast. Both Colonel Askerton and his wife
+were in the room, and she was addressing herself chiefly to the
+former.
+
+'Indeed, Miss Belton! And is he coming?' said Colonel Askerton.
+
+'So you have heard from Plaistow?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Yes in answer to your letter. No, Colonel Askerton, my Cousin
+William is not coming. But his sister purposes to be here, and I must
+go up to the house and get it ready.'
+
+'That will do when the time comes,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I did not mean quite immediately.'
+
+'And are you to be her guest, or is she to be yours? said Colonel
+Askerton.
+
+'It's her brother's home, and therefore I suppose I must be hers.
+Indeed it must be so, as I have no means of entertaining any one.'
+
+'Something, no doubt, will be settled,' said the colonel.
+
+'Oh, what a weary word that is,' said Clara; 'weary, at least, for a
+woman's ears! It sounds of poverty and dependence, and endless
+trouble given to others, and all the miseries of female dependence.
+If I were a young man I should be allowed to settle for myself.'
+
+'There would be no question about the property in that case,' said
+the colonel.
+
+'And there need be no question now,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+When the two women were alone together, Clara, of course, scolded her
+friend for having written to Norfolk without letting it be known that
+she was doing so scolded her, and declared how vain it was for her to
+make useless efforts for an unattainable end; but Mrs Askerton always
+managed to slip out of these reproaches, neither asserting herself to
+be right, nor owning herself to be wrong. 'But you must answer his
+letter,' she said.
+
+'Of course I shall do that.'
+
+'I wish I knew what he said.'
+
+'I shan't show it you, if you mean that.'
+
+'All the same I wish I knew what he said.'
+
+Clara, of course, did answer the letter; but she wrote her answer to
+Mary, sending, however, one little scrap to Mary's brother. She wrote
+to Mary at great length, striving to explain, with long and laborious
+arguments, that it was quite impossible that she should accept the
+Belton estate from her cousin. That subject, however, and the manner
+of her future life, she would discuss with her dear Cousin Mary, when
+Mary should have arrived. And then Clara said how she would go to
+Taunton to meet her cousin, and how she would prepare William's house
+for the reception of William's sister; and how she would love her
+cousin when she should come to know her. All of which was exceedingly
+proper and pretty. Then there was a little postscript, 'Give the
+enclosed to William.' And this was the note to William:
+
+
+'Dear William,
+
+'Did you not say that you would be my brother? Be my brother always.
+I will accept from your hands all that a brother could do; and when
+that arrangement is quite fixed, I will love you as much as Mary
+loves you, and trust you as completely; and I will be obedient, as a
+younger sister should be.
+
+'Your loving Sister,
+
+'C. A.'
+
+
+'It's all no good,' said William Belton, as he crunched the note in
+his hand. 'I might as well shoot myself. Get out of the way there,
+will you?' And the injured groom scudded across the farm-yard,
+knowing that there was something wrong with his master.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+MARY BELTON
+
+It was about the middle of the pleasant month of May when Clara
+Amedroz again made that often repeated journey to Taunton, with the
+object of meeting Mary Belton. She had transferred herself and her
+own peculiar belongings back from the cottage to the house, and had
+again established herself there so that she might welcome her new
+friend. But she was not satisfied with simply receiving her guest at
+Belton, and therefore she made the journey to Taunton, and settled
+herself for the night at the inn. She was careful to get a bedroom
+for an 'invalid lady', close to the sitting-room, and before she went
+down to the station she saw that the cloth was laid for tea, and that
+the tea parlour had been made to look as pleasant as was possible
+with an inn parlour.
+
+She was very nervous as she stood upon the platform waiting for the
+new comer to show herself. She knew that Mary was a cripple, but did
+not know how far her cousin was disfigured by her infirmity; and when
+she saw a pale-faced little woman, somewhat melancholy, but yet
+pretty withal, with soft, clear eyes, and only so much appearance of
+a stoop as to soften the hearts of those who saw her, Clara was
+agreeably surprised, and felt herself to be suddenly relieved of an
+unpleasant weight. She could talk to the woman she saw there, as to
+any other woman, without the painful necessity of treating her always
+as an invalid. 'I think you are Miss Belton?' she said, holding out
+her hand. The likeness between Mary and her brother was too great to
+allow of Clara being mistaken.
+
+'And you are Clara Amedroz? It is so good of you to come to meet me!'
+
+'I thought you would be dull in a strange town by yourself.'
+
+'It will be much nicer to have you with me.'
+
+Then they went together up to the inn; and when they had taken their
+bonnets off, Mary Belton kissed her cousin. 'You are very nearly what
+I fancied you,' said Mary.
+
+'Am I? I hope you fancied me to be something that you could like.'
+
+'Something that I could love very dearly. You are a little taller
+than what Will said; but then a gentleman is never a judge of a
+lady's height. And he said you were thin.'
+
+'I am not very fat.'
+
+'No; not very fat; but neither are you thin. Of course, you know, I
+have thought a great deal about you. It seems as though you had come
+to be so very near to us; and blood is thicker than water, is it not?
+If cousins are not friends, who can be?'
+
+In the course of that evening they became very confidential together,
+and Clara thought that she could love Mary Belton better than any
+woman that she had ever known. Of course they were talking about
+William, and Clara was at first in constant fear lest some word
+should be said on her lover's behalf some word which would drive her
+to declare that she would not admit him as a lover; but Mary
+abstained from the subject with marvellous care and tact. Though she
+was talking through the whole evening of her brother, she so spoke of
+him as almost to make Clara believe that she could not have heard of
+that episode in his life. Mrs Askerton would have dashed at the
+subject at once; but then, as Clara told herself, Mary Bolton was
+better than Mrs Askerton.
+
+A few words were said about the estate, and they originated in
+Clara's declaration that Mary would have to be regarded as the
+mistress of the house to which they were going. 'I cannot agree to
+that,' said Mary.
+
+'But the house is William's, you know,' said Clara.
+
+'He says not.'
+
+'But of course that must be nonsense, Mary.'
+
+'It is very evident that you know nothing of Plaistow ways, or you
+would not say that anything coming from William was nonsense. We are
+accustomed to regard all his words as law, and when he says that a
+thing is to be so, it always is so.'
+
+'Then he is a tyrant at home.'
+
+'A beneficent despot. Some despots, you know, always were
+beneficent.'
+
+'He won't have his way in this thing.'
+
+'I'll leave you and him to fight about that, my dear. I am so
+completely under his thumb that I always obey him in everything. You
+must not, therefore, expect to range me on your side.'
+
+The next day they were at Belton Castle, and in a very few hours
+Clara felt that she was quite at home with her cousin. On the second
+day Mrs Askerton came up and called according to an arrangement to
+that effect made between her and Clara. I'll stay away if you like
+it,' Mrs Askerton had said. But Clara had urged her to come, arguing
+with her that she was foolish to be thinking always of her own
+misfortune. 'Of course I am always thinking of it,' she had replied,
+and always thinking that other people are thinking of it. Your
+cousin, Miss Belton, knows all my history, of course, But what
+matters? I believe it would be better that everybody should know it.
+I suppose she's very straight-laced and prim.'She is not prim at
+all,' said Clara. 'Well, I'll come,' said Mrs Askerton, 'but I shall
+not be a bit surprised if I hear that she goes back to Norfolk the
+next day.'
+
+So Mrs Askerton came, and Miss Belton did not go back to Norfolk.
+Indeed, at the end of the visit, Mrs Askerton had almost taught
+herself to believe that William Belton had kept his secret, even from
+his sister. 'She's a dear little woman,' Mrs Askerton afterwards said
+to Clara.
+
+'Is she not?'
+
+'And so thoroughly like a lady.'
+
+'Yes; I think she is a lady.'
+
+'A princess among ladies! What a pretty little conscious way she has
+of asserting herself when she has an opinion and means to stick to
+it! I never saw a woman who got more strength out of her weakness.
+Who would dare to contradict her?'
+
+'But then she knows everything so well,' said Clara.
+
+'And how like her brother she is!'
+
+'Yes there is a great family likeness.'
+
+'And in character, too. I'm sure you'd find, if you were to try her,
+that she has all his personal firmness, though she can't show it as
+he does by kicking out his feet and clenching his fist.'
+
+'I'm glad you like her,' said Clara.
+
+'I do like her very much.'
+
+'It is so odd the way you have changed. You used to speak of him as
+though he was merely a clod of a farmer, and of her as a stupid old
+maid. Now, nothing is too good to say of them.'
+
+'Exactly, my dear and if you do not understand why, you are not so
+clever as I take you to be.'
+
+Life went on very pleasantly with them at Belton for two or three
+weeks but with this drawback as regarded Clara, that she had no means
+of knowing what was to be the course of her future life. During these
+weeks she twice received letters from her Cousin Will, and answered
+both of them. But these letters referred to matters of business which
+entailed no contradiction to certain details of money due to the
+estate before the old squire's death, and to that vexed question of
+Aunt Winterfield's legacy, which had by this time drifted into
+Belton's hands, and as to which he was inclined to act in accordance
+with his cousin's wishes, though he was assured by Mr Green that the
+legacy was as good a legacy as had ever been left by an old woman. 'I
+think,' he said in his last letter,' that we shall be able to throw
+him over in spite of Mr Green.' Clara, as she read this, could not
+but remember that the man to be thrown over was the man to whom she
+had been engaged, and she could not but remember also all the
+circumstances of the intended legacy of her aunt's death, and of the
+scenes which had immediately followed her death. It was so odd that
+William Belton should now be discussing with her the means of evading
+all her aunt's intentions and that he should be doing so, not as her
+accepted lover. He had, indeed, called himself her brother, but he
+was in truth her rejected lover.
+
+From time to time during these weeks Mrs Askerton would ask her
+whether Mr Belton was coming to Belton, and Clara would answer her
+with perfect truth that she did not believe that he had any such
+intention. 'But he must come soon,' Mrs Askerton would say. And when
+Clara would answer that she knew nothing about it, Mrs Askerton would
+ask further questions about Mary Belton. 'Your cousin must know
+whether her brother is coming to look after the property?' But Miss
+Belton, though she heard constantly from her brother, gave no such
+intimation. If he had any intention of coming, she did not speak of
+it. During all these days she had not as yet said a word of her
+brother's love. Though his name was daily in her mouth and latterly,
+was frequently mentioned by Clara there had been no allusion to that
+still enduring hope of which Will Belton himself could not but speak
+when he had any opportunity of speaking at all. And this continued
+till at last Clara was driven to suppose that Mary Belton knew
+nothing of her brother's hopes.
+
+But at last there came a change a change which to Clara was as great
+as that which had affected her when she first found that her
+delightful cousin was not sale against love-making. She had made up
+her mind that the sister did not intend to plead for her brother that
+the sister probably knew nothing of the brother's necessity for
+pleading that the brother probably had no further need for pleading
+When she remembered his last passionate words, she could not but
+accuse herself of hypocrisy when she allowed place in her thoughts to
+this latter supposition. He had been so intently earnest! The nature
+of the man was so eager and true! But yet, in spite of all that had
+been said, of all the fire in his eyes, and life in his words, and
+energy in his actions, he had at last seen that his aspirations were
+foolish, and his desires vain. It could not otherwise be that she and
+Mary should pass these hours in such calm repose without an allusion
+to the disturbing subject! After this fashion, and with such
+meditations as these, had passed by the last weeks and then at last
+there came the change.
+
+'I have had a letter from William this morning,' said Mary.
+
+'And so have not I,' said Clara, and yet I expect to hear from him.'
+
+'He means to be here soon,' said Mary.
+
+'Oh, indeed!'
+
+'He speaks of being here next week.'
+
+For a moment or two Clara had yielded to the agitation caused by her
+cousin's tidings; but with a little gush she recovered her presence
+of mind, and was able to speak with all the hypocritical propriety of
+a female. 'I am glad to hear it,' she said. 'It is only right that he
+should come.'
+
+'He has asked me to say a word to you as to the purport of his
+journey.'
+
+Then again Clara's courage and hypocrisy were so far subdued that
+they were not able to maintain her in a position adequate to the
+occasion. 'Well,' she said laughing, 'what is the word? I hope it is
+not that I am to pack up, bag and baggage, and take myself elsewhere.
+Cousin William is one of those persons who are willing to do
+everything except what they are wanted to do. He will go on talking
+about the Belton estate, when I want to know whether I may really
+look for as much as twelve shillings a week to live upon.'
+
+'He wants me to speak to you about--about the earnest love he bears
+for you.'
+
+'Oh dear! Mary;--could you not suppose it all to be said? It is an old
+trouble, and need not be repeated.'
+
+'No,' said Mary, 'I cannot suppose it to be all said.' Clara looking
+up as she heard the voice, was astonished both by the fire in the
+woman's eye and by the force of her tone. 'I will not think so meanly
+of you as to believe that such words from such a man can be passed by
+as meaning nothing. I will not say that you ought to be able to love
+him; in that you cannot control your heart; but if you cannot love
+him, the want of such love ought to make you suffer to suffer much
+and be very sad.'
+
+'I cannot agree to that, Mary.'
+
+'Is all his life nothing, then? Do you know what love means with
+him;--this love which he bears to you? Do you understand that it is
+everything to him?--that from the first moment in which he
+acknowledged to himself that his heart was set upon you, he could not
+bring himself to set it upon any other thing for a moment? Perhaps
+you have never understood this; have never perceived that he is so
+much in earnest, that to him it is more than money, or land, or
+health,--more than life itself,--that he so loves that he would
+willingly give everything that he has for his love? Have you known
+this?'
+
+Clara would not answer these questions for a while. What if she had
+known it all, was she therefore bound to sacrifice herself? Could it
+be the duty of any woman to give herself to a man simply because a
+man wanted her? That was the argument as it was put forward now by
+Mary Belton.
+
+'Dear, dearest Clara,' said Mary Belton, stretching herself forward
+from her chair, and putting out her thin, almost transparent, hand,
+'I do not think that you have thought enough of this; or, perhaps,
+you have not known it. But his love for you is as I say. To him it is
+everything. It pervades every hour of every day, every corner in his
+life! He knows nothing of anything else while he is in his present
+state.'
+
+'He is very good more than good.'
+
+'He is very good.'
+
+'But I do not see that;--that-- Of course I know how disinterested he is.'
+
+'Disinterested is a poor word. It insinuates that in such a matter
+there could be a question of what people call interest.'
+
+'And I know, too, how much he honours me.'
+
+'Honour is a cold word. It is not honour, but love downright true,
+honest love. I hope he does honour you. I believe you to be an
+honest, true woman; and, as he knows you well, he probably does
+honour you but I am speaking of love.' Again Clara was silent. She
+knew what should be her argument if she were determined to oppose her
+cousin's pleadings; and she knew also she thought she knew that she
+did intend to oppose them; but there was a coldness in the argument
+to which she was averse. 'You cannot be insensible to such love as
+that!' said Mary, going on with the cause which she had in hand.
+
+'You say that he is fond of me.'
+
+'Fond of you! I have not used such trifling expressions as that.'
+
+'That he loves me.'
+
+'You know he loves you. Have you ever doubted a word that he has
+spoken to you on any subject?'
+
+'I believe he speaks truly.'
+
+'You know he speaks truly. He is the very soul of truth.'
+
+'But, Mary--'
+
+'Well, Clara! But remember; do not answer me lightly. Do not play
+with a man's heart because you have it in your power.'
+
+'You wrong me. I could never do like that. You tell me that he loves
+me but what if I do not love him? Love will not be constrained. Am I
+to say that I love him because I believe that he loves me?'
+
+This was the argument, and Clara found herself driven to use it not
+so much from its special applicability to herself, as on account of
+its general fitness. Whether it did or did not apply to herself she
+had no time to ask herself at that moment; but she felt that no man
+could have a right to claim a woman's hand on the strength of his own
+love unless he had been able to win her love. She was arguing on
+behalf of women in general rather than on her own behalf.
+
+'If you mean to tell me that you cannot love him, of course I must
+give over,' said Mary, not caring at all for men and women in
+general, but full of anxiety for her brother. 'Do you mean to say
+that that you can never love him?' It almost seemed, from her face,
+that she was determined utterly to quarrel with her new-found cousin
+to quarrel and to go at once away if she got an answer that would not
+please her.
+
+'Dear Mary, do not press me so hard.'
+
+'But I want to press you hard. It is not right that he should lose
+his life in longing and hoping.'
+
+'He will not lose his life, Mary.'
+
+'I hope not not not if I can help it. I trust that he will be strong
+enough to get rid of his trouble to put it down and trample it under
+his feet.' Clara, as she heard this, began to ask herself what it was
+that was to be trampled under Will's feet. 'I think he will be man
+enough to overcome his passion; and then, perhaps you may regret what
+you have lost.'
+
+'Now you are unkind to me.'
+
+'Well; what would you have me say? Do I not know that he is offering
+you the best gift that he can give? Did I not begin by swearing to
+you that he loved you with a passion of love that cannot but be
+flattering to you? If it is to be love in vain, this to him is a
+great misfortune. And, yet, when I say that I hope that he will
+recover, you tell me that I am unkind.'
+
+'No not for that.'
+
+'May I tell him to come and plead for himself?'
+
+Again Clara was silent, not knowing how to answer that last question.
+And when she did answer it, she answered it thoughtlessly. 'Of course
+he knows that he can do that.'
+
+'He says that he has been forbidden.'
+
+'Oh, Mary, what am I to say to you? You know it all, and I wonder
+that you can continue to question me in this way.'
+
+'Know all what?'
+
+'That I have been engaged to Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'But you are not engaged to him now.'
+
+'No I am not.'
+
+'And there can be no renewal there, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh, no!'
+
+'Not even for my brother would I say a word if I thought'
+
+'No there is nothing of that; but If you cannot understand, I do not
+think that I can explain it.' It seemed to Clara that her cousin, in
+her anxiety for her brother, did not conceive that a woman, even if
+she could suddenly transfer her affections from one man to another,
+could not bring herself to say that she had done so.
+
+'I must write to him today,' said Mary, 'and I must give him some
+answer. Shall I tell him that he had better not come here till you
+are gone?'
+
+'That will perhaps be best,' said Clara.
+
+'Then he will never come at all.'
+
+'I can go can go at once. I will go at once. You shall never have to
+say that my presence prevented his coming to his own house. I ought
+not to be here. I know it now. I will go away, and you may tell him
+that I am gone.'
+
+'No, dear; you will not go.'
+
+'Yes I must go. I fancied things might be otherwise, because he once
+told me that he would be a brother to me. And I said I would hold him
+to that not only because I want a brother so badly, but because I
+love him so dearly. But it cannot be like that.'
+
+'You do not think that he will ever desert you?'
+
+'But I will go away, so that he may come to his own house. I ought
+not to be here. Of course I ought not to be at Belton either in this
+house or in any other. Tell him that I will be gone before he can
+come, and tell him also that I will not be too proud to accept from
+him what it may be fit that he should give me. I have no one but him
+no one but him no one but him.' Then she burst into tears, and
+throwing back her head, covered her face with her hands.
+
+Miss Belton, upon this, rose slowly from the chair on which she was
+sitting, and making her way painfully across to Clara, stood leaning
+on the weeping girl's chair. 'You shall not go while I am here,' she
+said.
+
+'Yes; I must go. He cannot come till I am gone.'
+
+'Think of it all once again, Clara. May I not tell him to come, and
+that while he is coming you will see if you cannot soften your heart
+towards him?'
+
+'Soften my heart! Oh, if I could only harden it!'
+
+'He would wait. If you would only bid him wait, he would be so happy
+in waiting.'
+
+'Yes till tomorrow morning. I know him. Hold out your little finger
+to him, and he has your whole hand and arm in a moment.'
+
+'I want you to say that you will try to love him.'
+
+But Clara was in truth trying not to love him. She was ashamed of
+herself because she did love the one man, when, but a few weeks
+since, she had confessed that she loved another. She had mistaken
+herself and her own feelings, not in reference to her cousin, but in
+supposing that she could really have sympathized with such a man as
+Captain Aylmer. It was necessary to her self-respect that she should
+be punished because of that mistake. She could not save herself from
+this condemnation she would not grant herself a respite because, by
+doing so, she would make another person happy. Had Captain Aylmer
+never crossed her path, she would have given her whole heart to her
+cousin. Nay; she had so given it had done so, although Captain Aylmer
+had crossed her path and come in her way. But it was matter of shame
+to her to find that this had been possible, and she could not bring
+herself to confess her shame.
+
+The conversation at last ended, as such conversations always do end,
+without any positive decision. Mary wrote of course to her brother,
+but Clara was not told of the contents of the letter. We, however,
+may know them, and may understand their nature, without learning
+above two lines of the letter. 'If you can be content to wait awhile,
+you will succeed,' said Mary; 'but when were you ever content to wait
+for anything?' 'If there is anything I hate, it is waiting,' said
+Will, when he received the letter; nevertheless the letter made him
+happy, and he went about his farm with a sanguine heart, as he
+arranged matters for another absence. 'Away long?' he said, in answer
+to a question asked him by his head man; 'how on earth can I say how
+long I shall be away? You can go on well enough without me by this
+time, I should think. You will have to learn, for there is no knowing
+how often I may be away, or for how long.'
+
+When Mary said that the letter had been written, Clara again spoke
+about going. 'And where will you go?' said Mary.
+
+'I will take a lodging in Taunton.'
+
+'He would only follow you there, and there would be more trouble.
+That would be all. He must act as your guardian, and in that
+capacity, at any rate, you must submit to him.' Clara, therefore,
+consented to remain at Belton; but, before Will arrived, she returned
+from the house to the cottage.
+
+'Of course I understand all about it,' said Mrs Askerton; 'and let me
+tell you this that if it is not all settled within a week from his
+coming here, I shall think that you are without a heart. He is to be
+knocked about, and cuffed, and kept from his work, and made to run up
+and down between here and Norfolk, because you cannot bring yourself
+to confess that you have been a fool.'
+
+'I have never said that I have not been a fool,' said Clara.
+
+'You have made a mistake as young women will do sometimes, even when
+they are as prudent and circumspect as you are and now you don't
+quite like the task of putting it right.'
+
+It was all true, and Clara knew that it was true. The putting right
+of mistakes is never pleasant; and in this case it was so unpleasant
+that she could not bring herself to acknowledge that it must be done.
+And yet, I think that, by this time, she was aware of the necessity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+TAKING POSSESSION
+
+'I want her to have it all,' said William Belton to Mr Green, the
+lawyer, when they came to discuss the necessary arrangements for the
+property.
+
+'But that would be absurd.'
+
+'Never mind. It is what I wish. I suppose a man may do what he likes
+with his own.'
+
+'She won't take it,' said the lawyer.
+
+'She must take it, if you manage the matter properly,' said Will.
+
+'I don't suppose it will make much difference,' said the lawyer,--'now
+that Captain Aylmer is out of the running.'
+
+'I know nothing about that. Of course I am very glad that he should
+be out of the running, as you call it. He is a bad sort of fellow,
+and I didn't want him to have the property. But all that has had
+nothing to do with it. I'm not doing it because I think she is ever
+to be my wife.'
+
+From this the reader will understand that Belton was still fidgeting
+himself and the lawyer about the estate when he passed through
+London. The matter in dispute, however, was so important that he was
+induced to seek the advice of others besides Mr Green, and at last
+was brought to the conclusion that it was his paramount duty to
+become Belton of Belton. There seemed in the minds of all these
+councillors to be some imperative and almost imperious requirement
+that the acres should go back to a man of his name. Now, as there was
+no one else of the family who could stand in his way, he had no
+alternative but to become Belton of Belton. He would, however, sell
+his estate in Norfolk, and raise money for endowing Clara with
+commensurate riches. Such was his own plan but having fallen among
+counsellors he would not exactly follow his own plan, and at last
+submitted to an arrangement in accordance with which an annuity of
+eight hundred pounds a year was to be settled upon Clara, and this
+was to lie as a charge upon the estate in Norfolk.
+
+'It seems to me to be very shabby,' said William Belton.
+
+'It seems to me to be very extravagant,' said the leader among the
+counsellors. 'She is not entitled to sixpence.'
+
+But at last the arrangement as above described was the one to which
+they all assented.
+
+When Belton reached the house which was now his own he found no one
+there but his sister. Clara was at the cottage. As he had been told
+that she was to return there, he had no reason to be annoyed. But,
+nevertheless, he was annoyed, or rather discontented, and had not
+been a quarter of an hour about the place before he declared his
+intention to go and seek her.
+
+'Do no such thing, Will; pray do not,' said his sister.
+
+'And why not?'
+
+'Because it will be better that you should wait. You will only injure
+yourself and her by being impetuous.'
+
+'But it is absolutely necessary that she should know her own
+position. It would be cruelty to keep her in ignorance though for the
+matter of that I shall be ashamed to tell her. Yes I shall be ashamed
+to look her in the face. What will she think of it after I had
+assured her that she should have the whole?'
+
+'But she would not have taken it, Will. And had she done so, she
+would have been very wrong. Now she will be comfortable.'
+
+'I wish I could be comfortable,' said he.
+
+'If you will only wait--'
+
+'I hate waiting. I do not see what good it will do. Besides, I don't
+mean to say anything about that,--not today, at least. I don't indeed.
+As for being here and not seeing her, that is out of the question. Of
+course she would think that I had quarrelled with her, and that I
+meant to take everything to myself, now that I have the power.'
+
+'She won't suspect you of wishing to quarrel with her, Will.'
+
+'I should in her place. It is out of the question that I should be
+here, and not go to her. It would be monstrous. I will wait till they
+have done lunch, and then I will go up.'
+
+It was at last decided that he should walk up to the cottage, call
+upon Colonel Askerton, and ask to see Clara in the colonel's
+presence. It was thought that he could make his statement about the
+money better before a third person who could be regarded as Clara's
+friend, than could possibly be done between themselves. He did,
+therefore, walk across to the cottage, and was shown into Colonel
+Askerton's study.
+
+'There he is,' Mrs Askerton said, as soon as she heard the sound of
+the bell. 'I knew that he would come at once.'
+
+During the whole morning Mrs Askerton had been insisting that Belton
+would make his appearance on that very day the day of his arrival at
+Belton, and Clara had been asserting that he would not do so.
+
+'Why should he come?' Clara had said.
+
+'Simply to take you to his own house, like any other of his goods and
+chattels.'
+
+'I am not his goods or his chattels.'
+
+'But you soon will be; and why shouldn't you accept your lot quietly?
+He is Belton of Belton, and everything here belongs to him.'
+
+'I do not belong to him.'
+
+'What nonsense! When a man has the command of the situation, as he
+has, he can do just what he pleases. If he were to come and carry you
+off by violence, I have no doubt the Beltonians would assist him, and
+say that he was right. And you of course would forgive him. Belton of
+Belton may do anything.'
+
+'That is nonsense, if you please.'
+
+'Indeed if you had any of that decent feeling of feminine inferiority
+which ought to belong to all women, he would have found you sitting
+on the doorstep of his house waiting for him.'
+
+That had been said early in the morning, when they first knew that he
+had arrived; but they had been talking about him ever since talking
+about him under pressure from Mrs Askerton, till Clara had been
+driven to long that she might be spared. 'If he chooses to come, he
+will come,' she said. 'Of course he will come,' Mrs Askerton had
+answered, and then they heard the ring of the hell. 'There he is. I
+could swear to the sound of his foot. Doesn't he step as though he
+were Belton of Belton, and conscious that everything belonged to
+him?' Then there was a pause. 'He has been shown in to Colonel
+Askerton. What on earth could he want with him?'
+
+'He has called to tell him something about the cottage,' said Clara,
+endeavouring to speak as though she were calm through it all.
+
+'Cottage! Fiddlestick! The idea of a man coming to look after his
+trumpery cottage on the first day of his showing himself as lord of
+his own property! Perhaps he is demanding that you shall be delivered
+up to him. If he does I shall vote for obeying.'
+
+'And I for disobeying and shall vote very strongly too.'
+
+Their suspense was yet prolonged for another ten minutes, and at the
+end of that time the servant came in and asked if Miss Amedroz would
+be good enough to go into the master's room. 'Mr Belton is there,
+Fanny?' asked Mrs Askerton. The girl confessed that Mr Belton was
+there, and then Clara, without another word, got up and left the
+room. She had much to do in assuming a look of composure before she
+opened the door; but she made the effort, and was not unsuccessful.
+In another second she found her hand in her cousin's, and his bright
+eye was fixed upon her with that eager friendly glance which made his
+face so pleasant to those whom he loved.
+
+'Your cousin has been telling me of the arrangements he has been
+making for you with the lawyers,' said Colonel Askerton. 'I can only
+say that I wish all the ladies had cousins so liberal, and so able to
+be liberal.'
+
+'I thought I would see Colonel Askerton first, as you are staying at
+his house. And as for liberality there is nothing of the kind. You
+must understand, Clara, that a fellow can't do what he likes with his
+own in this country. I have found myself so bullied by lawyers and
+that sort of people, that I have been obliged to yield to them. I
+wanted that you should have the old place, to do just what you
+pleased with It.'
+
+'That was out of the question, Will.'
+
+'Of course it was,' said Colonel Askerton. Then, as Belton himself
+did not proceed to the telling of his own story, the colonel told it
+for him, and explained what was the income which Clara was to
+receive.
+
+'But that is as much out of the question,' said she, 'as the other. I
+cannot rob you in that way. I cannot and I shall not. And why should
+I? What do I want with an income? Something I ought to have, if only
+for the credit of the family, and that I am willing to take from your
+kindness; but--'
+
+'It's all settled now, Clara.'
+
+'I don't think that you can lessen the weight of your obligation,
+Miss Amedroz, after what has been done up in London,' said the
+colonel.
+
+'If you had said a hundred a year--'
+
+'I have been allowed to say nothing,' said Belton; 'those people have
+said eight,--and so it is settled. When are you coming over to see
+Mary?'
+
+To this question he got no definite answer, and as he went away
+immediately afterwards he hardly seemed to expect one. He did not
+even ask for Mrs Askerton, and as that lady remarked, behaved
+altogether like a bear. 'But what a munificent bear!' she said.
+'Fancy;--eight hundred a year of your own. One begins to doubt whether
+it is worth one's while to marry at all with such an income as that
+to do what one likes with! However, it all means nothing. It will all
+be his own again before you have even touched it.'
+
+'You must not say anything more about that,' said Clara gravely.
+
+'And why must I not?'
+
+'Because I shall hear nothing more of it. There is an end of all that
+as there ought to be.'
+
+'Why an end? I don't see an end. There will be no end till Belton of
+Belton has got you and your eight hundred a year as well as
+everything else.'
+
+'You will find that he does not mean anything more,' said Clara.
+
+'You think not?'
+
+'I am sure of it.' Then there was a little sound in her throat as
+though she were in some danger of being choked; but she soon
+recovered herself, and was able to express herself clearly. 'I have
+only one favour to ask you now, Mrs Askerton, and that is that you
+will never say anything more about him. He has changed his mind. Of
+course he has, or he would not come here like that and have gone away
+without saying a word.'
+
+'Not a word! A man gives you eight hundred a year and that is not
+saying a word!'
+
+'Not a word except about money! But of course he is right. I know
+that he is right. Alter what has passed he would be very wrong to to
+think about it any more. You joke about his being Belton of Belton.
+But it does make a difference.'
+
+'It does does it?'
+
+'It has made a difference. I see and feel it now. I shall never hear
+him ask me that question any more.'
+
+'And if you did hear him, what answer would you make him?'
+
+'I don't know.'
+
+'That is just it. Women are so cross-grained that it is a wonder to
+me that men should ever have anything to do with them. They have
+about them some madness of a phantasy which they dignify with the
+name of feminine pride, and under the cloak of this they believe
+themselves to be justified in tormenting their lovers' lives out. The
+only consolation is that they torment themselves as much. Can
+anything be more cross-grained than you are at this moment? You were
+resolved just now that it would be the most unbecoming thing in the
+world if he spoke a word more about his love for the next twelve
+months--'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I said nothing about twelve months.'
+
+'And now you are broken-hearted because he did not blurt it all out
+before Colonel Askerton in a business interview, which was very
+properly had at once, and in which he has had the exceeding good
+taste to confine himself altogether to the one subject.'
+
+'I am not complaining.'
+
+'It was good taste; though if he had not been a bear he might have
+asked after me, who am fighting his battles for him night and day.'
+
+'But what will he do next?'
+
+'Eat his dinner, I should think, as it is now nearly five o'clock.
+Your father used always to dine at five.'
+
+'I can't go to see Mary,' she said, 'till he comes here again.'
+
+'He will be here fast enough. I shouldn't wonder if he was to come
+here tonight.' And he did come again that night.
+
+When Belton's interview was over in the colonel's study, he left the
+house without even asking after the mistress, as that mistress had
+taken care to find out and went off, rambling about the estate which
+was now his own. It was a beautiful place, and he was not insensible
+to the gratification of being its owner. There is much in the glory
+of ownership of the ownership of land and houses, of beeves and
+woolly flocks, of wide fields and thick-growing woods, even when that
+ownership is of late date, when it conveys to the owner nothing but
+the realization of a property on the soil; but there is much more in
+it when it contains the memories of old years; when the glory is the
+glory of race as well as the glory of power and property. There had
+been Beltons of Belton living there for many centuries, and now he
+was the Belton of the day, standing on his own ground the descendant
+and representative of the Beltons of old Belton of Belton without a
+flaw in his pedigree! He felt himself to be proud of his position
+prouder than he could have been of any other that might have been
+vouchsafed to him. And yet amidst it all he was somewhat ashamed of
+his pride. 'The man who can do it for himself is the real man after
+all,' he said. 'But I have got it by a fluke and by such a sad chance
+too!' Then he wandered on, thinking of the circumstances under which
+the property had fallen into his hands, and remembering how and when
+and where the first idea had occurred to him of making Clara Amedroz
+his wife. He had then felt that if he could only do that he could
+reconcile himself to the heirship. And the idea had grown upon him
+instantly, and had become a passion by the eagerness with which he
+had welcomed it. From that day to this he had continued to tell
+himself that he could not enjoy his good fortune unless he could
+enjoy it with her. There had come to be a horrid impediment in his
+way a barrier which had seemed to have been placed there by his evil
+fortune, to compensate the gifts given to him by his good fortune,
+and that barrier had been Captain Aylmer. He had not, in fact, seen
+much of his rival, but he had seen enough to make it matter of wonder
+to him that Clara could be attached to such a man. He had thoroughly
+despised Captain Aylmer, and had longed to show his contempt of the
+man by kicking him out of the hotel at the London railway station. At
+that moment all the world had seemed to him to be wrong and wretched.
+
+But now it seemed that all the world might so easily be made right
+again! The impediment had got itself removed. Belton did not even yet
+altogether comprehend by what means Clara had escaped from the meshes
+of the Aylmer Park people, but he did know that she had escaped. Her
+eyes had been opened before it was too late, and she was a free woman
+to be compassed if only a man might compass her. While she had been
+engaged to Captain Aylmer, Will had felt that she was not assailable.
+Though he had not been quite able to restrain himself as on that
+fatal occasion when he had taken her in his arms and kissed her still
+he had known that as she was an engaged woman, he could not, without
+insulting her, press his own suit upon her. But now all that was
+over. Let him say what he liked on that head, she would have no
+proper plea for anger. She was assailable and, as this was so, why
+the mischief should he not set about the work at once? His sister
+bade him wait. Why should he wait when one fortunate word might do
+it? Wait! He could not wait. How are you to bid a starving man to
+wait when you put him down at a well-covered board? Here was he,
+walking about Belton Park just where she used to walk with him and
+there was she at Belton Cottage, within half an hour of him at this
+moment, if he were to go quickly; and yet Mary was telling him to
+wait! No; he would not wait. There could be no reason for waiting.
+Wait, indeed, till some other Captain Aylmer should come in the way
+and give him more trouble!
+
+So he wandered on, resolving that he would see his cousin again that
+very day. Such an interview as that which had just taken place
+between two such dear friends was not natural,--was not to be endured.
+What might not Clara think of it! To meet her for the first time
+after her escape from Aylmer Park, and to speak to her only on
+matters concerning money! He would certainly go to her again on that
+afternoon. In his walking he came to the bottom of the rising ground
+on the top of which stood the rock on which he and Clara had twice
+sat. But he turned away, and would not go up to it. He hoped that he
+might go up to it very soon,--but, except under certain circumstances,
+he would never go up to it again.
+
+'I am going across to the cottage immediately after dinner,' he said
+to his sister.
+
+'Have you an appointment?'
+
+'No; I have no appointment. I suppose a man doesn't want an
+appointment to go and see his own cousin down in the country.'
+
+'I don't know what their habits are.'
+
+'I shan't ask to go in; but I want to see her.'
+
+Mary looked at him with loving, sorrowing eyes, but she said no more.
+She loved him so well that she would have given her right hand to get
+for him what he wanted but she sorrowed to think that he should want
+such a thing so sorely. Immediately after his dinner, he took his hat
+and went out without saying a word further, and made his way once
+more across to the gate of the cottage. It was a lovely summer
+evening, at that period of the year in which our summer evenings just
+begin, when the air is sweeter and the flowers more fragrant, and the
+forms of the foliage more lovely than at any other time. It was now
+eight o'clock, but it was hardly as yet evening; none at least of the
+gloom of evening had come, though the sun was low in the heavens. At
+the cottage they were all sitting out on the lawn; and as Belton came
+near he was seen by them, and he saw them.
+
+'I told you so,' said Mrs Askerton, to Clara, in a whisper.
+
+'He is not coming in,' Clara answered. 'He is going on.'
+
+But when he had come nearer, Colonel Askerton called to him over the
+garden paling, and asked him to join them. He was now standing within
+ten or fifteen yards of them, though the fence divided them. 'I have
+come to ask my Cousin Clara to take a walk with me,' he said. 'She
+can be back by your tea time.' He made his request very placidly, and
+did not in any way look like a lover.
+
+'I am sure she will be glad to go,' said Mrs Askerton. But Clara said
+nothing.
+
+'Do take a turn with me, if you are not tired,' said he.
+
+'She has not been out all day, and cannot be tired,' said Mrs
+Askerton, who had now walked up to the paling. 'Clara, get your hat.
+But, Mr Belton, what have I done that I am to be treated in this way?
+Perhaps you don't remember that you have not spoken to me since your
+arrival.'
+
+'Upon my word, I beg your pardon,' said he, endeavouring to stretch
+his hand across the bushes.
+
+'I forgot I didn't see you this morning.'
+
+'I suppose I musn't be angry, as this is your day of taking
+possession; but it is exactly on such days as this that one likes to
+be remembered.'
+
+'I didn't mean to forget you, Mrs Askerton; I didn't, indeed. And as
+for the special day, that's all bosh, you know. I haven't taken
+particular possession of anything that I know of.'
+
+'I hope you will, Mr Belton, before the day is over,' said she. Clara
+had at length arisen, and had gone into the house to fetch her hat.
+She had not spoken a word, and even yet her cousin did not know
+whether she was coming. 'I hope you will take possession of a great
+deal that is very valuable. Clara has gone to get her hat.'
+
+'Do you think she means to walk?'
+
+'I think she does, Mr Belton. And there she is at the door. Mind you
+bring her back to tea.'
+
+Clara, as she came forth, felt herself quite unable to speak, or
+walk, or look after her usual manner. She knew herself to be a victim
+to be so far a victim that she could no longer control her own fate.
+To Captain Aylmer, at any rate, she had never succumbed. In all her
+dealings with him she had fought upon an equal footing. She had never
+been compelled to own herself mastered. But now she was being led out
+that she might confess her own submission, and acknowledge that
+hitherto she had not known what was good for her. She knew that she
+would have to yield. She must have known how happy she was to have an
+opportunity of yielding; but yet yet, had there been any room for
+choice, she thought she would have refrained from walking with her
+cousin that evening. She had wept that afternoon because she had
+thought that he would not come again; and now that he had come at the
+first moment that was possible for him, she was almost tempted to
+wish him once more away.
+
+'I suppose you understand that when I came up this morning I came
+merely to talk about business,' said Belton, as soon as they were off
+together.
+
+'It was very good of you to come at all so soon after your arrival.'
+
+'I told those people in London that I would have it all settled at
+once, and so I wanted to have it off my mind.'
+
+'I don't know what I ought to say to you. Of course I shall not want
+so much money as that.'
+
+'We won't talk about the money any more today. I hate talking about
+money.'
+
+'It is not the pleasantest subject in the world.'
+
+'No,' said he; 'no indeed. I hate it particularly between friends. So
+you have come to grief with your friends, the Aylmers?'
+
+'I hope I haven't come to grief and the Aylmers, as a family, never
+were my friends. I'm obliged to contradict you, point by point you
+see.'
+
+'I don't like Captain Aylmer at all,' said Will, after a pause.
+
+'So I saw, Will; and I dare say he was not very fond of you.' 'Fond
+of me! I didn't want him to be fond of me. I don't suppose he ever
+thought much about me. I could not help thinking of him.' She had
+nothing to say to this, and therefore walked on silently by his side.
+'I suppose he has not any idea of coming back here again?'
+
+'What; to Belton? No, I do not think he will come to Belton any
+more.'
+
+'Nor will you go to Aylmer Park?'
+
+'No; certainly not. Of all the places on earth. Will, to which you
+could send me, Aylmer Park is the one to which I should go most
+unwillingly.'
+
+'I don't want to send you there.'
+
+'You never could be made to understand what a woman she is; how
+disagreeable, how cruel, how imperious, how insolent.'
+
+'Was she so bad as all that?'
+
+'Indeed she was, Will. I can't but tell the truth to you.'
+
+'And he was nearly as bad as she.'
+
+'No, Will; no; do not say that of him.'
+
+'He was such a quarrelsome fellow. He flew at me just because I said
+we had good hunting down in Norfolk.'
+
+'We need not talk about all that, Will.'
+
+'No of course not. It's all passed and gone, I suppose.'
+
+'Yes it is all passed and gone. You did not know my Aunt Winterfield,
+or you would understand my first reason for liking him.'
+
+'No,' said Will; 'I never saw her.'
+
+Then they walked on together for a while without speaking, and Clara
+was beginning to feel some relief some relief at first; but as the
+relief came, there came back to her the dead, dull, feeling of
+heaviness at her heart which had oppressed her after his visit in the
+morning. She had been right, and Mrs Askerton had been wrong. He had
+returned to her simply as her cousin, and now he was walking with her
+and talking to her in this strain, to teach her that it was so. But
+of a sudden they came to a place where two paths diverged, and he
+turned upon her and asked her quickly which path they should take.
+'Look, Clara,' he said, 'will you go up there with me?' It did not
+need that she should look, as she knew that the way indicated by him
+led up among the rocks.
+
+'I don't much care which way,' she said, faintly.
+
+'Do you not? But I do. I care very much. Don't you remember where
+that path goes?' She had no answer to give to this. She remembered
+well, and remembered how he had protested that he would never go to
+the place again unless he could go there as her accepted lover. And
+she had asked herself sundry questions as to that protestation. Could
+it be that for her sake he would abstain from visiting the prettiest
+spot on his estate that he would continue to regard the ground as
+hallowed because of his memories of her? 'Which way shall we go?' he
+asked.
+
+'I suppose it does not much signify,' said she, trembling.
+
+'But it does signify. It signifies very much to me. Will you go up to
+the rocks?'
+
+'I am afraid we shall be late, if we stay out long.'
+
+'What matters how late? Will you come?'
+
+'I suppose so if you wish it, Will.'
+
+She had anticipated that the high rock was to be the altar at which
+the victim was to be sacrificed; but now he would not wait till he
+had taken her to the sacred spot. He had of course intended that he
+would there renew his offer; but he had perceived that his offer had
+been renewed, and had, in fact, been accepted, during this little
+parley as to the pathway. There was hardly any necessity for further
+words. So he must have thought; for, as quick as lightning, he flung
+his arms around her, and kissed her again, as he had kissed her on
+that other terrible occasion that occasion on which he had felt that
+he might hardly hope for pardon.
+
+'William, William,' she said; 'how can you serve me like that?' But
+he had a full understanding as to his own privileges, and was well
+aware that he was in the right now, as he had been before that he was
+trespassing egregiously. 'Why are you so rough with me?' she said.
+
+'Clara, say that you love me.'
+
+'I will say nothing to you because you are so rough.' They were now
+walking up slowly towards the rocks.
+
+And as he had his arm round her waist, he was contented for awhile to
+allow her to walk without speaking. But when they were on the summit
+it was necessary for him that he should have a word from her of
+positive assurance. 'Clara, say that you love me.'
+
+'Have I not always loved you, Will, since almost the first moment
+that I saw you?'
+
+'But that won't do. You know that is not fair. Come, Clara; I've had
+a deal of trouble and grief too; haven't I? You should say a word to
+make up for it that is, if you can say it.'
+
+'What can a word like that signify to you today? You have got
+everything.'
+
+'Have I got you?' Still she paused. 'I will have an answer. Have I
+got you? Are you now my own?'
+
+'I suppose so, Will. Don't now. I will not have it again. Does not
+that satisfy you?'
+
+'Tell me that you love me.'
+
+'You know that I love you.'
+
+'Better than anybody in the world?'
+
+'Yes better than anybody in the world.'
+
+'And after all you will be my wife?'
+
+'Oh, Will how you question one!'
+
+'You shall say it, and then it will all be fair and honest.'
+
+'Say what? I'm sure I thought I had said everything.'
+
+'Say that you mean to be my wife.'
+
+'I suppose so if you wish it.'
+
+'Wish it!' said he, getting up from his seat, and throwing his hat
+into the bushes on one side; 'wish it! I don't think you have ever
+understood howl have wished it. Look here, Clara; I found when I got
+down to Norfolk that I couldn't live without you. Upon my word it is
+true. I don't suppose you'll believe me.'
+
+'I didn't think it could be so bad with you as that.'
+
+'No I don't suppose women ever do believe. And I wouldn't have
+believed it of myself. I hated myself for it. By George, I did. That
+is when I began to think it was all up with me.'
+
+'All up with you! Oh, Will!'
+
+'I had quite made up my mind to go to New Zealand. I had, indeed. I
+couldn't have kept my hands off that man if we had been living in the
+same country. I should have wrung his neck.'
+
+'Will, how can you talk so wickedly?'
+
+'There's no understanding it till you have felt it. But never mind.
+It's all right now; isn't it, Clara?'
+
+'If you think so.'
+
+'Think so! Oh, Clara, I am such a happy fellow. Do give me a kiss.
+You have never given me one kiss yet.'
+
+'What nonsense! I didn't think you were such a baby.'
+
+'By George, but you shall or you shall never get home to tea
+to-night. My own, own, own darling. Upon my word, Clara, when I begin
+to think about it I shall be half mad.'
+
+'I think you are quite that already.'
+
+'No, I'm not but I shall be when I'm alone. What can I say to you,
+Clara, to make you understand how much I love you? You remember the
+song, "For Bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me down and dee". Of course it
+is all nonsense talking of dying for a woman. What a man has to do is
+to live for her. But that is my feeling. I'm ready to give you my
+life. If there was anything to do for you, I'd do it if I could,
+whatever it was. Do you understand me?'
+
+'Dear Will! Dearest Will!'
+
+'Am I dearest?'
+
+'Are you not sure of it?'
+
+'But I like you to tell me so. I like to feel that you are not
+ashamed to own it. You ought to say it a few times to me, as I have
+said it so very often to you.'
+
+'You'll hear enough of it before you've done with me.'
+
+'I shall never have heard enough of it. Oh, Heavens, only think, when
+I was coming down in the train last night I was in such a bad way.'
+
+'And are you in a good way now?'
+
+'Yes; in a very good way. I shall crow over Mary so when I get home.'
+
+'And what has poor Mary done?'
+
+'Never mind.'
+
+'I dare say she knows what is good for you better than you know
+yourself. I suppose she has told you that you might do a great deal
+better than trouble yourself with a wife?'
+
+'Never mind what she has told me. It is settled now is it not?
+
+'I hope so, Will.'
+
+'But not quite settled as yet. When shall it be? That is the next
+question.'
+
+But to that question Clara positively refused to make any reply that
+her lover would consider to be satisfactory. He continued to press
+her till she was at last driven to remind him how very short a time
+it was since her father had been among them; and then he was very
+angry with himself, and declared himself to be a brute. 'Anything but
+that,' she said. 'You are the kindest and the best of men but at the
+same time the most impatient.'
+
+'That's what Mary says; but what's the good of waiting? She wanted me
+to wait today.'
+
+'And as you would not, you have fallen into a trap out of which you
+can never escape. But pray let us go. What will they think of us?'
+
+'I shouldn't wonder if they didn't think something near the truth.'
+
+'Whatever they think, we will go back. It is ever so much past nine.'
+
+'Before you stir, Clara, tell me one thing. Are you really happy?'
+
+'Very happy.'
+
+'And are you glad that this has been done?'
+
+'Very glad. Will that satisfy you?'
+
+'And you do love me?'
+
+'I do--I do--I do. Can I say more than that?
+
+'More than anybody else in the world?'
+
+'Better than all the world put together.'
+
+'Then,' said he, holding her tight in his arms, 'show me that you
+love me.' And as he made his request he was quick to explain to her
+what, according to his ideas, was the becoming mode by which lovers
+might show their love. I wonder whether it ever occurred to Clara, as
+she thought of it all before she went to bed that night, that Captain
+Aylmer and William Belton were very different in their manners. And
+if so, I must wonder further whether she most approved the manners of
+the patient man or the man who was impatient.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+About two months after the scene described in the last chapter, when
+the full summer had arrived, Clara received two letters from the two
+lovers the history of whose loves have just been told, and these
+shall be submitted to the reader, as they will serve to explain the
+manner in which the two men proposed to arrange their affairs. We
+will first have Captain Aylmer's letter, which was the first read;
+Clara kept the latter for the last, as children always keep their
+sweetest morsels.
+
+
+'Aylmer Park, August 188
+
+'My dear Miss Amedroz,
+
+'I heard before leaving London that you are engaged to marry your
+cousin Mr William Belton, and I think that perhaps you may be
+satisfied to have a line from me to let you know that I quite approve
+of the marriage.' 'I do not care very much for his approval or
+disapproval,' said Clara as she read this. 'No doubt it will be the
+best thing you can do, especially as it will heal all the sores
+arising from the entail.' 'There never was any sore,' said Clara.
+'Pray give my compliments to Mr Belton, and offer him my
+congratulations, and tell him that I wish him all happiness in the
+married state.' 'Married fiddlestick!' said Clara. In this she was
+unreasonable; but the euphonious platitudes of Captain Aylmer were so
+unlike the vehement protestations of Mr Belton that she must be
+excused if by this time she had come to entertain something of an
+unreasonable aversion for the former.
+
+'I hope you will not receive my news with perfect indifference when I
+tell you that I also am going to be married. The lady is one whom I
+have known for a long time, and have always esteemed very highly. She
+is Lady Emily Tagmaggert, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Mull.'
+Why Clara should immediately have conceived a feeling of supreme
+contempt for Lady Emily Tagmaggert, and assured herself that her
+ladyship was a thin, dry, cross old maid with a red nose, I cannot
+explain; but I do know that such were her thoughts, almost
+instantaneously, in reference to Captain Aylmer's future bride. 'Lady
+Emily is a very intimate friend of my sister's; and you, who know how
+our family cling together, will feel how thankful I must be when I
+tell you that my mother quite approves of the engagement. I suppose
+we shall be married early in the spring. We shall probably spend some
+months every year at Perivale, and I hope that we may look forward to
+the pleasure of seeing you sometimes as a guest beneath our roof.' On
+reading this Clara shuddered, and made some inward protestation which
+seemed to imply that she had no wish whatever to revisit the dull
+streets of the little town with which she had been so well
+acquainted. 'I hope she'll be good to poor Mr Possit,' said Clara,
+'and give him port wine on Sundays.'
+
+'I have one more thing that I ought to say. You will remember that I
+intended to pay my aunt's legacy immediately after her death, but
+that I was prevented by circumstances which I could not control. I
+have paid it now into Mr Green's hands on your account, together with
+the sum of L59 18s 3d., which is due upon it as interest at the rate
+of 5 per cent. I hope that this may be satisfactory.' 'It is not
+satisfactory at all,' said Clara, putting down the letter, and
+resolving that Will Belton should be instructed to repay the money
+instantly. It may, however, be explained here that in this matter
+Clara was doomed to be disappointed; and that she was forced, by Mr
+Green's arguments, to receive the money. 'Then it shall go to the
+hospital at Perivale,' she declared when those arguments were used.
+As to that, Mr Green was quite indifferent, but I do not think that
+the legacy which troubled poor Aunt Winterfield so much on her dying
+bed was ultimately applied to so worthy a purpose.
+
+'And now, my dear Miss Amedroz,' continued the letter, 'I will say
+farewell, with many assurances of my unaltered esteem, and with
+heartfelt wishes for your future happiness. Believe me to be always,
+
+'Most faithfully and sincerely yours,
+
+'FREDERIC F. AYLMER.
+
+
+'Esteem!' said Clara, as she finished the letter. 'I wonder which he
+esteems the most, me or Lady Emily Tagmaggert. He will never get
+beyond esteem with any one.
+
+The letter which was last read was as follows:
+
+
+'Plaistow, August 186--.
+
+'Dearest Clara,
+
+'I don't think I shall ever get done, and I am coming to hate farming.
+It is awful lonely here, too, and I pass all my evenings by myself,
+wondering why I should be doomed to this kind of thing, while you and
+Mary are comfortable together at Belton. We have begun with the
+wheat, and as soon as that is safe I shall cut and run. I shall leave
+the barley to Bunce. Bunce knows as much about it as I do and as for
+remaining here all the summer, it's out of the question.
+
+'My own dear, darling love, of course I don't intend to urge you to do
+anything that you don't like; but upon my honour I don't see the
+force of what you say. You know I have as much respect for your
+father's memory as anybody, but what harm can it do to him that we
+should be married at once? Don't you think he would have wished it
+himself? It can be ever so quiet. So long as it's done, I don't care
+a straw how it's done. Indeed, for the matter of that, I always think
+it would be best just to walk to church and to walk home again
+without saying anything to anybody. I hate fuss and nonsense, and
+really I don't think anybody would have a right to say anything if we
+were to do it at once in that sort of way. I have had a bad time of
+it for the last twelvemonth. You must allow that, and I think that I
+ought to be rewarded.
+
+'As for living, you shall have your choice. Indeed you shall live
+anywhere you please at Timbuctoo if you like it. I don't want to give
+up Plaistow, because my father and grandfather farmed the land
+themselves; but I am quite prepared not to live here. I don't think
+it would suit you, because it has so much of the farm-house about it.
+Only I should like you sometimes to come and look at the old place.
+What I should like would be to pull down the house at Belton and
+build another. But you mustn't propose to put it off till that's
+done, as I should never have the heart to do it. If you think that
+would suit you, I'll make up my mind to live at Belton for a
+constancy; and then I'd go in for a lot of cattle, and don't doubt
+I'd make a fortune. I'm almost sick of looking at the straight ridges
+in the big square fields every day of my life.
+
+'Give my love to Mary. I hope she fights my battle for me. Pray think
+of all this, and relent if you can. I do so long to have an end of
+this purgatory. If there was any use, I wouldn't say a word; but
+there's no good in being tortured, when there is no use. God bless
+you, dearest love. I do love you so well!
+
+'Yours most affectionately,
+
+'W. BELTON.'
+
+
+She kissed the letter twice, pressed it to her bosom, and then sat
+silent for half an hour thinking of it of it, and the man who wrote
+it, and of the man who had written the other letter. She could not
+but remember how that other man had thought to treat her, when it was
+his intention and her intention that they two should join their lots
+together how cold he had been; how full of caution and counsel; how
+he had preached to her himself and threatened her with the preaching
+of his mother; how manifestly he had purposed to make her life a
+sacrifice to his life; how he had premeditated her incarceration at
+Perivale, while he should be living a bachelor's life in London! Will
+Belton's ideas of married life were very different. Only come to me
+at once now, immediately, and everything else shall be disposed just
+as you please. This was his offer. What he proposed to give or rather
+his willingness to be thus generous, was very sweet to her; but it
+was not half so sweet as his impatience in demanding his reward. How
+she doted on him because he considered his present state to be a
+purgatory! How could she refuse anything she could give to one who
+desired her gifts so strongly?
+
+As for her future residence, it would be a matter of indifference to
+her where she should live, so long as she might live with him; but
+for him she felt that but one spot in the world was fit for him. He
+was Belton of Belton, and it would not be becoming that he should
+live elsewhere. Of course she would go with him to Plaistow Hall as
+often as he might wish it; but Belton Castle should be his permanent
+resting-place. It would be her duty to be proud for him, and
+therefore, for his sake, she would beg that their home might be in
+Somersetshire.
+
+'Mary,' she said to her cousin soon afterwards, 'Will sends his love
+to you.'
+
+'And what else does he say?'
+
+'I couldn't tell you everything. You shouldn't expect it.'
+
+'I don't expect it; but perhaps there may be something to be told.'
+
+'Nothing that I need tell specially. You, who know him so well, can
+imagine what he would say.'
+
+'Dear Will! I am sure he would mean to write what was pleasant.'
+
+Then the matter would have dropped had Clara been so minded,--but she,
+in truth, was anxious to be forced to talk about the letter. She
+wished to be urged by Mary to do that which Will urged her to do or,
+at least, to learn whether Mary thought that her brother's wish might
+be gratified without impropriety. 'Don't you think we ought to live
+here?' she said.
+
+'By all means,--if you both like it.'
+
+'He is so good,--so unselfish, that he will only ask me to do what I
+like best.'
+
+'And which would you like best?'
+
+'I think he ought to live here because it is the old family property.
+I confess that the name goes for something with me. He says that he
+would build a new house.'
+
+'Does he think he could have it ready by the time you are married?'
+
+'Ah that is just the difficulty. Perhaps, after all, you had better
+read his letter. I don't know why I should not show it to you. It
+will only tell you what you know already that he is the most generous
+fellow in all the world.' Then Mary read the letter. 'What am I to
+say to him?' Clara asked. 'It seems so hard to refuse anything to one
+who is so true, and good, and generous.'
+
+'It is hard.'
+
+'But you see my poor, dear father's death has been so recent.'
+
+'I hardly know,' said Mary, 'how the world feels about such things.'
+
+'I think we ought to wait at least twelve months,' said Clara, very
+sadly.
+
+'Poor Will! He will be broken-hearted a dozen times before that. But
+then, when his happiness does come, he will be all the happier.'
+Clara, when she heard this, almost hated her cousin Mary not for her
+own sake, but on Will's account. Will trusted so implicitly to his
+sister, and yet she could not make a better fight for him than this!
+It almost seemed that Mary was indifferent to her brother's
+happiness. Had Will been her brother, Clara thought, and had any girl
+asked her advice under similar circumstances, she was sure that she
+would have answered in a different way. She would have told such girl
+that her first duty was owing to the man who was to be her husband,
+and would not have said a word to her about the feeling of the world.
+After all, what did the feeling of the world signify to them, who
+were going to be all the world to each other?
+
+On that afternoon she went up to Mrs Askerton's; and succeeded in
+getting advice from her also, though she did not show Will's letter
+to that lady. 'Of course, I know what he says,' said Mrs Askerton.
+'Unless I have mistaken the man, he wants to be married tomorrow.'
+
+'He is not so bad as that,' said Clara.
+
+'Then the next day, or the day after. Of course he is impatient, and
+does not see any earthly reason why his impatience should not be
+gratified.'
+
+'He is impatient.'
+
+'And I suppose you hesitate because of your father's death?
+
+'It seems but the other day;--does it not?' said Clara.
+
+'Everything seems but the other day to me. It was but the other day
+that I myself was married.'
+
+'And, of course, though I would do anything I could that he would ask
+me to do--'
+
+'But would you do anything?'
+
+'Anything that was not wrong I would. Why should I not, when he is so
+good to me?'
+
+'Then write to him, my dear, and tell him that it shall be as he
+wishes it. Believe me, the days of Jacob are over. Men don't
+understand waiting now, and it's always as well to catch your fish
+when you can.'
+
+'You don't suppose I have any thought of that kind?'
+
+'I am sure you have not and I'm sure that he deserves no such thought
+but the higher that are his deserts, the greater should be his
+reward. If I were you, I should think of nothing but him, and I
+should do exactly as he would have me.' Clara kissed her friend as
+she parted from her, and again resolved that all that woman's sins
+should be forgiven her. A woman who could give such excellent advice
+deserved that every sin should be forgiven her. 'They'll be married
+yet before the summer is over,' Mrs Askerton said to her husband that
+afternoon. 'I believe a man may have anything he chooses to ask for,
+if he'll only ask hard enough.'
+
+And they were married in the autumn, if not actually in the summer.
+With what precise words Clara answered her lover's letter I will not
+say; but her answer was of such a nature that he found himself
+compelled to leave Plaistow, even before the wheat was garnered.
+Great confidence was placed in Bunce on that occasion, and I have
+reason to believe that it was not misplaced. They were married in
+September yes, in September, although that letter of Will's was
+written in August, and by the beginning of October they had returned
+from their wedding trip to Plaistow. Clara insisted that she should
+be taken to Plaistow, and was very anxious when there to learn all
+the particulars of the farm. She put down in a little book how many
+acres there were in each field, and what was the average produce of
+the land. She made inquiry about four-crop rotation, and endeavoured,
+with Bunce, to go into the great subject of stall-feeding. But Belton
+did not give her as much encouragement as he might have done. 'We'll
+come here for the shooting next year,' he said; 'that is, if there is
+nothing to prevent us.'
+
+'I hope there'll be nothing to prevent us.'
+
+'There might be, perhaps; but we'll always come if there is not. For
+the rest of it, I'll leave it to Bunce, and just run over once or
+twice in the year. It would not be a nice place for you to live at
+long.'
+
+'I like it of all things. I am quite interested about the farm.'
+
+'You'd get very sick of it if you were here in the winter. The truth
+is that if you farm well, you must farm ugly. The picturesque nooks
+and corners have all to be turned inside out, and the hedgerows must
+be abolished, because we want the sunshine. Now, down at Belton, just
+above the house, we won't mind farming well, but will stick to the
+picturesque.'
+
+The new house was immediately commenced at Belton, and was made to
+proceed with all imaginable alacrity. It was supposed at one time at
+least Belton himself said that he so supposed that the building would
+be ready for occupation at the end of the first summer; but this was
+not found to be possible. 'We must put it off till May, after all,'
+said Belton, as he was walking round the unfinished building with
+Colonel Askerton. 'It's an awful bore, but there's no getting people
+really to pull out in this country.'
+
+'I think they've pulled out pretty well. Of course you couldn't have
+gone into a damp house for the winter.'
+
+'Other people can get a house built within twelve months. Look what
+they do in London.'
+
+'And other people with their wives and children die in consequence of
+colds and sore throats and other evils of that nature. I wouldn't go
+into a new house, I know, till I was quite sure it was dry.'
+
+As Will at this time was hardly ten months married, he was not as yet
+justified in thinking about his own wife and children; but he had
+already found it expedient to make arrangements for the autumn, which
+would prevent that annual visit to Plaistow which Clara had
+contemplated, and which he had regarded with his characteristic
+prudence as being subject to possible impediments. He was to be
+absent himself for the first week in September, but was to return
+immediately after that. This he did; and before the end of that month
+he was justified in talking of his wife and family. 'I suppose it
+wouldn't have done to have been moving now under all the
+circumstances,' he said to his friend, Mrs Askerton, as he still
+grumbled about the unfinished house.
+
+'I don't think it would have done at all, under all the
+circumstances,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+But in the following spring or early summer they did get into the new
+house and a very nice house it was, as will, I think, be believed by
+those who have known Mr William Belton. And when they were well
+settled, at which time little Will Belton was some seven or eight
+months old,--little Will, for whom great bonfires had been lit, as
+though his birth in those parts was a matter not to be regarded
+lightly; for was he not the first Belton of Belton who had been born
+there for more than a century?--when that time came visitors appeared
+at the new Belton Castle, visitors of importance, who were entitled
+to, and who received, great consideration. These were no less than
+Captain Aylmer, Member for Perivale, and his newly-married bride,
+Lady Emily Aylmer, _nee_ Tagmaggert. They were then just married, and
+had come down to Belton Castle immediately after their honeymoon
+trip. How it had come to pass that such friendship had sprung up,--or
+rather how it had been revived,--it would be bootless here to say. But
+old affiances, such as that which had existed between the Aylmer and
+the Amedroz families, do not allow themselves to die out easily, and
+it is well for us all that they should be long-lived. So Captain
+Aylmer brought his bride to Belton Park, and a small fatted calf was
+killed, and the Askertons came to dinner on which occasion Captain
+Aylmer behaved very well, though we may imagine that he must have had
+some misgivings on the score of his young wife. The Askertons came to
+dinner, and the old rector, and the squire from a neighbouring
+parish, and everything was very handsome and very dull. Captain
+Aylmer was much pleased with his visit, and declared to Lady Emily
+that marriage had greatly improved Mr. William Belton. Now Will had
+been very dull the whole evening, and very unlike the fiery, violent,
+unreasonable man whom Captain Aylmer remembered to have met at the
+station hotel of the Great Northern Railway.
+
+'I was as sure of it as possible,' Clara said to her husband that
+night.
+
+'Sure of what, my dear?'
+
+'That she would have a red nose.'
+
+'Who has got a red nose?'
+
+'Don't be stupid, Will. Who should have it but Lady Emily?'
+
+'Upon my word I didn't observe it.'
+
+'You never observe anything, Will; do you? But don't you think she is
+very plain?'
+
+'Upon my word I don't know. She isn't as handsome as some people.'
+
+'Don't be a fool, Will. How old do you suppose her to be?' 'How old?
+Let me see. Thirty, perhaps.'
+
+'If she's not over forty, I'll consent to change noses with her.'
+
+'No we won't do that; not if I know it.'
+
+'I cannot conceive why any man should marry such a woman as that. Not
+but what she's a very good woman, I dare say; only what can a man get
+by it? To be sure there's the title, if that's worth anything.' But
+Will Belton was never good for much conversation at this hour, and
+was too fast asleep to make any rejoinder to the last remark.
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Belton Estate, by Anthony Trollope
+(#32 in our series by Anthony Trollope)
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+Title: The Belton Estate
+
+Author: Anthony Trollope
+
+Release Date: January, 2004  [EBook #4969]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002]
+[Most recently updated November 30, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BELTON ESTATE ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Andrew Turek.
+
+
+
+THE BELTON ESTATE
+
+by Anthony Trollope
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Mrs Amedroz, the wife of Bernard Amedroz, Esq, of Belton Castle, and
+mother of Charles and Clara Amedroz, died when those children were only
+eight and six years old, thereby subjecting them to the greatest
+misfortune which children born in that sphere of life can be made to
+suffer. And, in the case of this boy and girl, the misfortune was
+aggravated greatly by the peculiarities of the father's character. Mr
+Amedroz was not a bad man as men are held to be bad in the world's
+esteem. He was not vicious was not a gambler or a drunkard was not
+self-indulgent to a degree that brought upon him any reproach; nor was
+he regardless of his children. But he was an idle, thriftless man, who,
+at the age of sixty-seven, when the reader will first make his
+acquaintance, had as yet done no good in the world whatever. Indeed he
+had done terrible evil; for his son Charles was now dead had perished
+by his own hand and the state of things which had brought about this
+woeful event had been chiefly due to the father's neglect.
+
+Belton Castle is a pretty country seat, standing in a small but
+beautifully wooded park, close under the Quantock hills in
+Somersetshire; and the little town of Belton clusters round the park
+gates. Few Englishmen know the scenery of England well, and the
+prettinesses of Somersetshire are among those which are the least
+known. But the Quantock hills are very lovely, with their rich valleys
+lying close among them, and their outlying moorlands running off
+towards Dulverton and the borders of Devonshire moorlands which are not
+flat, like Salisbury Plain, but are broken into ravines and deep
+watercourses and rugged dells hither and thither; where old oaks are
+standing, in which life seems to have dwindled down to the last spark;
+but the last spark is still there, and the old oaks give forth their
+scanty leaves from year to year.
+
+In among the hills, somewhat off the high road from Minehead to
+Taunton, and about five miles from the sea, stands the little town, or
+village, of Belton, and the modern house of Mr Amedroz, which is called
+Belton Castle. The village for it is in truth no more, though it still
+maintains a charter for a market, and there still exists on Tuesdays
+some pretence of an open sale of grain and butcher's meat in the square
+before the church-gate contains about two thousand persons. That and
+the whole parish of Belton did once and that not long ago belong to the
+Amedroz family. They had inherited it from the Beltons of old, an
+Amedroz having married the heiress of the family. And as the parish is
+large, stretching away to Exmoor on one side and almost to the sea on
+the other, containing the hamlet of Redicote, lying on the Taunton high
+road Redicote, where the post-office is placed, a town almost in
+itself, and one which is now much more prosperous than Belton as the
+property when it came to the first Amedroz had limits such as these,
+the family had been considerable in the county. But these limits had
+been straitened in the days of the grandfather and the father of
+Bernard Amedroz; and he, when he married a Miss Winterfield of Taunton,
+was thought to have done very well, in that mortgages were paid off the
+property with his wife's money to such an extent as to leave him in
+clear possession of an estate that gave him two thousand a year. As Mr
+Amedroz had no grand neighbours near him, as the place is remote and
+the living therefore cheap, and as with this income there was no
+question of annual visits to London, Mr and Mrs Amedroz might have done
+very well with such of the good things of the world as had fallen to
+their lot. And had the wife lived, such would probably have been the
+case; for the Winterfields were known to be prudent people. But Mrs
+Amedroz had died young, and things with Bernard Amedroz had gone badly.
+
+And yet the evil had not been so much with him as with that terrible
+boy of his. The father had been nearly forty when he married. He had
+then never done any good; but as neither had he done much harm, the
+friends of the family had argued well of his future career. After him,
+unless he should leave a son behind him, there would be no Amedroz left
+among the Quantock hills; and by some arrangement in respect to that
+Winterfield money which came to him on his marriage the Winterfields
+having a long-dated connexion with the Beltons of old the Amedroz
+property was, at Bernard's marriage, entailed back upon a distant
+Belton cousin, one Will Belton, whom no one had seen for many years,
+but who was by blood nearer the squire in default of children of his
+own than any other of his relatives. And now Will Belton was the heir
+to Belton Castle; for Charles Amedroz, at the age of twenty-seven, had
+found the miseries of the world to be too many for him, and had put an
+end to them and to himself.
+
+Charles had been a clever fellow a very clever fellow in the eyes of
+his father. Bernard Amedroz knew that he himself was not a clever
+fellow, and admired his son accordingly; and when Charles had been
+expelled from Harrow for some boyish freak in his vengeance against a
+neighbouring farmer, who had reported to the school authorities the
+doings of a few beagles upon his land, Charles had cut off the heads of
+all the trees in a young fir plantation his father was proud of the
+exploit. When he was rusticated a second time from Trinity, and when
+the father received an intimation that his son's name had better be
+taken from the College books, the squire was not so well pleased; but
+even then he found some delight in the stories which reached him of his
+son's vagaries; and when the young man commenced Bohemian life in
+London, his father did nothing to restrain him. Then there came the old
+story debts, endless debts; and lies, endless lies. During the two
+years before his death, his father paid for him, or undertook to pay,
+nearly ten thousand pounds, sacrificing the life assurances which were
+to have made provision for his daughter; sacrificing, to a great
+extent, his own life income sacrificing everything, so that the
+property might not be utterly ruined at his death. That Charles Amedroz
+should be a brighter, greater man than any other Amedroz, had still
+been the father's pride. At the last visit which Charles had paid to
+Belton his father had called upon him to pledge himself solemnly that
+his sister should not be made to suffer by what had been done for him.
+Within a month of that time he had blown his brains out in his London
+lodgings, thus making over the entire property to Will Belton at his
+father's death. At that last pretended settlement with his father and
+his father's lawyer, he had kept back the mention of debts as heavy
+nearly as those to which he had owned; and there were debts of honour,
+too, of which he had not spoken, trusting to the next event at
+Newmarket to set him right. The next event at Newmarket had set him
+more wrong than ever, and so there had come an end to everything with
+Charles Amedroz.
+
+This had happened in the spring, and the afflicted father afflicted
+with the double sorrow of his son's terrible death and his daughter's
+ruin had declared that he would turn his face to the wall and die. But
+the old squire's health, though far from strong, was stronger than he
+had deemed it, and his feelings, sharp enough, were less sharp than he
+thought them; and when a month had passed by, he had discovered that it
+would be better that he should live, in order that his daughter might
+still have bread to eat and a house of her own over her head. Though he
+was now an impoverished man, there was still left to him the means of
+keeping up the old home; and he told himself that it must, if possible,
+be so kept that a few pounds annually might be put by for Clara. The
+old carriage-horses were sold, and the park was let to a farmer, up to
+the hall door of the castle. So much the squire could do; but as to the
+putting by of the few pounds, any dependence on such exertion as that
+on his part would, we may say, be very precarious.
+
+Belton Castle was not in truth a castle. Immediately before the front
+door, so near to the house as merely to allow of a broad road running
+between it and the entrance porch, there stood an old tower, which gave
+its name to the residence an old square tower, up which the Amedroz
+boys for three generations had been able to climb by means of the ivy
+and broken stones in one of the inner corners and this tower was a
+remnant of a real castle that had once protected the village of Belton.
+The house itself was an ugly residence, three stories high, built in
+the time of George II, with low rooms and long passages, and an immense
+number of doors. It was a large unattractive house unattractive that
+is, as regarded its own attributes but made interesting by the beauty
+of the small park in which it stood. Belton Park did not, perhaps,
+contain much above a hundred acres, but the land was so broken into
+knolls and valleys, in so many places was the rock seen to be cropping
+up through the verdure, there were in it so many stunted old oaks, so
+many points of vantage for the lover of scenery, that no one would
+believe it to be other than a considerable domain. The farmer who took
+it, and who would not under any circumstances undertake to pay more
+than seventeen shillings an acre for it, could not be made to think
+that it was in any way considerable. But Belton Park, since first it
+was made a park, had never before been regarded in this fashion. Farmer
+Stovey, of the Grange, was the first man of that class who had ever
+assumed the right to pasture his sheep in Belton chase as the people
+around were still accustomed to call the woodlands of the estate.
+
+It was full summer at Belton, and four months had now passed since the
+dreadful tidings had reached the castle. It was full summer, and the
+people of the village were again going about their ordinary business;
+and the shop-girls with their lovers from Redicote were again to be
+seen walking among the oaks in the park on a Sunday evening; and the
+world in that district of Somersetshire was getting itself back into
+its grooves. The fate of the young heir had disturbed the grooves
+greatly, and had taught many in those parts to feel that the world was
+coming to an end. They had not loved young Amedroz, for he had been
+haughty when among them, and there had been wrongs committed by the
+dissolute young squire, and grief had come from his misdoings upon more
+than one household; but to think that he should have destroyed himself
+with his own hand! And then, to think that Miss Clara would become a
+beggar when the old squire should die! All the neighbours around
+understood the whole history of the entail, and knew that the property
+was to go to Will Belton. Now Will Belton was not a gentleman! So, at
+least, said the Belton folk, who had heard that the heir had been
+brought up as a farmer somewhere in Norfolk. Will Belton had once been
+at the Castle as a boy, now some fifteen years ago, and then there had
+sprung up a great quarrel between him and his distant cousin Charles
+and Will, who was rough and large of stature, had thrashed the smaller
+boy severely; and the thing had grown to have dimensions larger than
+those which generally attend the quarrels of boys; and Will had said
+something which had shown how well he understood his position in
+reference to the estate and Charles had hated him. So Will had gone,
+and had been no more seen among the oaks whose name he bore. And the
+people, in spite of his name, regarded him as an interloper. To them,
+with their short memories and scanty knowledge of the past, Amedroz was
+more honourable than Belton, and they looked upon the coming man as an
+intruder. Why should not Miss Clara have the property? Miss Clara had
+never done harm to any one!
+
+Things got back into their old grooves, and at the end of the third
+month the squire was once more seen in the old family pew at church. He
+was a large man, who had been very handsome, and who now, in his yellow
+leaf, was not without a certain beauty of manliness. He wore his hair
+and his beard long; before his son's death they were grey, but now they
+were very white. And though he stooped, there was still a dignity in
+his slow step a dignity that came to him from nature rather than from
+any effort. He was a man who, in fact, did little or nothing in the
+world whose life had been very useless; but he had been gifted with
+such a presence that he looked as though he were one of God's nobler
+creatures. Though always dignified he was ever affable, and the poor
+liked him better than they might have done had he passed his time in
+searching out their wants and supplying them. They were proud of their
+squire, though he had done nothing for them. It was something to them
+to have a man who could so carry himself sitting in the family pew in
+their parish church. They knew that he was poor, but they all declared
+that he was never mean. He was a real gentleman was this last Amedroz
+of the family; therefore they curtsied low, and bowed on his
+reappearance among them, and made all those signs of reverential awe
+which are common to the poor when they feel reverence for the presence
+of a superior.
+
+Clara was there with him, but she had shown herself in the pew for four
+or five weeks before this. She had not been at home when the fearful
+news had reached Belton, being at that time with a certain lady who
+lived on the farther side of the county, at Perivale a certain Mrs
+Winterfield, born a Folliot, a widow, who stood to Miss Amedroz in the
+place of an aunt. Mrs Winterfield was, in truth, the sister of a
+gentleman who had married Clara's aunt there having been marriages and
+intermarriages between the Winterfields and the Folliots and the
+Belton-Amedroz families. With this lady in Perivale, which I maintain
+to be the dullest little town in England, Miss Amedroz was staying when
+the news reached her father, and when it was brought direct from London
+to herself. Instantly she had hurried home, taking the journey with all
+imaginable speed though her heart was all but broken within her bosom.
+She had found her father stricken to the ground, and it was the more
+necessary, therefore, that she should exert herself. It would not do
+that she also should yield to that longing for death which terrible
+calamities often produce for a season.
+
+Clara Amedroz, when she first heard. the news of her brother's fate,
+had felt that she was for ever crushed to the ground. She had known too
+well what had been the nature of her brother's life, but she had not
+expected or feared any such termination to his career as this which had
+now come upon him to the terrible affliction of all belonging to him.
+She felt at first, as did also her father, that she and he were
+annihilated as regards this world, not only by an enduring grief, but
+also by a disgrace which would never allow her again to hold up her
+head. And for many a long year much of this feeling clung to her clung
+to her much more strongly than to her father. But strength was hers to
+perceive, even before she had reached her home, that it was her duty to
+repress both the feeling of shame and the sorrow, as far as they were
+capable of repression. Her brother had been weak, and in his weakness
+had sought a coward's escape from the ills of the world around him. She
+must not also be a coward! Bad as life might be to her henceforth, she
+must endure it with such fortitude as she could muster. So resolving
+she returned to her father, and was able to listen to his railings with
+a fortitude that was essentially serviceable both to him and to herself.
+
+'Both of you! Both of you!' the unhappy father had said in his woe.
+'The wretched boy has destroyed you as much as himself!' 'No, sir,' she
+had answered, with a forbearance in her misery, which, terrible as was
+the effort, she forced herself to accomplish for his sake. 'It is not
+so. No thought of that need add to your grief. My poor brother has not
+hurt me not in the way you mean.' 'He has ruined us all,' said the
+father; 'root and branch, man and woman, old and young, house and land.
+He has brought the family to an end ah me, to such an end!' After that
+the name of him who had taken himself from among them was not mentioned
+between the father and daughter, and Clara settled herself to the
+duties of her new life, striving to live as though there was no great
+sorrow around her as though no cloud-storm had burst over her head.
+
+The family lawyer, who lived at Taunton, had communicated the fact of
+Charles's death to Mr Belton, and Belton had acknowledged the letter
+with the ordinary expressions of regret. The lawyer had alluded to the
+entail, saying that it was improbable that Mr Amedroz would have
+another son. To this Belton had replied that for his cousin Clara's
+sake he hoped that the squire's life might be long spared. The lawyer
+smiled as he read the wish, thinking to himself that luckily no wish on
+the part of Will Belton could influence his old client either for good
+or evil. What man, let alone what lawyer, will ever believe in the
+sincerity of such a wish as that expressed by the heir to a property?
+And yet where is the man who will not declare to himself that such,
+under such circumstances, would be his own wish?
+
+Clara Amedroz at this time was not a very young lady. She had already
+passed her twenty-fifth birthday, and in manners, appearance, and
+habits was, at any rate, as old as her age. She made no pretence to
+youth, speaking of herself always as one whom circumstances required to
+take upon herself age in advance of her years. She did not dress young,
+or live much with young people, or correspond with other girls by means
+of crossed letters; nor expect that, for her, young pleasures should be
+provided. Life had always been serious with her; but now, we may say,
+since the terrible tragedy lit the family, it must be solemn as well as
+serious. The memory of her brother must always be upon her; and the
+memory also of the fact that her father was now an impoverished man, on
+whose behalf it was her duty to care that every shilling spent in the
+house did its full twelve pennies' worth of work. There was a mixture
+in this of deep tragedy and of little cares, which seemed to destroy
+for her the poetry as well as the pleasure of life. The poetry and
+tragedy might have gone hand in hand together; and so might the cares
+and pleasures of life have done, had there been no black sorrow of
+which she must be ever mindful. But it was her lot to have to
+scrutinize the butcher's bill as she was thinking of her brother's
+fate; and to work daily among small household things while the spectre
+of her brother's corpse was ever before her eyes.
+
+A word must be said to explain how it had come to pass that the life
+led by Miss Amedroz had been more than commonly serious before that
+tragedy had befallen the family. The name of the lady who stood to
+Clara in the place of an aunt has been already mentioned. When a girl
+has a mother, her aunt may be little or nothing to her. But when the
+mother is gone, if there be an aunt unimpeded with other family duties,
+then the family duties of that aunt begin and are assumed sometimes
+with great vigour. Such had been the case with Mrs Winterfield. No
+woman ever lived, perhaps, with more conscientious ideas of her duty as
+a woman than Mrs Winterfield of Prospect Place, Perivale. And this, as
+I say it, is intended to convey no scoff against that excellent lady.
+She was an excellent lady unselfish, given to self-restraint, generous,
+pious, looking to find in her religion a safe path through life a path
+as safe as the facts of Adam's fall would allow her feet to find. She
+was a woman fearing much for others, but fearing also much for herself,
+striving to maintain her house in godliness, hating sin, and struggling
+with the weakness of her humanity so that she might not allow herself
+to hate the sinners. But her hatred for the sin she found herself bound
+at all times to pronounce to show it by some act at all seasons. To
+fight the devil was her work was the appointed work of every living
+soul, if only living souls could be made to acknowledge the necessity
+of the task. Now an aunt of that kind, when she assumes her duties
+towards a motherless niece, is apt to make life serious.
+
+But, it will be said, Clara Amedroz could have rebelled; and Clara's
+father was hardly made of such stuff that obedience to the aunt would
+be enforced on her by parental authority. Doubtless Clara could have
+rebelled against her aunt. Indeed, I do not know that she had hitherto
+been very obedient. But there were family facts about these Winterfield
+connexions which would have made it difficult for her to ignore her
+so-called aunt, even had she wished to do so. Mrs Winterfield had
+twelve hundred a year at her own disposal, and she was the only person
+related to the Amedroz family from whom Mr Amedroz had a right to have
+expectations on his daughter's behalf. Clara had, in a measure, been
+claimed by the lady, and the father had made good the lady's claim, and
+Clara had acknowledged that a portion of her life was due to the
+demands of Perivale. These demands had undoubtedly made her life
+serious.
+
+Life at Perivale was a very serious thing. As regards amusement,
+ordinarily so called, the need of any such institution was not
+acknowledged at Prospect House. Food, drink, and raiment were
+acknowledged to be necessary to humanity, and, in accordance with the
+rules of that house, they were supplied in plenty, and good of their
+kind. Such ladies as Mrs Winterfield generally keep good tables,
+thinking no doubt that the eatables should do honour to the grace that
+is said for them. And Mrs Winterfield herself always wore a thick black
+silk dress not rusty or dowdy with age but with some gloss of the silk
+on it; giving away, with secret, underhand, undiscovered charity, her
+old dresses to another lady of her own sort, on whom fortune had not
+bestowed twelve hundred a year. And Mrs Winterfield kept a low,
+four-wheeled, one-horsed phaeton, in which she made her pilgrimages
+among the poor of Perivale, driven by the most solemn of stable-boys,
+dressed up in a great white coat, the most priggish of hats, and white
+cotton gloves. At the rate of five miles an hour was she driven about,
+and this driving was to her the amusement of life. But such an
+occupation to Clara Amedroz assisted to make life serious.
+
+In person Mrs Winterfield was tall and thin, wearing on her brow thin
+braids of false hair. She had suffered much from acute ill health, and
+her jaws were sunken, and her eyes were hollow, and there was a look of
+woe about her which seemed ever to be telling of her own sorrows in
+this world and of the sorrows of others in the world to come.
+Ill-nature was written on her face, but in this her face was a false
+face. She had the manners of a cross, peevish woman; but her manners
+also were false, and gave no proper idea of her character. But still,
+such as she was, she made life very serious to those who were called
+upon to dwell with her.
+
+I need, I hope, hardly say that a young lady such as Miss Amedroz, even
+though she had reached the age of twenty-five for at the time to which
+I am now alluding she had nearly done so and was not young of her age,
+had formed for herself no plan of life in which her aunt's money
+figured as a motive power. She had gone to Perivale when she was very
+young, because she had been told to do so, and had continued to go,
+partly from obedience, partly from habit, and partly from affection. An
+aunt's. dominion, when once well established in early years, cannot
+easily be thrown altogether aside even though a young lady have a will
+of her own. Now Clara Amedroz had a strong will of her own, and did not
+at all at any rate in these latter days belong to that school of
+divinity in which her aunt shone almost as a professor. And this
+circumstance, also, added to the seriousness of her life. But in regard
+to her aunt's money she had entertained no established hopes; and when
+her aunt opened her mind to her, on that subject, a few days before the
+arrival of the fatal news at Perivale, Clara, though she was somewhat
+surprised, was by no means disappointed. Now there was a certain
+Captain Aylmer in the question, of whom in this opening chapter it will
+be necessary to say a few words.
+
+Captain Frederic Folliott Aylmer was, in truth, the nephew of Mrs
+Winterfield, whereas Clara Amedroz was not, in truth, her niece. And
+Captain Aylmer was also Member of Parliament for the little borough of
+Perivale, returned altogether on the Low Church interest for a devotion
+to which, and for that alone, Perivale was noted among boroughs. These
+facts together added not a little to Mrs Winterfield's influence and
+professorial power in the place, and gave a dignity to the one-horse
+chaise which it might not otherwise have possessed. But Captain Aylmer
+was only the second son of his father, Sir Anthony Aylmer, who had
+married a Miss Folliott, sister of our Mrs Winterfield. On Frederic
+Aylmer his mother's estate was settled. That and Mrs Winterfield's
+property lay in the neighbourhood of Perivale; and now, on the occasion
+to which I am alluding, Mrs Winterfield thought it necessary to tell
+Clara that the property must all go together. She had thought about it,
+and had doubted about it, and had prayed about it, and now she found
+that such a disposition of it was her duty.
+
+'I am quite sure you're right, aunt,' Clara had said. She knew very
+well what had come of that provision which her father had attempted to
+make for her, and knew also how great were her father's expectations in
+regard to Mrs Winterfield's money.
+
+'I hope I am; but I have thought it right to tell you. I shall feel
+myself bound to tell Frederic. I have had many doubts, but I think I am
+right.'
+
+'I am sure you are, aunt. What would he think of me if, at some future
+time, he should have to find that I had been in his way?'
+
+'The future time will not be long now, my dear.'
+
+'I hope it may; but long or short, it is better so.'
+
+'I think it is, my dear; I think it is. I think it is my duty.'
+
+It must be understood that Captain Aylmer was member for Perivale on
+the Low Church interest, and that, therefore, when at Perivale he was
+decidedly a Low Churchman. I am not aware that the peculiarity stuck to
+him very closely at Aylmer Castle, in Yorkshire, or among his friends
+in London; but there was no hypocrisy in this, as the world goes. Women
+in such matters are absolutely false if they be not sincere; but men,
+with political views, and with much of their future prospects in
+jeopardy also, are allowed to dress themselves differently for
+different scenes. Whatever be the peculiar interest on which a man goes
+into Parliament, of course he has to live up to that in his own
+borough. Whether malt, the franchise, or teetotalism be his rallying
+point, of course he is full of it when among his constituents. But it
+is not desirable that he should be full of it also at his club. Had
+Captain Aylmer become Prime Minister, he would no doubt have made Low
+Church bishops. It was the side to which he had taken himself in that
+matter not without good reasons. And he could say a sharp word or two
+in season about vestments; he was strong against candles, and fought
+for his side fairly well. No one had good right to complain of Captain
+Aylmer as being insincere; but had his aunt known the whole history of
+her nephew's life, I doubt whether she would have made him her heir
+thinking that in doing so she was doing the best for the good cause.
+
+The whole history of her niece's life she did know, and she knew that
+Clara was not with her, heart and soul. Had Clara left the old woman in
+doubt on this subject, she would have been a hypocrite. Captain Aylmer
+did not often spend a Sunday at Perivale, but when he did, he went to
+church three times, and submitted himself to the yoke. He was thinking
+of the borough votes quite as much as of his aunt's money, and was
+carrying on his business after the fashion of men But Clara found
+herself compelled to maintain some sort of a fight, though she also
+went to church three times on Sunday. And there was another reason why
+Mrs Winterfield thought it right to mention Captain Aylmer's name to
+her niece on this occasion.
+
+'I had hoped', she said, 'that it might make no difference in what way
+my money was left.'
+
+Clara well understood what this meant, as will, probably, the reader
+also. 'I can't say but what it will make a difference,' she answered,
+smiling; 'but I shall always think that you have done right. Why should
+I stand in Captain Aylmer's way?'
+
+'I had hoped your ways might have been the same,' said the old lady,
+fretfully.
+
+'But they cannot be the same.'
+
+'No; you do not see things as he sees them. Things that are serious to
+him are, I fear, only light to you. Dear Clara, would I could see you
+more in earnest as to the only matter that is worth our earnestness.'
+Miss Amedroz said nothing as to the Captain's earnestness, though,
+perhaps, her ideas as to his ideas about religion were more correct
+than those held by Mrs Winterfield. But it would not have suited her to
+raise any argument on that subject. 'I pray for you, Clara,' continued
+the old lady, 'and will do so as long as the power of prayer is left to
+me. I hope I hope you do not cease to pray for yourself?'
+
+'I endeavour, aunt.'
+
+'It is an endeavour which, if really made, never fails.' Clara said
+nothing more, and her aunt also remained silent. Soon afterwards, the
+four-wheeled carriage, with the demure stable-boy, came to the door,
+and Clara was driven up and down through the streets of Perivale in a
+manner which was an injury to her. She knew that she was suffering an
+injustice, but it was one of which she could not make complaint. She
+submitted to her aunt, enduring the penances that were required of her;
+and, therefore, her aunt had opportunity enough to see her
+shortcomings. Mrs Winterfield did see them, and judged her accordingly.
+Captain Aylmer, being a man and a Member of Parliament, was called upon
+to bear no such penances, and, therefore, his shortcomings were not
+suspected.
+
+But, after all, what title had she ever possessed to entertain
+expectations from Mrs Winterfield? When she thought of it all in her
+room that night, she told herself that it was strange that her aunt
+should have spoken to her in such a way on such a subject. But, then,
+so much had been said to her on the matter by her father, so much, no
+doubt, had reached her aunt's ears also, the hope that her position
+with reference to the rich widow at Perivale might be beneficial to her
+had been so often discussed at Belton as a make-weight against the
+extravagances of the heir, there had already been so much of this
+mistake, that she taught herself to perceive that the communication was
+needed. 'In her honesty 'she has not chosen to leave me with false
+hopes,' said Clara to herself. And at that moment she loved her aunt
+for her honesty.
+
+Then, on the day but one following this conversation as to the destiny
+of her aunt's property, came the terrible tidings of her brother's
+death. Captain Aylmer, who had been in London at the time, hurried down
+to Perivale, and had been the first to tell Miss Amedroz what had
+happened. The words spoken between them had not been many, but Clara
+knew that Captain Aylmer had been kind to her; and when he had offered
+to accompany her to Belton, she had thanked him with a degree of
+gratitude which had almost seemed to imply more of regard between them
+than Clara would have acknowledged to exist. But in moments such as
+those, soft words may be spoken and hands may be pressed without any of
+that meaning which soft words and the grasping of hands generally carry
+with them. As far as Taunton Captain Aylmer did go with Miss Amedroz,
+and there they parted, he on his journey up to town, and she for her
+father's desolate house at Belton.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HEIR PROPOSES TO VISIT HIS COUSIN
+
+It was full summer at Belton, and the sweet scene of the new hay
+filled the porch of the old house with fragrance, as Clara sat there
+alone with her work. Immediately before the house door, between that
+and the old tower, there stood one of Farmer Stovey's hay-carts, now
+empty, with an old horse between the shafts looking as though he were
+asleep in the sun. Immediately beyond the tower the men were loading
+another cart, and the women and children were chattering as they raked
+the scattered remnants up to the rows. tinder the shadow of the old
+tower, but in sight of Clara as she sat in the porch, there lay the
+small beer-barrels of the hay-makers, and three or four rakes were
+standing erect against the old grey wall. It was now eleven o'clock,
+and Clara was waiting for her father, who was not yet out of his room.
+She had taken his breakfast to him in bed, as was her custom; for he
+had fallen into idle ways, and the luxury of his bed was, of all his
+remaining luxuries, the one that he liked the best. After a while he
+came down to her, having an open letter in his hand. Clara saw that he
+intended either to show it to her or to speak of it, and asked him
+therefore, with some tone of interest in her voice, from whom it had
+come. But Mr Amedroz was fretful at the moment, and instead of
+answering her began to complain of his tenant's ill-usage of him.
+
+'What has he got his cart there for? I haven't let him the road up to
+the hall door. I suppose he will bring his things into the parlour
+next.'
+
+'I rather like it, papa.'
+
+'Do you? I can only say that you're lucky in your tastes. I don't like
+it, I can tell you.'
+
+'Mr Stovey is out there. Shall I ask him to have the things moved
+farther off?'
+
+'No, my dear no. I must bear it, as I do all the rest of it. What does
+it matter? There'll be an end of it soon. He pays his rent, and I
+suppose he is right to do as he pleases. But I can't say that I like
+it.'
+
+'Am I to see the letter, papa?' she asked, wishing to turn his mind
+from the subject of the hay-cart.
+
+'Well, yes. I brought it for you to see; though perhaps I should be
+doing better if I burned it, and said nothing more about it. It is a
+most impudent production; and heartless very heartless.'
+
+Clara was accustomed to such complaints as these from her father.
+Everything that everybody did around him he would call heartless. The
+man pitied himself so much in his own misery, that he expected to live
+in an atmosphere of pity from others; and though the pity doubtless was
+there, he misdoubted it. He thought that Farmer Stovey was cruel in
+that he had left the hay-cart near the house, to wound his eyes by
+reminding him that he was no longer master of the ground before his own
+hall door. He thought that the women and children were cruel to chatter
+so near his ears. He almost accused his daughter of cruelty, because
+she had told him that she liked the contiguity of the hay-making. Under
+such circumstances as those which enveloped him and her, was it not
+heartless in her to like anything? It seemed to him that the whole
+world of Belton should be drowned in woe because of his misery.
+
+'Where is it from, papa?' she asked.
+
+'There, you may read it. Perhaps it is better that you should know that
+it has been written.' Then she read the letter, which was as follows
+
+'Plaistow Hall
+
+July, 186'
+
+Though she had never before seen the handwriting, she knew at once from
+whence came the letter, for she had often heard of Plaistow Hall. It
+was the name of the farm at which her distant cousin, Will Belton,
+lived, and her father had more than once been at the trouble of
+explaining to her, that though the place was called a hall, the house
+was no more than a farmhouse. He had never seen Plaistow Hall, and had
+never been in Norfolk; but so much he could take upon himself to say,
+'They call all the farms halls down there.' It was not wonderful that
+he should dislike his heir; and perhaps not unnatural that he should
+show his dislike after this fashion. Clara, when she read the address,
+looked up into her father's face. 'You know who it is now,' he said.
+And then she read the letter.
+
+'Plaistow Hall
+
+July, 186
+
+I have not written to you before since your bereavement, thinking it
+better to wait awhile; but I hope you have not taken me to be unkind in
+this, or have supposed me to be unmindful of your sorrow. Now I take up
+my pen, hoping that I may make you understand how greatly I was
+distressed by what has occurred. I believe I am now the nearest male
+relative that you have, and as such I am very anxious to be of service
+to you if it may be possible. Considering the closeness of our
+connexion, and my position in reference to the property, it seems bad
+that we should never meet. I can assure you that you would find me very
+friendly if we could manage to come together.
+
+I should think nothing of running across to Belton, if you would
+receive me at your house. I could come very well before harvest, if
+that would suit you, and would stay with you for a week. Pray give my
+kindest regards to my cousin Clara, whom I can only just remember as a
+very little girl. She was with her aunt at Perivale when I was at
+Belton as a boy. She shall find a friend in me if she wants a friend.
+
+Your affectionate cousin,
+
+W. BELTON.'
+
+Clara read the letter very slowly, so that she might make herself sure
+of its tone and bearing before she was called upon by her father to
+express her feeling respecting it. She knew that she would be expected
+to abuse it violently, and to accuse the writer of vulgarity,
+insolence, and cruelty, but she had already learned that she must not
+allow herself to accede to all her father's fantasies. For his sake,
+and for his protection, it was necessary that she should differ from
+him, and even contradict him. Were she not to do so, he would fall into
+a state of wailing and complaining that would exaggerate itself almost
+to idiotcy. And it was imperative that she herself should exercise her
+own opinion on many points, almost without reference to him. She alone
+knew how utterly destitute she would be when he should die. He, in the
+first days of his agony, had sobbed forth his remorse as to her ruin;
+but, even when doing so, he had comforted himself with the remembrance
+of Miss Winterfield's money and Mrs Winterfield's affection for his
+daughter. And the aunt, when she had declared her purpose to Clara, had
+told herself that the provision made for Clara by her father was
+sufficient. To neither of them had Clara told her own position. She
+could not inform her aunt that her father had given up to the poor
+reprobate who had destroyed himself all that had been intended for her.
+Had she done so she would have been asking her aunt for charity. Nor
+would she bring herself to add to her father's misery, by destroying
+the hopes which still supported him. She never spoke of her own
+position in regard to money, but she knew that it had become her duty
+to live a wary, watchful life, taking much upon herself in their
+impoverished household, and holding her own opinion against her
+father's when her doing so became expedient. So she finished the letter
+in silence, and did not speak at the moment when the movement of her
+eyes declared that she had completed the task.
+
+'Well?' said he.
+
+'I do not think my cousin means badly.'
+
+'You don't! I do, then. I think he means very badly. What business has
+he to write to me, talking of his position?'
+
+'I can't see anything amiss in his doing so, papa. I think he wishes to
+be friendly. The property will be his some day, and I don't see why
+that should not be mentioned, when there is occasion.'
+
+'Upon my word, Clara, you surprise me. But women never understood
+delicacy in regard to money. They have so little to do with it, and
+think so little about it, that they have no occasion for such delicacy.'
+
+Clara could not help the thought that to her mind the subject was
+present with sufficient frequency to make delicacy very desirable, if
+only it were practicable. But of this she said nothing. 'And what
+answer will you send to him, papa?' she asked.
+
+'None at all. Why should I trouble myself to write to him?'
+
+'I will take the trouble off your hands.'
+
+'And what will you say to him?'
+
+'I will ask him to come here, as he proposes.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Why not, papa? He is the heir to the property, and why should he not
+be permitted to see it? There are many things in which his co-operation
+with you might be a comfort to you. I can't tell you whether the
+tenants and people are treating you well, but he can do so; and,
+moreover, I think he means to be kind. I do not see why we should
+quarrel with our cousin because he is the heir to your property. It is
+not through any doing of his own that he is so.'
+
+This reasoning had no effect upon Mr Amedroz, but his daughter's
+resolution carried the point against him in spite of his want of
+reason. No letter was written that day, or on the next; but on the day
+following a formal note was sent off by Clara, in which Mr Belton was
+told that Mr Amedroz would be happy to receive him at Belton Castle.
+The letter was written by the daughter, but the father was responsible
+for the formality. He sat over her while she wrote it, and nearly drove
+her distracted by discussing every word and phrase. At last, Clara was
+so annoyed with her own production, that she was almost tempted to
+write another letter unknown to her father; but the formal note went.
+
+'My Dear Sir
+
+'I am desired by my father to say that he will be happy to receive you
+at Belton Castle, at the time fixed by yourself.
+
+Yours truly,
+
+CLARA AMEDROZ.'
+
+There was no more than that, but that had the desired effect; and by
+return of post there came a rejoinder saying that Will Belton would be
+at the Castle on the fifteenth of August. 'They can do without me for
+about ten days,' he said in his postscript, writing in a familiar tone,
+which did not seem to have been at all checked by the coldness of his
+cousin's note 'as our harvest will be late; but I must be back for a
+week's work before the partridges.'
+
+'Heartless! quite heartless!' Mr Amedroz said as he read this.
+'Partridges! to talk of partridges at such a time as this!'
+
+Clara, however, would not acknowledge that she agreed with her father;
+but she could not altogether restrain a feeling on her own part that
+her cousin's good humour towards her and Mr Amedroz should have been
+repressed by the tone of her letter to him. The man was to come,
+however, and she would not judge of him until he was there.
+
+In one house in the neighbourhood, and in only one, had Miss Amedroz a
+friend with whom she was intimate; and as regarded even this single
+friend, the intimacy was the effect rather of circumstances than of
+real affection. She liked Mrs Askerton, and saw her almost daily; but
+she could hardly tell herself that she loved her neighbour.
+
+In the little town of Belton, close to the church, there stood a
+pretty, small house, called Belton Cottage. It was so near the church
+that strangers always supposed it to be the parsonage; but the rectory
+stood away out in. the country, half a mile from the town, on the road
+to Redicote, and was a large house, three stories high, with grounds of
+its own, and very ugly. Here lived the old bachelor rector, seventy
+years of age, given much to long absences when he could achieve them,
+and never on good terms with his bishop. His two curates lived at
+Redicote, where there was a second church. Belton Cottage, which was
+occupied by Colonel Askerton and Mrs Askerton, was on the Amedroz
+property, and had been hired some two years since by the Colonel, who
+was then a stranger in the country and altogether unknown to the Belton
+people. But he had come there for shooting, and therefore his coming
+had been understood. Even as long ago as two years since, there had
+been neither use nor propriety in keeping the shooting for the squire's
+son, and it had been let with the cottage to Colonel Askerton. So
+Colonel Askerton had come there with his wife, and no one in the
+neighbourhood had known anything about them. Mr Amedroz, with his
+daughter, had called upon them, and gradually there had grown up an
+intimacy between Clara and Mrs Askerton. There was an opening from the
+garden of Belton Cottage into the park, so that familiar intercourse
+was easy, and Mrs Askerton was a woman who knew well how to make
+herself pleasant to such another woman as Miss Amedroz.
+
+The reader may as well know at ones that rumours prejudicial to the
+Askertons reached Belton before they had been established there for six
+months. At Taunton, which was twenty miles distant, these rumours were
+very rife, and there were people there who knew with accuracy though
+probably without a grain of truth in their accuracy every detail in the
+history of Mrs Askerton's life. And something, too, reached Clara's
+ears something from old Mr Wright, the rector, who loved scandal, and
+was very ill-natured. 'A very nice woman,' the rector had said; 'but
+she does not seem to have any belongings in particular.' 'She has got a
+husband,' Clara had replied with some little indignation, for she had
+never loved Mr Wright. 'Yes; I suppose she has got a husband.' Then
+Clara had, in her own judgment, accused the rector of lying,
+evil-speaking, and slandering, and had increased the measure of her
+cordiality to Mrs Askerton. But something more she had heard on the
+same subject at Perivale. 'Before you throw yourself into close
+intimacy with the lady, I think you should know something about her,'
+Mrs Winterfield had said to her. ' I do know something about her; I
+know that she has the manners and education of a lady, and that she is
+living affectionately with her husband, who is devoted to her. What
+more ought I to know?' 'If you really do know all that, you know a
+great deal,' Mrs Winterfield had replied.
+
+'Do you know anything against her, aunt?' Clara asked, after a pause.
+
+There was another pause before Mrs Winterfield answered. 'No, my dear;
+I cannot say that I do. But I think that young ladies, before they make
+intimate friendships, should be very sure of their friends.'
+
+'You have already acknowledged that I know a great deal about her,'
+Clara replied. And then the conversation was at an end. Clara had not
+been quite ingenuous, as she acknowledged to herself. She was aware
+that her aunt would not permit herself to repeat rumours as to the
+truth of which she had no absolute knowledge. She understood that the
+weakness of her aunt's caution was due to the old lady's sense of
+charity and dislike of slander. But Clara had buckled on her armour for
+Mrs Askerton, and was glad, therefore, to achieve her little victory.
+When we buckle on our armour in any cause, we are apt to go on buckling
+it, let the cause become as weak as it may; and Clara continued her
+intimacy with Mrs Askerton, although there was something in the lady's
+modes of speech, and something also in her modes of thinking, which did
+not quite satisfy the aspirations of Miss Amedroz as to a friend.
+
+Colonel Askerton himself was a pleasant, quiet man, who seemed to be
+contented with the life which he was leading. For six weeks in April
+and May he would go up to town, leaving Mrs Askerton at the cottage as
+to which, probably jovial, absence in the metropolis there seemed to be
+no spirit of grudging on the part of the wife. On the first of
+September a friend would come to the cottage and remain there for six
+weeks' shooting: and during the winter the Colonel and his wife always
+went to Paris for a fortnight. Such had been their life for the last
+two years; and thus so said Mrs Askerton to Clara did they intend to
+live as long as they could keep the cottage at Belton. Society at
+Belton they had none, and as they said desired none. Between them and
+Mr Wright there was only a speaking acquaintance. The married curate at
+Redicote would not let his wife call on Mrs Askerton, and the unmarried
+curate was a hard-worked, clerical hack a parochial minister at all
+times and seasons, who went to no houses except the houses of the poor,
+and who would hold communion with no man, and certainly with no woman,
+who would not put up with clerical admonitions for Sunday backslidings.
+Mr Amedroz himself neither received guests nor went as a guest to other
+men's houses. He would occasionally stand for a while at the gate of
+the Colonel's garden, and repeat the list of his own woes as long as
+his neighbour would stand there to hear it. But there was no society at
+Belton, and Clara, as far as she herself was aware, was the only person
+with whom Mrs Askerton held any social intercourse, except what she
+might have during her short annual holiday in Paris.
+
+'Of course, you are right,' she said, when Clara told her of the
+proposed coming of Mr Belton. 'If he turn out to be a good fellow, you
+will have gained a great deal. And should he be a bad, fellow, you will
+have lost nothing. In either case you will know him, and considering
+how he stands towards you, that itself is desirable.'
+
+'But if he should annoy papa?'
+
+'In your papa's condition, my dear, the coming of any one will annoy
+him. At least, he will say so; though I do not in the least doubt that
+he will like the excitement better even than you will.'
+
+'I can't say there will be much excitement to me.'
+
+'No excitement in a young man's coming into the house! Without shocking
+your propriety, allow me to say that that is impossible. Of course, he
+is coming to see whether he can't make matters all right by marrying
+you.'
+
+'That's nonsense, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'Very well. Let it be nonsense. But why shouldn't he? It's just what he
+ought to do. He hasn't got a wife; and, as far as I know, you haven't
+got a lover.'
+
+'I certainly have not got a lover.'
+
+'Our religious nephew at Perivale does not seem to be of any use.'
+
+'I wish, Mrs Askerton, you would not speak of Captain Aylmer in that
+way. I don't know any man whom I like so much, or at any rate better,
+than Captain Aylmer; but I hate the idea that no girl can become
+acquainted with an unmarried man without having her name mentioned with
+his, and having to hear ill-natured remarks of that kind.'
+
+'I hope you will learn to like this other man much better. Think how
+nice it will be to be mistress of the old place after all. And then to
+go back to the old family name! If I were you I would make up my mind
+not to let him leave the place till I had brought him to my feet.'
+
+'If you go on like that I will not speak to you about him again.'
+
+'Or rather not to my feet for gentlemen have laid aside the humble way
+of making love for the last twenty years at least; but I don't know
+whether the women haven't gained quite as much by the change as the
+men.'
+
+'As I know nothing will stop you when you once get into a vein of that
+kind, I shall go,' said Clara. 'And till this man has come and gone I
+shall not mention his name again in your presence.'
+
+'So be it,' said Mrs Askerton; 'but as I will promise to say nothing
+more about him, you need not go on his account.' But Clara had got up,
+and did leave the cottage at once.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WILL BELTON
+
+Mr Belton came to the castle, and nothing further had been said at the
+cottage about his coming. Clara had seen Mrs Askerton in the meantime
+frequently, but that lady had kept her promise almost to Clara's
+disappointment. For she though she had in truth disliked the
+proposition that her cousin could be coming with any special views with
+reference to herself had nevertheless sufficient curiosity about the
+stranger to wish to talk about him. Her father, indeed, mentioned
+Belton's name very frequently, saying something with reference to him
+every time he found himself in his daughter's presence. A dozen times
+he said that the man was heartless to come to the house at such a time,
+and he spoke of his cousin always as though the man were guilty of a
+gross injustice in being heir to the property. But not the less on that
+account did he fidget himself about the room in which Belton was to
+sleep, about the food that Belton was to eat, and especially about the
+wine that Belton was to drink. What was he to do for wine? The stock of
+wine in the cellars at Belton Castle was, no doubt, very low. The
+squire himself drank a glass or two of port daily, and had some remnant
+of his old treasures by him, which might perhaps last him his time; and
+occasionally there came small supplies of sherry from the grocer at
+Taunton; but Mr Amedroz pretended to think that Will Belton would want
+champagne and claret and he would continue to make these suggestions in
+spite of his own repeated complaints that the man was no better than an
+ordinary farmer. 'I've no doubt he'll like beer,' said Clara. 'Beer!'
+said her father, and then stopped himself, as though. he were lost in
+doubt whether it would best suit him to scorn his cousin for having so
+low a taste as that suggested on his behalf, or to ridicule his
+daughter's idea that the household difficulty admitted of so convenient
+a solution.
+
+The day of the arrival at last came, and Clara certainly was in a
+twitter, although she had steadfastly resolved that she would be in no
+twitter at all. She had told her aunt by letter of the proposed visit,
+and Mrs Winterfield had expressed her approbation, saying that she
+hoped it would lead to good results. Of what good results could her
+aunt be thinking? The one probable good result would surely. be this
+that relations so nearly connected should know each other. Why should
+there be any fuss made about such a visit? But, nevertheless, Clara,
+though she made no outward fuss, knew that inwardly she was not as calm
+about the man's coming as she would have wished herself to be.
+
+He arrived about five o'clock in a gig from Taunton. Five was the
+ordinary dinner hour at Belton, but it had been postponed till six on
+this day, in the hope that the cousin might make his appearance at any
+rate by that hour. Mr Amedroz had uttered various complaints as to the
+visitor's heartlessness in not having written to name the hour of his
+arrival, and was manifestly intending to make the most of the grievance
+should he not present himself before six but this indulgence was cut
+short by the sound of the gig wheels. Mr Amedroz and his daughter were
+sitting in a small drawing-room which looked out to the front of the
+house, and he, seated in his accustomed chair near the window, could
+see the arrival. For a moment or two he remained quiet in his chair, as
+though he would not allow so insignificant a thing as his cousin's
+coming to ruffle him but he could not maintain this dignified
+indifference, and before Belton was out of the gig he had shuffled out
+into the hall.
+
+Clara followed her father almost unconsciously, and soon found herself
+shaking hands with a big man, over six feet high, broad in the
+shoulders, large limbed, with bright quick grey eyes, a large mouth,
+teeth almost too perfect and a well-formed nose, with thick short brown
+hair and small whiskers which came half-way down his cheeks a decidedly
+handsome man with a florid face, but still, perhaps, with something of
+the promised roughness of the farmer. But a more good-humoured looking
+countenance Clara felt at once that she had never beheld.
+
+'And you are the little girl that I remember when I was a boy at Mr
+Folliott's?' he said. His voice was clear, and rather loud, but it
+sounded very pleasant in that sad old house.
+
+'Yes; I am the little girl,' said Clara smiling.
+
+'Dear, dear! and that's twenty years ago now,' said he.
+
+'But you oughtn't to remind me of that, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Oughtn't I? Why not?'
+
+'Because it shows how very old I am.'
+
+'Ah, yes to be sure. But there's nobody here that signifies. How well I
+remember this room and the old tower out there. It isn't changed a bit!'
+
+'Not to the outward eye, perhaps,' said the squire.
+
+'That's what I mean. So they're making hay still. Our hay has been all
+up these three weeks. I didn't know you ever meadowed the park.' Here
+he trod with dreadful severity upon the corns of Mr Amedroz, but he did
+not perceive it. And when the squire muttered something about a tenant,
+and the inconvenience of keeping land in his own hands, Belton would
+have gone on with the subject had not Clara changed the conversation.
+The squire complained bitterly of this to Clara when they were alone,
+saying that it was very heartless.
+
+She had a little scheme of her own a plan arranged for the saying of a
+few words to her cousin on the earliest opportunity of their being
+alone together and she contrived that this should take place within
+half an hour after his arrival, as he went through the hall up to his
+room. 'Mr Belton,' she said, 'I'm sure you will not take it amiss if I
+take a cousin's privilege at once and explain to you something of our
+way of living here. My dear father is not very strong.'
+
+'He is much altered since I saw him last.'
+
+'Oh, yes. Think of all that he has had to bear! Well, Mr Belton, the
+fact is, that we are not so well off as we used to be, and are obliged
+to live in a very quiet way. You will not mind that?'
+
+'Who? I?'
+
+'I take it very kind of you, your coming all this way to see us'
+
+'I'd have come three times the distance.'
+
+'But you must put up with us as you find us, you know. The truth is we
+are very poor.'
+
+'Well, now that's just what I wanted to know. One couldn't write and
+ask such a question; but I was sure I should find out if I came.'
+
+'You've found it out already, you see.'
+
+'As for being poor, it's a thing I don't think very much about not for
+young people. But it isn't comfortable when a man gets old. Now what I
+want to know is this; can't something be done?'
+
+'The only thing to do is to be very kind to him. He has had to let the
+park to Mr Stovey, and he doesn't like talking about it.'
+
+'But if it isn't talked about, how can it be mended?'
+
+'It can't be mended.'
+
+'We'll see about that. But I'll be kind to him; you see if I ain't. And
+I'll tell you what, I'll be kind to you too, if you'll let me. You have
+got no brother now.'
+
+'No,' said Clara; 'I have got no brother now.' Belton was looking full
+into her face, and saw that her eyes had become clouded with tears.
+
+'I will be your brother,' said he. 'You see if I don't. When I say a
+thing I mean it. I will be your brother.' And he took her hand,
+caressing it, and showing her that he was not in the least afraid of
+her. He was blunt in his bearing, saying things which her father would
+have called indelicate and heartless, as though they gave him no
+effort, and placing himself at once almost in a position of ascendency.
+This Clara had not intended. She had thought that her farmer cousin, in
+spite of the superiority of his prospects as heir to the property,
+would have acceded to her little hints with silent acquiescence; but
+instead of this he seemed prepared to take upon himself the chief part
+in the play that was to be acted between them. 'Shall it be so?' he
+said, still holding her hand.
+
+'You are very kind.'
+
+'I will be more than kind; I will love you dearly if you will let me.
+You don't suppose that I have looked you up here for nothing. Blood is
+thicker than water, and you have nobody now so near to you as I am. I
+don't see why you should be so poor, as the debts have been paid.'
+
+'Papa has had to borrow money on his life interest in the place.'
+
+'That's the mischief! Never mind. We'll see if we can't do something.
+And in the meantime don't make a stranger of me. Anything does for me.
+Lord bless you! if you were to see how I rough it sometimes! I can eat
+beans and bacon with any one; and what's more, I can go without 'em if
+I can't get 'em.'
+
+'We'd better get ready for dinner now. I always dress, because papa
+likes to see it.' This she said as a hint to her cousin that he would
+be expected to change his coat, for her father would have been annoyed
+had his guest sat down to dinner without such ceremony. Will Belton was
+not very good at taking hints; but he did understand this, and made the
+necessary change in his apparel.
+
+The evening was long and dull, and nothing occurred worthy of remark
+except the surprise manifested by Mr Amedroz when Belton called his
+daughter by her Christian name. This he did without the slightest
+hesitation, as though it were the most natural thing in the world for
+him to do. She was his cousin, and cousins of course addressed each
+other in that way. Clara's quick eye immediately saw her father's
+slight gesture of dismay, but Belton caught nothing of this. The squire
+took an early opportunity of calling him Mr Belton with some little
+peculiarity of expression; but this was altogether lost on Will, who
+five times in the next five minutes addressed 'Clara' as though they
+were already on the most intimate terms. She would have answered him in
+the same way, and would have called him Will, had she not been afraid
+of offending her father.
+
+Mr Amedroz had declared his purpose of coming down to breakfast during
+the period of his cousin's visit, and at half-past nine he was in the
+parlour. Clara had been there some time, but had not seen her cousin.
+He entered the room immediately after her father, bringing his hat with
+him in his hand, and wiping the drops of perspiration from his brow.
+'You have been out, Mr Belton,' said the squire.
+
+'All round the place, sir. Six o'clock doesn't often find me in bed,
+summer or winter. What's the use of laying in bed when one has had
+enough of sleep?'
+
+'But that's just the question,' said Clara; 'whether one has had enough
+at six o'clock.'
+
+'Women want more than men, of course. A man, if he means to do any good
+with land, must be out early. The grass will grow of itself at nights,
+but it wants looking after as soon as the daylight comes.'
+
+'I don't know that it would do much good to the grass here,' said the
+squire, mournfully.
+
+'As much here as anywhere. And indeed I've got something to say about
+that.' He had now seated himself at the breakfast-table, and was
+playing with his knife and fork. 'I think, sir, you're hardly making
+the best you can out of the park.'
+
+'We won't mind talking about it, if you please,' said the squire.
+
+'Well; of course I won't, if you don't like it; but upon my word you
+ought to look about you; you ought indeed.'
+
+'In what way do you mean?' said Clara.
+
+'If your father doesn't like to keep the land in his own hands, he
+should let it to some one who would put stock in it not go on cutting
+it year after year and putting nothing back, as this fellow will do.
+I've been talking to Stovey, and that's just what he means.'
+
+'Nobody here has got money to put stock on the land,' said the squire,
+angrily.
+
+'Then you should look for somebody somewhere else. That's all. I'll
+tell you what now, Mr Amedroz, I'll do it myself.' By this time he had
+helped himself to two large slices of cold mutton, and was eating his
+breakfast and talking with an equal amount of energy for either
+occupation.
+
+'That's out of the question,' said the squire.
+
+'I don't see why it should be out of the question. It would be better
+for you and better for me too, if this place is ever to be mine.' On
+hearing this the squire winced, but said nothing. This terrible fellow
+was so vehemently outspoken that the poor old man was absolutely unable
+to keep pace with him even to the repeating of his wish that the matter
+should be talked of no further. 'I'll tell you what I'll do, now,'
+continued Belton. 'There's altogether, outside the palings and in,
+about a hundred and fifty acres of it. I'll give you one pound two and
+sixpence an acre, and I won't cut an acre of grass inside the park no,
+nor much of it outside either only just enough to give me a little
+fodder for the cattle in winter.'
+
+'And give up Plaistow Hall?' asked Clara.
+
+'Lord love you, no. I've a matter of nine hundred acres on hand there,
+and most of it under the plough. I've counted it up, and it would just
+cost me a thousand pounds to stock this place. I should come and look
+at it twice a year or so, and I should see my money home again, if I
+didn't get any profit out of it.'
+
+Mr Amedroz was astonished. The man had only been in his house one
+night, and was proposing to take all his troubles off his hands. He did
+not relish the proposition at all. He did not like to be accused of not
+doing as well for himself as others could do for him. He did not wish
+to make any change although he remembered at the moment his anger with
+Farmer Stovey respecting the haycarts. He did not desire that the heir
+should have any immediate interest in the place. But he was not strong
+enough to meet the proposition with a direct negative. 'I couldn't get
+rid of Stovey in that way,' he said, plaintively. I've settled it all
+with Stovey already,' said Belton. 'He'll be glad enough to walk off
+with a twenty-pound note, which I'll give him. He can't make money out
+of the place. He hasn't got means to stock it, and then see the wages
+that hay-making runs away with! He'd lose by it even at what he's
+paying, and he knows it. There won't be any difficulty about Stovey.'
+
+By twelve o'clock on that day Mr Stovey had been brought into the
+house, and had resigned the land. It had been let to Mr William Belton
+at an increased rental a rental increased by nearly forty pounds per
+annum and that gentleman had already made many of his arrangements for
+entering upon his tenancy. The twenty pounds had already been paid to
+Stovey, and the transaction was complete. Mr Amedroz sat in his chair
+bewildered, dismayed and, as he himself declared shocked, quite
+shocked, at the precipitancy of the young man. It might be for the
+best. He didn't know. He didn't feel at all sure. But such hurrying in
+such a matter was, under all the circumstances of the family, to say
+the least of it, very indelicate. He was angry with himself for having
+yielded, and angry with Clara for having allowed him to do so. 'It
+doesn't signify much,' he said, at last. 'Of course he'll have it all
+to himself before long.'
+
+'But, papa, it really seems to be a much better arrangement for you.
+You'll get more money'
+
+'Money is not everything, my dear.'
+
+'But you'd sooner have Mr Belton, our own cousin, about the place, than
+Mr Stovey.'
+
+'I don't know. We shall see. The thing is done now, and there is no use
+in complaining. I must say he hasn't shown a great deal of delicacy.'
+
+On that afternoon Belton asked Clara to go out with him, and walk round
+the place. He had been again about the grounds, and had made plans, and
+counted up capabilities, and calculated his profit and losses. 'If you
+don't dislike scrambling about,' said he, 'I'll show you everything
+that I intend to do.'
+
+'But I can't have any changes made, Mr Belton,' said Mr Amedroz, with
+some affectation of dignity in his manner. 'I won't have the fences
+moved, or anything of that kind.'
+
+'Nothing shall be done, sir, that you don't approve. I'll just manage
+it all as if I was acting as your own bailiff.' 'Son,' he was going to
+say, but he remembered the fate of his cousin Charles just in time to
+prevent the use of the painful word.
+
+'I don't want to have anything done,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'Then nothing shall be done. We'll just mend a fence or two, to keep in
+the cattle, and leave other things as they are. But perhaps Clara will
+walk out with me all the same.'
+
+Clara was quite ready to walk out, and had already tied on her hat and
+taken her parasol.
+
+'Your father is a little nervous,' said he, as soon as they were beyond
+hearing of the house.
+
+'Can you wonder at it, when you remember all that he has suffered.'
+
+'I don't wonder at it in the least; and I don't wonder at his disliking
+me either.'
+
+'I don't think he dislikes you, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Oh, but he does. Of course he does. I'm the heir to the place instead
+of you. It is natural that he should dislike me. But I'll live it down.
+You see if I don't. I'll make him so fond of me, he'll always want to
+have me here. I don't mind a little dislike to begin with.'
+
+'You're a wonderful man, Mr Belton.'
+
+'I wish you wouldn't call me Mr Belton. But of course you must do as
+you please about that. If I can make him call me Will, I suppose you'll
+call me so too.'
+
+'Oh, yes; then I will.'
+
+'It don't much matter what a person is called; does it! Only one likes
+to be friendly with one's friends. I suppose you don't like my calling
+you Clara.'
+
+'Now you've begun you had better go on.'
+
+'I mean to. I make it a rule never to go back in the world. Your father
+is half sorry that he has agreed about the place; but I shan't let him
+off now. And I'll tell you what. In spite of what he says, I'll have it
+as different as possible before this time next year. 'Why, there's lots
+of timber that ought to come out of the plantation; and there's places
+where the roots want stubbing up horribly. These things always pay for
+themselves if they are properly done. Any good done in the world always
+pays.' Clara often remembered those words afterwards when she was
+thinking of her cousin's character. Any good done in the world always
+pays!
+
+'But you mustn't offend my father, even though it should do good,' she
+said.
+
+'I understand,' he answered. 'I won't tread on his toes. Where do you
+get your milk and butter?'
+
+'We buy them.'
+
+'From Stovey, I suppose.'
+
+'Yes; from Mr Stovey. It goes against the rent.'
+
+'And it ought to go against the grain too living in the country and
+paying for milk! I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a cow. It
+shall be a little present from me to you.' He said nothing of the more
+important present which this would entail upon him in the matter of the
+grass for the cow; but she understood the nature of the arrangement,
+and was anxious to prevent it.
+
+'Oh, Mr Belton, I think we'd better not attempt that,' she said.
+
+'But we will attempt it. I've pledged myself to do nothing to oppose
+your father; but I've made no such promise as to you. We'll have a cow
+before I'm many days older. What a pretty place this is! I do like
+these rocks so much, and it is such a comfort to be off the flat.'
+
+'It is pretty.'
+
+'Very pretty. You've no conception what an ugly place Plaistow is. The
+land isn't actual fen now, but it was once. And it's quite flat. And
+there is a great dike, twenty feet wide, oozing through it just oozing,
+you know; and lots of little dikes, at right angles with the big one.
+And the fields are all square. And there are no hedges and hardly a
+tree to be seen in the place.
+
+'What a picture you have drawn! I should commit suicide if I lived
+there.'
+
+'Not if you had so much to do as I have.'
+
+'And what is the house like?'
+
+'The house is good enough an old-fashioned manor-house, with high brick
+chimneys, and brick gables, tiled all over, and large square windows
+set in stone. The house is good enough, only it stands in the middle of
+a farm-yard. I said there were no trees, but there is an avenue.'
+
+'Come, that is something.'
+
+'It was an old family seat, and they used to have avenues in those
+days; but it doesn't lead up to the present hail door. It comes
+sideways up to the farm. yard; so that the whole thing must have been
+different once, and there must have been a great court-yard. In
+Elizabeth's time Plaistow Manor was rather a swell place, and belonged
+to some Roman Catholics who came to grief, and then the Howards got it.
+There's a whole history about it, only I don't care much about those
+things.'
+
+'And is it yours now?'
+
+'It's between me and my uncle, and I pay him rent for his part. He's a
+clergyman you know, and he has a living in Lincolnshire not far off.'
+
+'And do you live alone in that big house?'
+
+'There's my sister. You've heard of Mary  haven't you?'
+
+Then Clara remembered that there was a Miss Belton, a poor sickly
+creature, with a twisted spine and a hump back, as to whose welfare she
+ought to have made inquiries.
+
+'Oh yes; of course,' said Clara. 'I hope she's better than she used to
+be when we heard of her.'
+
+'She'll never be better. But then she does not become much worse. I
+think she does grow a little weaker. She's older than I am, you know
+two years older; but you would think she was quite an old woman to look
+at her.' Then, for the next half-hour, they talked about Mary Belton as
+they visited every corner of the place. Belton still had an eye to
+business as he went on talking, and Clara remarked how many sticks he
+moved as he went, how many stones he kicked on one side, and how
+invariably he noted any defect in the fences. But still he talked of
+his sister, swearing that she was as good as gold, and at last wiping
+away the tears from his eyes as he described her maladies. 'And yet I
+believe she is better off than any of us,' he said, 'because she is so
+good.' Clara began to wish that she had called him Will from the
+beginning, because she liked him so much. He was just the man to have
+for a cousin a true loving cousin, stalwart, self-confident, with a
+grain or two of tyranny in his composition as becomes a man in relation
+to his intimate female relatives; and one, moreover, with whom she
+could trust herself to be familiar without any danger of love-making!
+She saw his character clearly, and told herself that she understood it
+perfectly. He wag a jewel of a cousin, and she must begin to call him
+Will as speedily as possible.
+
+At last they came round in their walk to the gate leading into Colonel
+Askerton's garden; and here in the garden, close to the gate, they
+found Mrs Askerton. I fancy that she had been watching for them, or at
+any rate watching for Clara, so that she might know how her friend was
+carrying herself with her cousin. She came at once to the wicket, and
+there she was introduced by Clara to Mr Belton. Mr Belton, as he made
+his bow, muttered something awkwardly, and seemed to lose his self-
+possession for the moment. Mrs Askerton was very gracious to him, and
+she knew well how to be both gracious and ungracious. She talked about
+the scenery, and the charms of the old place, and the dullness of the
+people around them, and the inexpediency of looking for society in
+country places; till after awhile Mr Belton was once more at his ease.
+
+'How is Colonel Askerton?' asked Clara.
+
+'He's in-doors. Will you come and see him? He's reading a French novel,
+as usual. It's  the only thing he ever does in summer. Do you ever read
+French novels, Mr Belton?'
+
+'I read very little at all, and when I do I read English.'
+
+'Ah, you're a man who has a pursuit in life, no doubt.'
+
+'I should rather think so that is, if you mean, by a pursuit, earning
+my bread. A man has not much time for French novels with a thousand
+acres of land on his hands; even if he knew how to read French, which I
+don't.'
+
+'But you're not always at work on your farm?'
+
+'It's  pretty constant, Mrs Askerton. Then I shoot, and hunt.'
+
+'You're a sportsman?'
+
+'All men living in the country are more or less.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton shoots a great deal. He has the shooting of Belton,
+you know. He'll be delighted, I'm sure, to see you if you are here some
+time in September. But you, coming from Norfolk, would not care for
+partridge-shooting in Somersetshire.'
+
+'I don't see why it shouldn't be as good here as there.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton thinks he has got a fair head of game upon the place.'
+
+'I dare say. Game is easily kept if people knew how to set about it.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has a very good keeper, and has gone to a great deal
+of expense since he has been here.'
+
+'I'm my own head-keeper,' said Belton;' and so I will be or rather
+should be, if I had this place.'
+
+Something in the lady's tone had grated against his feelings and
+offended him; or perhaps he thought that she assumed too many of the
+airs of proprietorship because the shooting of the place had been let
+to her husband for thirty pounds a year.
+
+'I hope you don't mean to say you'll turn us out,' said Mrs Askerton,
+laughing.
+
+'I have no power to turn anybody out or in,' said he. 'I've got nothing
+to do with it.'
+
+Clara, perceiving that matters were not going quite pleasantly between
+her old and new friend, thought it best to take her departure. Belton,
+as he went, lifted his hat from his head, and Clara could not keep
+herself from thinking that he was not only very handsome, but that he
+looked very much like a gentleman, in spite of his occupation as a
+farmer.
+
+'Bye-bye, Clara,' said Mrs Askerton; 'come down and see me tomorrow,
+there's a dear. Don't forget what a dull life I have of it.' Clara said
+that she would come. And I shall be so happy to see Mr Belton if he
+will call before he leaves you.' At this Belton again raised his hat
+from his head, and muttered some word or two of civility. But this, his
+latter muttering, was different from the first, for he had altogether
+regained his presence of mind.
+
+'You didn't seem to get on very well with my friend,' said Clara,
+laughing, as soon as they had turned away from the cottage.
+
+'Well, no that is to say, not particularly well or particularly badly.
+At first I took her for somebody else I knew slightly ever so long ago,
+and I was thinking of that other person at the time.'
+
+'And what was the other person's name?'
+
+'I can't even remember that at the present moment.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton was a Miss Oliphant.'
+
+'That wasn't the other lady's name. But, independently of that, they
+can't be the same. The other lady married a Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'A Mr Berdmore!' Clara as she repeated the name felt convinced that she
+had heard it before, and that she had heard it in connexion with Mrs
+Askerton. She certainly had heard the name of Berdmore pronounced, or
+had seen it written, or had in some shape come across the name in Mrs
+Askerton's presence; or at any rate somewhere on the premises occupied
+by that lady. More than this she could not remember; but the name, as
+she had now heard it from her cousin, became at once distinctly
+connected in her memory with her friends at the cottage.
+
+'Yes,' said Belton; 'a Berdmore. I knew more of him than of her, though
+for the matter of that, I knew very little of him either. She was a
+fast-going girl, and his friends were very sorry. But I think they are
+both dead or divorced, or that they have come to grief in some way.'
+
+'And is Mrs Askerton like the fast-going lady?'
+
+'In a certain way. Not that I remember what the fast-going lady was
+like; but there was something about this woman that put me in mind of
+the other. Vigo was her name; now I recollect it a Miss Vigo. It's nine
+or ten years ago now, and I was little more than a boy.'
+
+'Her name was Oliphant.'
+
+'I don't suppose they have anything to do with each other. What riled
+me was the way she talked of the shooting. People do when they take a
+little shooting. They pay some trumpery thirty or forty pounds a year,
+and then they seem to think that it's almost the same as though they
+owned the property themselves. I've known a man talk of his manor
+because he had the shooting of a wood and a small farm round it. They
+are generally shop-keepers out of London, gin distillers, or brewers,
+or people like that.'
+
+'Why, Mr Belton, I didn't think you could be so furious!
+
+'Can't I? When my back's up, it is up! But it isn't up yet.'
+
+'And I hope it won't be up while you remain in Somersetshire.'
+
+'I won't answer for that. There's Stovey's empty cart standing just
+where it stood yesterday; and he promised he'd have it home before
+three today. My back will be up with him if he doesn't mind himself.'
+
+It was nearly six o'clock when they got back to the house, and Clara
+was surprised to find that she had been out three hours with her
+cousin. Certainly it had been very pleasant. The usual companion of her
+walks, when she had a companion, was Mrs Askerton; but Mrs Askerton did
+not like real walking. She would creep about the grounds for an hour or
+so, and even such companionship as that was better to Clara than
+absolute solitude; but now she had been carried about the place,
+getting over stiles and through gates, and wandering through the
+copses, till she was tired and hungry, and excited and happy. 'Oh,
+papa,' she said, 'we have had such a walk!'
+
+'I thought we were to have dined at five,' he replied, in a low wailing
+voice.
+
+'No, papa, indeed indeed you said six.'
+
+'That was for yesterday.'
+
+'You said we were to make it six while Mr Belton was here.'
+
+'Very well if it must be, I suppose it must be.'
+
+'You don't mean on my account,' said Will. 'I'll undertake to eat my
+dinner, sir, at any hour that you'll undertake to give it me. If
+there's a strong point about me at all, it is my appetite.'
+
+Clara, when she went to her father's room that evening, told him what
+Mr Belton had said about the shooting, knowing that her father's
+feelings would agree with those which had been expressed by her cousin.
+Mr Amedroz of course made this an occasion for further grumbling,
+suggesting that Belton wanted to get the shooting for himself as he had
+got the farm. But, nevertheless, the effect which Clara had intended
+was produced, and before she left him he had absolutely proposed that
+the shooting and the land should go together.
+
+'I'm sure that Mr Belton doesn't mean that at all,' said Clara.
+
+'I don't care what he means,' said the squire.
+
+'And it wouldn't do to treat Colonel Askerton in that way,' said Clara.
+
+'I shall treat him just as I like,' said the squire.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING
+
+A DEAR cousin, and safe against love-making! This was Clara's verdict
+respecting Will Belton, as she lay thinking of him in bed that night.
+Why that warranty against love-making should be a virtue in her eyes I
+cannot, perhaps, explain. But all young ladies are apt to talk to
+themselves in such phrases about gentlemen with whom they are thrown
+into chance intimacy as though love-making were in itself a thing
+injurious and antagonistic to happiness, instead of being, as it is,
+the very salt of life. Safe against love-making! And yet Mrs Askerton,
+her friend, had spoken of the probability of such love-making as being
+the great advantage of his coming. And there could not be a second
+opinion as to the expediency of a match between her and her cousin in a
+worldly point of view. Clara, moreover, had already perceived that he
+was a man fit to guide a wife, very good- humoured and good-tempered
+also, anxious to give pleasure to others, a man of energy and
+forethought, who would be sure to do well in the world and hold his
+head always high among his fellows as good a husband as a girl could
+have. Nevertheless, she congratulated herself in that she felt
+satisfied that he was safe against love-making! Might it be possible
+that the pressing of hands at Taunton had been so tender, and those
+last words spoken with Captain Aylmer so soft, that on his account she
+felt delighted to think that her cousin was warranted not to make love?
+
+And what did Will Belton think about his cousin, insured as he was thus
+supposed to be against the dangers of love? He, also, lay awake for
+awhile that night, thinking over his new friendship. Or rather he
+thought of it walking about his room, and looking out at the bright
+harvest moon for with him to be in bed was to be asleep. He sat himself
+down, and he walked about, and he leaned out of the window into the
+cool night air; and he made some comparisons in his mind, and certain
+calculations; and he thought of his present home, and of his sister,
+and of his future prospects as they were concerned with the old place
+at which he was now staying; and he portrayed to himself, in his mind,
+Clara's head and face and figure and feet and he resolved that she
+should be his wife. He had never seen a girl who seemed to suit him so
+well. Though he had only been with her for a day, he swore to himself
+that he knew he could love her. Nay he swore to himself that he did
+love her. Then when he had quite made up his mind, he tumbled into his
+bed and was asleep in five minutes.
+
+Miss Amedroz was a handsome young woman, tall, well-made, active, and
+full of health. She carried herself as though she thought her limbs
+were made for use, and not simply for ease upon a sofa. Her head and
+neck stood well upon her shoulders, and her waist showed none of those
+waspish proportions of which ladies used to be more proud than I
+believe them to be now, in their more advanced state of knowledge and
+taste. There was much about her in which she was like her cousin, as
+though the blood they had in common between them had given to both the
+same proportions and the same comeliness. Her hair was of a dark brown
+colour, as was his. Her eyes were somewhat darker than his, and perhaps
+not so full of constant movement; but they were equally bright, and
+possessed that quick power of expressing tenderness which belonged to
+them. Her nose was more finely cut, as was also her chin, and the oval
+of her face; but she had the same large expressive mouth, and the same
+perfection of ivory-white teeth. As has been said before, Clara
+Amedroz, who was now nearly twenty-six years of age, was not a
+young-looking woman. To the eyes of many men that would have been her
+fault; but in the eyes of Belton it was no fault. He had not made
+himself fastidious as to women by much consort with them, and he was
+disposed to think that she who was to become his wife had better be
+something more than a girl not long since taken out of the nursery. He
+was well-to-do in the world, and could send his wife out in her
+carriage, with all becoming bravery of appurtenances. And he would do
+so, too, when he should have a wife. But still he would look to his
+wife to be a useful partner to him. She should be a woman not above
+agricultural solicitude, or too proud to have a care for her cows.
+Clara, he was sure, had no false pride; and yet as he was sure also she
+was at every point such a lady as would do honour to the carriage and
+the bravery when it should be forthcoming. And then such a marriage as
+this would put an end to all the trouble which he felt in reference to
+the entail on the estate. He knew that he was to be master of Belton,
+and of course had, in that knowledge, the satisfaction which men do
+feel from the consciousness of their future prosperity. And this with
+him was enhanced by a strong sympathy with old-fashioned prejudices as
+to family. He would be Belton of Belton; and there had been Beltons of
+Belton in old days, for a longer time backwards than he was able to
+count. But still the prospect had not been without its alloy, and he
+had felt real distress at the idea of turning his cousin out of her
+father's house. Such a marriage as that he now contemplated would put
+all these things right.
+
+When he got up in the morning he was quite as keen about it as he had
+been on the previous evening and as he thought about it the more, he
+became keener and still more keen. On the previous evening, as he was
+leaning out of the window endeavouring to settle in his own mind what
+would be the proper conduct of the romance of the thing, he had
+considered that he had better not make his proposal quite at once. He
+was to remain eight days at Belton, and as eight days was not a long
+period of acquaintance, he had reflected that it might be well for him
+to lay what foundation for love it might be in his power to construct
+during his present sojourn, and then return and complete the work
+before Christmas. But as he was shaving himself, the habitual
+impatience of his nature predominated, and he became disposed to think
+that delay would be useless, and might perhaps be dangerous. It might
+be possible that Clara would be unable to give him a decisive answer so
+quickly as to enable him to return home an accepted lover; but if such
+doubt were left, such doubt would give him an excuse for a speedy
+return to Belton. He did not omit to tell himself that very probably he
+might not succeed at all. He was a man not at all apt to feel assurance
+that he could carry all before him in love. But in this matter, as in
+all others which required from him any personal effort, he prepared
+himself to do his best, leaving the consequences to follow as they
+might. When he threw his seed corn into the earth with all such due
+appliances of agricultural skill and industry as his capital and
+experience enabled him to use, he did his part towards the production
+of next year's crop; and after that he must leave it to a higher Power
+to give to him, or to withhold from him, the reward of his labour. He
+had found that, as a rule, the reward had been given when the labour
+had been honest; and he was now prepared to follow the same plan, with
+the same hopes, in this matter of his love-making.
+
+After much consideration very much consideration, a consideration which
+took him the whole time that he was brushing his hair and washing his
+teeth he resolved that he would, in the first instance, speak to Mr
+Amedroz. Not that he intended that the father should win the daughter
+for him. He had an idea that he would like to do that work for himself.
+But he thought that the old squire would be better pleased if his
+consent were asked in the first instance. The present day was Sunday,
+and he would not speak on the subject till Monday. This day he would
+devote to the work of securing his future father-in-law's good opinion;
+to that and to his prayers.
+
+And he had gained very much upon Mr Amedroz before the evening of the
+day was over. He was a man before whom difficulties seemed to yield,
+and who had his own way simply because he had become accustomed to ask
+for it to ask for it and to work for it. He had so softened the
+squire's tone of thought towards him, that the future stocking of the
+land was spoken of between them with something like energy on both
+sides; and Mr Amedroz had given his consent, without any difficulty, to
+the building of a shed for winter stall-feeding. Clara sat by
+listening, and perceived that Will Belton would soon be allowed to do
+just what he pleased with the place. Her father talked as she had not
+heard him talk since her poor brother's death, and was quite animated
+on the subject of woodcraft. 'We don't know much about timber down
+where I am,' said Will, 'just because we've got no trees.'
+
+'I'll show you your way,' said the old man. 'I've managed the timber on
+the estate myself for the last forty years.' Will Belton of course did
+not say a word as to the gross mismanagement which had been apparent
+even to him. What a cousin he was! Clara thought what a paragon among
+cousins! And then he was so manifestly safe against love-making! So
+safe, that he only cared to talk about timber, and oxen, and fences,
+and winter-forage! But it was all just as it ought to be; and if her
+father did not call him Will before long, she herself would set the way
+by doing so first. A very paragon among cousins!
+
+'What a flatterer you are,' she said to him that night.
+
+'A flatterer! I?'
+
+
+
+'Yes, you. You have flattered papa out of all his animosity already. I
+shall be jealous soon; for he'll think more of you than of me.'
+
+'I hope he'll come to think of us as being nearly equally near to him,'
+said Belton, with a tone that was half serious and half tender. Now
+that he had made up his mind, he could not keep his hand from the work
+before him an instant. But Clara had also made up her mind, and would
+not be made to think that her cousin could mean anything that was more
+than cousinly.
+
+'Upon my word,' she said, laughing, 'that is very cool on your part.'
+
+'I came here determined to be friends with him at any rate.'
+
+'And you did so without any thought of me. But you said you would be my
+brother, and I shall not forget your promise. Indeed, indeed, I cannot
+tell you how glad I am that you have come both for papa's sake and my
+own. You have done him so much good that I only dread to think that you
+are going so soon.'
+
+'I'll be back before long. I think nothing of running across here from
+Norfolk. You'll see enough of me before next summer.'
+
+Soon after breakfast on the next morning he got Mr Amedroz out into the
+grounds, on the plea of showing him the proposed site for the cattle
+shed; but not a word was said about the shed on that occasion. He went
+to work at his other task at once, and when that was well on hand the
+squire was quite unfitted for the consideration of any less important
+matter, however able to discuss it Belton might have been himself.
+
+'I've got something particular that I want to say to you, sir,' Belton
+began.
+
+Now Mr Amedroz was of opinion that his cousin had been saying something
+very particular ever since his arrival, and was rather frightened at
+this immediate prospect of a new subject.
+
+'There's nothing wrong; is there?'
+
+'No, nothing wrong at least, I hope it's not wrong. Would not it be a
+good plan, sir, if I were to marry my cousin Clara?'
+
+What a terrible young man! Mr Amedroz felt that his breath was so
+completely taken away from him that he was quite unable to speak a word
+of answer at the moment. Indeed, he was unable to move, and stood
+still, where he had been fixed by the cruel suddenness of the
+proposition made to him.
+
+'Of course I know nothing of what she may think about it,' continued
+Belton. 'I thought it best to come to you before I spoke a word to her.
+And I know that in many ways she is above me. She is better educated,
+and reads more, and all that sort of thing. And it may be that she'd
+rather marry a London man than a fellow who passes all his time in the
+country. But she couldn't get one who would love her better or treat
+her more kindly. And then as to the property; you must own it would be
+a good arrangement. You'd like to know it would go to your own child
+and your own grandchild wouldn't you, sir? And I'm not badly off,
+without looking to this place at all, and could give her every thing
+she wants. But then I don't know that she'd care to marry a farmer.'
+These last words he said in a melancholy tone, as though aware that he
+was confessing his own disgrace.
+
+The squire had listened to it all, and had not as yet said a word. And
+now, when Belton ceased, he did not know what word to speak. He was a
+man whose thoughts about women were chivalrous, and perhaps a little
+old-fashioned. Of course, when a man contemplates marriage, he could do
+nothing better, nothing more honourable, than consult the lady's father
+in the first instance. But he felt that even a father should be
+addressed on such a subject with great delicacy. There should be
+ambages in such a matter. The man who resolved to commit himself to
+such a task should come forward with apparent difficulty with great
+diffidence, and even with actual difficulty. He should keep himself
+almost hidden, as behind a mask, and should tell of his own ambition
+with doubtful, quivering voice. And the ambages should take time. He
+should approach the citadel to be taken with covered ways working his
+way slowly and painfully. But this young man, before he had been in the
+house three days, said all that he had to say without the slightest
+quaver in his voice, and evidently expected to get an answer about the
+squire's daughter as quickly as he had got it about the squire's land.
+
+'You have surprised me very much,' said the old man at last, drawing
+his breath.
+
+'I'm quite in earnest about it. Clara seems to me to be the very girl
+to make a good wife to such a one as I am. She's got everything that a
+woman ought to have By George, she has!'
+
+'She is a good girl, Mr Belton.'
+
+'She is as good as gold, every inch of her.'
+
+'But you have not known her very long, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Quite long enough for my purposes. You see I knew all about her
+beforehand who she is, and where she comes from. There's a great deal
+in that, you know.'
+
+Mr Amedroz shuddered at the expressions used. It was grievous to him to
+hear his daughter spoken of as one respecting whom some one knew who
+she was and whence she came. Such knowledge respecting the daughter of
+such a family was, as a matter of course, common to all polite persons.
+'Yes,' said Mr Amedroz, stiffly: 'you know as much as that about her,
+certainly.'
+
+'And she knows as much about me. Now the question is, whether you have
+any objection to make?'
+
+'Really, Mr Belton, you have taken me so much by surprise that I do not
+feel myself competent to answer you at once.'
+
+'Shall we say in an hour's time, sir?' An hour's time! Mr Amedroz, if
+he could have been left to his own guidance, would have thought a month
+very little for such a work.
+
+'I suppose you would wish me to see Clara first,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'Oh dear, no. I would much rather ask her myself if only I could get
+your consent to my doing so.'
+
+'And you have said nothing to her?'
+
+'Not a word.'
+
+'I am glad of that. You would have behaved badly, I think, had you done
+so while staying under my roof.'
+
+'I thought it best, at any rate, to come to you first. But as I must be
+back at Plaistow on this day week, I haven't much time to lose. So if
+you could think about it this afternoon, you know Mr Amedroz, much
+bewildered, promised that he would do his best, and eventually did
+bring himself to give an answer on the next morning. 'I have been
+thinking about this all night,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'I'm sure I'm very much obliged to you,' said Belton, feeling rather
+ashamed of his own remissness as he remembered how soundly he had
+himself slept.
+
+'If you are quite sure of yourself'
+
+'Do you mean sure of loving her? I am as sure of that as anything.'
+
+'But men are so apt to change their fancies.'
+
+'I don't know much about my fancies; but I don't often change my
+purpose when I'm in earnest. In such a matter as this I couldn't
+change. I'll say as much as that for myself, though it may seem bold.'
+
+'Of course, in regard to money such a marriage would be advantageous to
+my child. I don't know whether you know it, but I shall have nothing to
+give her literally nothing.'
+
+'All the better, sir, as far as I am concerned. I'm not one who wants
+to be saved from working by a wife's fortune.'
+
+'But most men like to get something when they marry.'
+
+'I want to get nothing nothing, that is, in the way of money. If Clara
+becomes my wife I'll never ask you for one shilling.'
+
+'I hope her aunt will do something for her.' This the old man said in a
+wailing voice, as though the expression of such a hope was grievous to
+him.
+
+'If she becomes my wife, Mrs Winterfield will be quite at liberty to
+leave her money elsewhere.' There were old causes of dislike between Mr
+Belton and Mrs Winterfield, and even now Mrs Winterfield was almost
+offended because Mr Belton was staying at Belton Castle.
+
+'But all that is quite uncertain,' continued Mr Amedroz.
+
+'And I have your leave to speak to Clara myself?'
+
+'Well, Mr Belton; yes; I think so. I do not see why you should not
+speak to her. But I fear you are a little too precipitate. Clara has
+known you so very short a time, that you can hardly have a right to
+hope that she should learn to regard you at once as you would have her
+do.' As he heard this, Belton's face became long and melancholy. He had
+taught himself to think that he could dispense with that delay till
+Christmas which he had at first proposed to himself, and that he might
+walk into the arena at once, and perhaps win the battle in the first
+round. 'Three days is such a very short time,' said the squire.
+
+'It is short certainly,' said Belton.
+
+The father's leave was however given, and armed with that, Belton was
+resolved that he would take, at any rate, some preliminary steps in
+love-making before he returned to Plaistow. What would be the nature of
+the preliminary steps taken by such a one as him, the reader by this
+time will probably be able to surmise.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+NOT SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING
+
+'Why don't you call him Will?' Clara said to her father. This question
+was asked on the evening of that Monday on which Mr Amedroz had given
+his consent as to the marriage proposal.
+
+'Call him Will! Why should I?'
+
+'You used to do so, when he was a boy.'
+
+'Of course I did; but that is years ago. He would think it impertinent
+now.'
+
+'Indeed he would not; he would like it. He has told me so. It sounds so
+cold to him to be called Mr Belton by his relations.'
+
+The father looked at his daughter as though for a moment he also
+suspected that matters had really been arranged between her and her
+future lover without his concurrence, and before his sanction had been
+obtained. But if for a moment such a thought did cress his mind, it did
+not dwell there. He trusted Belton; but as to his daughter, he knew
+that he might be sure of her. It would be impossible with her to keep
+such a secret from him, even for half a day. And yet, how odd it was!
+Here was a man who in three days had fallen in love with his daughter;
+and here was his daughter apparently quite as ready to be in love with
+the man. How could she, who was ordinarily circumspect, and almost cold
+in her demeanour towards strangers who was from circumstances and from
+her own disposition altogether hostile to flirting intimacies how could
+this Clara have changed her nature so speedily? The squire did not
+understand it, but was prepared to believe that it was all for the
+best. 'I'll call him Will, if you like it,' said he.
+
+'Do, papa, and then I can do so also. He is such a good fellow, and I
+am so fond of him.'
+
+On the next morning Mr Amedroz did, with much awkwardness, call his
+guest by his Christian name. Clara caught her cousin's eye and smiled,
+and he also smiled. At that moment he was more in love than ever. Could
+anything be more charming than this? Immediately after breakfast he was
+going over to Redicote, to see a builder in a small way who lived
+there, and whom he proposed to employ in putting up the shed for the
+cattle; but he almost begrudged the time, so anxious was he to begin
+his suit. But his plan had been laid out and he would follow it. 'I
+think I shall be back by three o'clock,' he said to Clara, 'and then
+we'll have our walk.'
+
+'I'll be ready; and you can call for me at Mr Askerton's. I must go
+down there, and it will save you something in your walk to pick me up
+at the cottage.' And so the arrangements for the day were made.
+
+Clara had promised that she would soon call at the cottage, and was,
+indeed, rather anxious to see Mrs Askerton on her own account. What she
+had heard from her cousin as to a certain Miss Vigo of old days had
+interested her, and also what she had heard of a certain Mr Berdmore.
+It had been evident to her that her cousin had thought little about it.
+The likeness of the lady he then saw to the lady he had before known.
+had at first struck him; but when he found that the two ladies were not
+represented by one and the same person, he was satisfied, and there was
+an end of the matter for him. But it was not so with Clara. Her
+feminine mind dwelt on the matter with more earnestness than he had
+cared to entertain, and her clearer intellect saw possibilities which
+did not occur to him. But it was not till she found herself walking
+across the park to the cottage that she remembered that any inquiries
+as to her past life might be disagreeable to Mrs Askerton. She had
+thought of asking her friend plainly whether the names of Vigo and
+Berdmore had ever been familiar to her; but she reminded herself that
+there had been rumours afloat, and that there might be a mystery. Mrs
+Askerton would sometimes talk of her early life; but she would do this
+with dreamy, indistinct language, speaking of the sorrows of her
+girlhood, but not specifying their exact nature, seldom mentioning any
+names, and never referring with clear personality to those who had been
+nearest to her when she had been a child. Clara had seen her friend's
+maiden name, Mary Oliphant, written in a book, and seeing it had
+alluded to it. On that occasion Mrs Askerton had spoken of herself as
+having been an Oliphant, and thus Clara had come to know the fact. But
+now, as she made her way to the cottage, she remembered that she had
+learned nothing more than this as to Mrs Askerton's early life. Such
+being the case, she hardly knew how to ask any question about the two
+names that had been mentioned. And yet, why should she not ask such a
+question? Why should she doubt Mrs Askerton? And if she did doubt, why
+should not her doubts be solved?
+
+She found Colonel Askerton and his wife together, and she certainly
+would ask no such question in his presence. He was a slight built, wiry
+man, about fifty, with iron-grey hair and beard who seemed to have no
+trouble in life, and to desire but few pleasures. Nothing could be more
+regular than the course of his days, and nothing more idle. He
+breakfasted at eleven, smoked and read till the afternoon, when he rode
+for an hour or two; then he dined, read again, smoked again, and went
+to bed. In September and October he shot, and twice in the year, as has
+been before stated, went away to seek a little excitement elsewhere. He
+seemed to be quite contented with his lot, and was never heard to speak
+an angry word with any one. Nobody cared for him much; but then he
+troubled himself with no one's affairs. He never went to church, and
+had not eaten or drank in any house but his own since he had come to
+Belton.
+
+'Oh, Clara, you naughty girl,' said Mrs Askerton, 'why didn't you come
+yesterday? I was expecting you all day.'
+
+'I was busy. Really, we've grown to be quite industrious people since
+my cousin came.'
+
+'They tell me he's taking the land into his own hands,' said the
+colonel.
+
+'Yes, indeed; and he is going to build sheds, and buy cattle; and I
+don't know what he doesn't mean to do; so that we shall be alive again.'
+
+'I hope he won't want my shooting.'
+
+'He has shooting of his own in Norfolk,' said Clara.
+
+'Then he'll hardly care to come here for that purpose. When I heard of
+his proceedings I began to be afraid.'
+
+'I don't think he would do anything to annoy you for the world,' said
+Clara, enthusiastically. 'He's the most unselfish person I ever met.'
+
+'He'd have a perfect right to take the shooting if he liked it that is
+always supposing that he and your father agreed about it.'
+
+'They agree about everything now. He has altogether disarmed papa's
+prejudices, and it seems to be recognized that he is to have his own
+way about the place. But I don't think he'll interfere about the
+shooting.'
+
+'He won't, my dear, if you ask him not,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I'll ask him in a moment if Colonel Askerton wishes it.'
+
+'Oh dear no,' said he. 'It would be teaching the ostler to grease the
+horse's teeth. Perhaps he hasn't thought of it.'
+
+'He thinks of everything,' said Clara.
+
+'I wonder whether he's thinking of .' So far Mrs Askerton spoke, and
+then she paused. Colonel Askerton looked up at Clara with an
+ill-natured smile, and Clara felt that she blushed. Was it not cruel
+that she could not say a word in favour of a friend and a cousin a
+cousin who had promised to be a brother to her, without being treated
+with such words and such looks as these? But she was determined not to
+be put down. 'I'm quite sure of this,' she said, 'that my cousin would
+do nothing unfair or ungentlemanlike.'
+
+'There would be nothing unfair or ungentlemanlike in it. I shouldn't
+take it amiss at all but I should simply take up my bed and walk. Pray
+tell him that I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing him before he
+goes. I did call yesterday, but he was out.'
+
+'He'll be here soon. He's to come here for me.' But Colonel Askerton's
+horse was brought to the door, and he could not therefore wait to make
+Mr Belton's acquaintance on that occasion.
+
+'What a phoenix this cousin of yours is,' said Mrs Askerton, as soon as
+her husband was gone.
+
+'He is a splendid fellow he is indeed. There's so much life about him!
+He's always doing something. He says that doing good will always pay in
+the long run. Isn't that a fine doctrine?'
+
+'Quite a practical phoenix!'
+
+'It has done papa so much good! At this moment he's out somewhere,
+thinking of what is going on, instead of moping in the house. He
+couldn't bear the idea of Will's coming, and now he is already
+beginning to complain because he's going away.'
+
+'Will, indeed!'
+
+'And why not Will? He's my cousin.'
+
+'Yes ten times removed. But so much the better if he's to be anything
+more than a cousin.'
+
+'He is to be nothing more, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'You're quite sure of that?
+
+'I am quite sure of it. And I cannot understand why there should be
+such a suspicion because he and I are thrown closely together, and are
+fond of each other. Whether he is a sixth, eighth, or tenth cousin
+makes no difference. He is the nearest I have on that side; and since
+my poor brother's death he is papa's heir. It is so natural that he
+should be my friend and such a comfort that he should be such a friend
+as he is! I own it seems cruel to me that under such circumstances
+there should be any suspicion.'
+
+'Suspicion, my dear suspicion of what?'
+
+'Not that I care I or it. I am prepared to love him as if he were my
+brother. I think him one of the finest creatures I ever knew perhaps
+the finest I ever did know. His energy and good-nature together are
+just the qualities to make the best kind of man. I am proud of him as
+my friend and my cousin, and now you may suspect what you please.'
+
+'But, my dear, why should not he fall in love with you? It would be the
+most proper, and also the most convenient thing in the world.'
+
+'I hate talking of falling in love as though a woman had nothing else
+to think of whenever she sees a man.'
+
+'A woman has nothing else to think of.'
+
+'I have a great deal else. And so has he.'
+
+'It's quite out of the question on his part, then?'
+
+'Quite out of the question. I'm sure he likes me; I can see it in his
+face, and hear it in his voice, and am so happy that it is so. But it
+isn't in the way that you mean. Heaven knows that I may want a friend
+some of these days, and I feel that I may trust to him. His feelings to
+me will be always those of a brother.'
+
+'Perhaps so. I have seen that fraternal love before under similar
+circumstances, and it has always ended in the same way.'
+
+'I hope it won't end in any way between us.'
+
+'But the joke is that this suspicion, as you call it which makes you so
+indignant is simply a suggestion that a thing should happen which, of
+all things in the world, would be the best for both of you.'
+
+'But the thing won't happen, and therefore let there be an end of it. I
+hate the twaddle talk of love, whether it's about myself or about any
+one else. It makes me feel ashamed of my sex, when I find that I cannot
+talk of myself to another woman without being supposed to be either in
+love or thinking of love cither looking for it or avoiding it. When it
+comes, if it cornea prosperously, it's a very good thing. But I for one
+can do without it, and I feel myself injured when such a state of
+things is presumed to be impossible.'
+
+'It is worth any one's while to irritate you, because your indignation
+is so beautiful.'
+
+'It is not beautiful to me; for I always feel ashamed afterwards of my
+own energy. And now, if you please, we won't say anything more about Mr
+Will Belton.'
+
+'May I not talk about him, even as the enterprising cousin?
+
+'Certainly; and in any other light you please. Do you know he seemed to
+think that he had known you ever so many years ago.' Clara, as she said
+this, did not look direct at her friend's face; but still she could
+perceive that Mrs Askerton was disconcerted. There came a shade of
+paleness over her face, and a look of trouble on her brow, and for a
+moment or two she made no reply.
+
+'Did he?' she then said. 'And when was that?'
+
+'I suppose it was in London. But, after all, I believe it was not you,
+but somebody whom he remembers to have been like you. He says that the
+lady was a Miss Vigo.' As she pronounced the name, Clara turned her
+face away, feeling instinctively that it would be kind to do so.
+
+'Miss Vigo!' said Mrs Askerton at once; and there was that in the tone
+of her voice which made Clara feel that all was not right with her. 'I
+remember that there were Miss Vigos; two of them, I think. I didn't
+know that they were like me especially.'
+
+'And he says that the one he remembers married a Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'Married a Mr Berdmore!' The tone of voice was still the same, and
+there was an evident struggle, as though the woman was making a
+vehement effort to speak in her natural voice. Then Clara looked at
+her, feeling that if she abstained from doing so, the very fact of her
+so abstaining would be remarkable. There was the look of pain on Mrs
+Askerton's brow, and her cheeks were still pale, but she smiled as she
+went on speaking. 'I'm sure I'm flattered, for I remember that they
+were both considered beauties. Did he know anything more of her?
+
+'No; nothing more.'
+
+'There must have been some casual likeness I suppose.' Mrs Askerton was
+a clever woman, and had by this time almost recovered her
+self-possession. Then there came a ring at the front door, and in
+another minute Mr Belton was in the room. Mrs Askerton felt that it was
+imperative on her to make some allusion to the conversation which had
+just taken place, and dashed at the subject at once. 'Clara tells me
+that I am exactly like some old friend of yours, Mr Belton.'
+
+Then he looked at her closely as he answered her. 'I have no right to
+say that she was my friend, Mrs Askerton,' he said; 'indeed there was
+hardly what might be called an acquaintance between us; but you
+certainly are extremely like a certain Miss Vigo that I remember.'
+
+'I often wonder that one person isn't more often found to be like
+another,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'People often are like,' said he, 'but not like in such a way as to
+give rise to mistakes as to identity. Now, I should have stopped you in
+the street and called you Mrs Berdmore.'
+
+'Didn't I once see or hear the name of Berdmore in this house?' asked
+Clara.
+
+Then that look of pain returned. Mrs Askerton had succeeded in
+recovering the usual tone of her countenance, but now she was once more
+disturbed. 'I think I know the name,' said she.
+
+'I fancy that I have seen it in this house,' said Clara. 'You may more
+likely have heard it, my dear. My memory is very poor, but if I
+remember rightly, Colonel Askerton did know a Captain Berdmore a long
+while ago, before he was married; and you may probably have heard him
+mention the name.' This did not quite satisfy Clara, but she said
+nothing more about it then. If there was a mystery which Mrs Askerton
+did not wish to have explored, why should she explore it?
+
+Soon after this Clara got up to go, and Mrs Askerton, making another
+attempt to be cheerful, was almost successful. So you're going back
+into Norfolk on Saturday, Clara tells me. You are making a very short
+visit now that you're come among us.'
+
+'It is a long time for me to be away from home. Farmers can hardly ever
+dare to leave their work. But in spite of my farm, I am talking of
+coming here again about Christmas.'
+
+'But you are going to have a farming establishment here too?'
+
+'That will be nothing. Clara will look after that for me; will you
+not?' Then they went, and Belton had to consider how he would begin the
+work before him. He had some idea that too much precipitancy might do
+him an injury, but he hardly knew how to commence without coming to the
+point at once. When they were out together in the park, he went back at
+first to the subject of Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I would almost have sworn they were one and the same woman,' he said.
+
+'But you see that they are not.'
+
+'It's not only the likeness, but the voice. It so chanced that I once
+saw that Miss Vigo in some trouble. I happened to meet her in company
+with a man who was who was tipsy, in fact, and I had to relieve her.'
+
+'Dear me how disagreeable!'
+
+'It's a long time ago, and there can't be any harm in mentioning it
+now. It was the man she was going to marry, and whom she did marry.'
+
+'What the Mr Berdmore?'
+
+'Yes; he was often in that way. And there was a look about Mrs Askerton
+just now so like the look of that Miss Vigo then, that I cannot get rid
+of the idea.'
+
+'They can't be the same, as she was certainly a Miss Oliphant. And you
+hear, too, what she says.'
+
+'Yes I heard what she said. You have known her long?'
+
+'These two years.'
+
+'And intimately?
+
+'Very intimately. She is our only neighbour; and her being here has
+certainly been a great comfort to me. It is sad not having some woman
+near one that one can speak to and then, I really do like her very
+much.'
+
+'No doubt it's all right.'
+
+'Yes; it's all right,' said Clara. After that there was nothing more
+said about Mrs Askerton, and Belton began his work. They had gone from
+the cottage, across the park, away from the house, up to a high rock
+which stood boldly out of the ground, from whence could be seen the sea
+on one side, and on the other a far track of country almost away to the
+moors. And when they reached this spot they seated themselves. 'There,'
+said Clara, 'I consider this to be the prettiest spot in England.'
+
+'I haven't seen all England,' said Belton.
+
+'Don't be so matter-of-fact, Will. I say it's the prettiest in England,
+and you can't contradict me.'
+
+'And I say you're the prettiest girl in England, and you can't
+contradict me.'
+
+This annoyed Clara, and almost made her feel that her paragon of a
+cousin was not quite so perfect as she had represented him to be. 'I
+see', she said, 'that if I talk nonsense I'm to be punished.'
+
+'Is it a punishment to you to know that I think you very handsome?' he
+said, turning round and looking full into her face.
+
+'It is disagreeable to me very, to have any such subject talked about
+at all. What would you think if I began to pay you foolish personal
+compliments?'
+
+'What I say isn't foolish; and there's a great difference. Clara, I
+love you better than all the world put together.'
+
+She now looked at him; but still she did not believe it. It could not
+be that after all her boastings she should have made so gross a
+blunder. 'I hope you do love me,' she said; 'indeed, you are bound to
+do so, for you promised that you would be my brother.'
+
+'But that will not satisfy me now, Clara. Clara, I want to be your
+husband.'
+
+'Will!' she exclaimed.
+
+'Now you know it all; and if I have been too sudden, I must beg your
+pardon.'
+
+'Oh, Will, forget that you have said this. Do not go on until
+everything must be over between us.'
+
+'Why should anything be over between us? Why should it be wrong in me
+to love you?'
+
+'What will papa say?'
+
+'Mr Amedroz knows all about it already, and has given me his consent. I
+asked him directly I had made up my own mind, and he told me that I
+might go to you.'
+
+'You have asked papa? Oh dear, oh dear, what am I to do?'
+
+'Am I so odious to you then?' As he said this he got up from his seat
+and stood before her. He was a tall, well-built, handsome man, and he
+could assume a look and mien that were almost noble when he was moved
+as he was moved now.
+
+'Odious! Do you not know that I have loved you as my cousin that I have
+already learned to trust you as though you were really my brother? But
+this breaks it all.'
+
+'You cannot love me then as my wife?'
+
+'No.' She pronounced the monosyllable alone, and then he walked away
+from her as though that one little word settled the question for him,
+now and for ever. He walked away from her, perhaps a distance of two
+hundred yards, as though the interview was over, and he were leaving
+her. She, as she saw him go, wished that he would return that she might
+say some word of comfort to him. Not that she could have said the only
+word that would have comforted him. At the first blush of the thing, at
+the first sound of the address which he had made to her, she had been
+angry with him. He had disappointed her, and she was indignant. But her
+anger had already melted and turned itself to ruth. She could not but
+love him better, in that he had loved her so well; but yet she could
+not love him with the love which he desired.
+
+But he did not leave her. When he had gone from her down the hill the
+distance that has been named, he turned back and came up to her slowly.
+He had a trick of standing and walking with his thumbs fixed into the
+armholes of his waistcoat, while his large hands rested on his breast.
+He would always assume this attitude when he was assured that he was
+right in his views, and was eager to carry some point at issue. Clara
+already understood that this attitude signified his intention to be
+autocratic. He now came close up to her and again stood over her,
+before he spoke. 'My dear,' he said, 'I have been rough and hasty in
+what I have said to you, and I have to ask you to pardon my want of
+manners.'
+
+'No, no, no,' she exclaimed.
+
+'But in a matter of so much interest to us both you will not let an
+awkward manner prejudice me.'
+
+'It is not that; indeed, it is not.'
+
+'Listen to me, dearest. It is true that I promised to be your brother,
+and I will not break my word unless I break it by your own sanction. I
+did promise to be your brother, but I did not know then how fondly I
+should come to love you. Your father, when I told him of this, bade me
+not to be hasty; but I am hasty, and I haven't known how to wait. Tell
+me that I may come at Christmas for my answer, and I will not say a
+word to trouble you till then. I will be your brother, at any rate till
+Christmas.'
+
+'Be my brother always.'
+
+A black cloud crossed his brow as this request reached his ears. She
+was looking anxiously into his face, watching every turn in the
+expression of his countenance. 'Will you not let it wait till
+Christmas?' he asked.
+
+She thought it would be cruel to refuse this request, and yet she knew
+that no such waiting could be of service to him. He had been awkward in
+his love-making, and was aware of it. He should have contrived this
+period of waiting for himself; giving her no option but to wait and
+think of it. He should have made no proposal, but have left her certain
+that such proposal was coming. In such case she must have waited and if
+good could have come to him from that, he might have received it. But,
+as the question was now presented to her, it was impossible that she
+should consent to wait. To have given such consent would have been
+tantamount to receiving him as her lover. She was therefore forced to
+be cruel.
+
+'It will be of no avail to postpone my answer when I know what it must
+be. Why should there be suspense?'
+
+
+'You mean that it is impossible that you should love me?'
+
+'Not in that way, Will.'
+
+'And why not?' Then there was a pause. 'But I am a fool to ask such a
+question as that, and I should be worse than a fool were I to press it.
+It must then be considered as settled?'
+
+She got up and clung to his arm. 'Oh, Will, do not look at me like that!
+
+'It must then be considered as settled?' he repeated.
+
+'Yes, Will, yes. Pray consider it as settled.' He then sat down on the
+rock again, and she came and sat by him near to him, but not close as
+she had been before. She turned her eyes upon him, gazing on him, but
+did not speak to him; and he sat also without speaking for a while,
+with his eyes fixed upon the ground. 'I suppose we may go back to the
+house?' he said at last.
+
+'Give me your hand, Will, and tell me that you will still love me as
+your sister.'
+
+He gave her his hand. 'If you ever want a brother's care you shall have
+it from me,' he said.
+
+'But not a brother's love?'
+
+'No. How can the two go together? I shan't cease to love you because my
+love is in vain. Instead of making me happy it will make me wretched.
+That will be the only difference.'
+
+'I would give my life to make you happy, if that were possible.'
+
+'You will not give me your life in the way that I would have it.'
+
+After that they walked in silence back to the house, and when he had
+opened the front door for her, he parted from her and stood alone under
+the porch, thinking of his misfortune.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING ONCE AGAIN
+
+For a considerable time Belton stood under the porch of the house,
+thinking of what had happened to him, and endeavouring to steady
+himself under the blow which he had received. I do not know that he had
+been sanguine of success. Probably he had made to himself no assurances
+on the subject. But he was a man to whom failure, of itself, was
+intolerable. In any other event of life he would have told himself that
+he would not fail that he would persevere and conquer. He could imagine
+no other position as to which he could at once have been assured of
+failure, in any project on which he had set his heart. But as to this
+project it was so. He had been told that she could not love him  that
+she could never love him and he had believed her. He had made his
+attempt and had failed; and, as he thought of this, standing under the
+porch, he became convinced that life for him was altogether changed,
+and that he who had been so happy must now be a wretched man.
+
+He was still standing there when Mr Amedroz came down into the hall,
+dressed for dinner, and saw his figure through the open doors. 'Will,'
+he said, coming up to him, 'it only wants five minutes to dinner.'
+Belton started and shook himself, as though he were shaking off a
+lethargy, and declared that he was quite ready. Then he remembered that
+he would be expected to dress, and rushed upstairs, three steps at a
+time, to his own room. When he came down, Clara and her father were
+already in the dining-room, and he joined them there.
+
+Mr Amedroz, though he was not very quick in reading facts from the
+manners of those with whom he lived, had felt assured that things had
+gone wrong between Belton and his daughter. He had not as yet had a
+minute in which to speak to Clara, but he was certain that it was so.
+Indeed, it was impossible not to read terrible disappointment and deep
+grief in the young man's manner. He made no attempt to conceal it,
+though he did not speak of it. Through the whole evening, though he was
+alone for a while with the squire, and alone also for a time with
+Clara, he never mentioned or alluded to the subject of his rejection.
+But he bore himself as though he knew and they knew as though all the
+world knew that he had been rejected. And yet he did not remain silent.
+He talked of his property and of his plans, and explained how things
+were to be done in his absence. Once only was there something like an
+allusion made to his sorrow. 'But you will be here at Christmas?' said
+Mr Amedroz, in answer to something which Belton had said as to work to
+be done in his absence. 'I do not know how that may be now,' said
+Belton. And then they had all been silent.
+
+It was a terrible evening to Clara. She endeavoured to talk, but found
+it to be impossible. All the brightness of the last few days had
+disappeared, and the world seemed to her to be more sad and solemn than
+ever. She had no idea when she was refusing him that he would have
+taken it to heart as he had done. The question had come before her for
+decision so suddenly, that she had not, in fact, had time to think of
+this as she was making her answer. All she had done was to feel that
+she could not be to him what he wished her to be. And even as yet she
+had hardly asked herself why she must be so steadfast in her refusal.
+But she had refused him steadfastly, and she did not for a moment think
+of reducing the earnestness of her resolution. It seemed to be manifest
+to her, from his present manner, that he would never ask the question
+again; but she was sure, let it be asked ever so often, that it could
+not be answered in any other way.
+
+Mr Amedroz, not knowing why it was so, became cross and querulous, and
+scolded his daughter. To Belton, also, he was captious, making little
+difficulties, and answering him with petulance. This the rejected lover
+took with most extreme patience, as though such a trifling annoyance
+had no effect in adding anything to his misery. He still held his
+purpose of going on the Saturday, and was still intent on work which
+was to be done before he went; but it seemed that he was satisfied to
+do everything now as a duty, and that the enjoyment of the thing, which
+had heretofore been so conspicuous, was over.
+
+At last they separated, and Clara, as was her wont, went up to her
+father's room. 'Papa,' she said, 'what is all this about Mr Belton?'
+
+'All what, my dear? what do you mean?'
+
+'He has asked me to be to be his wife; and has told me that he came
+with your consent.'
+
+'And why shouldn't he have my consent? What is there amiss with him?
+Why shouldn't you marry him if he likes you? You seemed, I thought, to
+be very fond of him.'
+
+This surprised Clara more than anything. She could hardly have told
+herself why, but she would have thought that such a proposition from
+her cousin would have made her father angry unreasonably angry angry
+with him for presuming to have such an idea; but now it seemed that he
+was going to be angry with her for not accepting her cousin out of hand.
+
+'Yes, papa; I am fond of him; but not like that. I did not expect that
+he would think of me in that way.'
+
+'But why shouldn't he think of you? It would be a very good marriage
+for you, as far as money is concerned.'
+
+'You would not have me marry any one for that reason would you, papa?'
+
+'But you seemed to like him. Well; of course I can't make you like him.
+I meant to do for the best; and when he came to me as he did, I thought
+he was behaving very handsomely, and very much like a gentleman.'
+
+'I am sure he would do that.'
+
+'And if I could have thought that this place would be your home when I
+am gone, it would have made me very happy very happy.'
+
+She now came and stood close to him and took his hand. 'I hope, papa,
+you do not make yourself uneasy about me. I shall do very well. Fm sure
+you can't want me to go away and leave you.'
+
+'How will you do very well? I'm sure I don't know. And if your aunt
+Winterfield means to provide for you, it would only be kind in her to
+let me know it, so that I might not have the anxiety always on my mind.'
+
+Clara knew well enough what was to be the disposition of her aunt's
+property, but she could not tell her father of that now. She almost
+felt that it was her duty to do so, but she could not bring herself to
+do it. She could only beg him not to be anxious on her behalf, making
+vague assurances that she would do very well. 'And are you determined
+not to change your mind about Will?' he said at last.
+
+'I shall not change my mind about that, papa, certainly,' she answered.
+Then he turned away from her, and she saw that he was displeased.
+
+When alone, she was forced to ask herself why it was that she was so
+certain. Alas! there could in truth be no doubt on that subject in her
+own mind. When she sat down, resolved to give herself an answer, there
+was no doubt. She could not love her cousin, Will Belton, because her
+heart belonged to Captain Aylmer.
+
+But she knew that she had received nothing in exchange for her heart.
+He had been kind to her on that journey to Taunton, when the agony
+arising from her brother's death had almost crushed her. He had often
+been kind to her on days before that so kind, so soft in his manners,
+approaching so nearly to the little tenderness of incipient
+love-making, that the idea of regarding him as her lover had of
+necessity forced itself upon her. But in nothing had he gone beyond
+those tendernesses, which need not imperatively be made to mean
+anything, though they do often mean so much. It was now two years since
+she had first thought that Captain Aylmer was the most perfect
+gentleman she knew, and nearly two years since Mrs Winterfield had
+expressed to her a hope that Captain Aylmer might become her husband.
+She had replied that such a thing was impossible as any girl would have
+replied; and had in consequence treated Captain Aylmer with all the
+coolness which she had been able to assume whenever she was in company
+with him in her aunt's presence. Nor was it natural to her to be
+specially gracious to a man under such trying circumstances, even when
+no Mrs Winterfield was there to behold. And so things had gone on.
+Captain Aylmer had now and again made himself very pleasant to her at
+certain trying periods of joy or trouble almost more than pleasant. But
+nothing had come of it, and Clara had told herself that Captain Aylmer
+had no special feeling in her favour. She had told herself this, ever
+since that journey together from Perivale to Taunton; but never till
+now had she confessed to herself what was her own case.
+
+She made a comparison between the two men. Her cousin Will was, she
+thought, the more generous, the more energetic perhaps by nature, the
+man of the higher gifts. In person he was undoubtedly the superior. He
+was full of noble qualities forgetful of self, industrious, full of
+resources, a very man of men, able to command, eager in doing work for
+others' good and his own a man altogether uncontaminated by the
+coldness and selfishness of the outer world. But he was rough, awkward,
+but indifferently educated, and with few of those tastes which to Clara
+Amedroz were delightful. He could not read poetry to her, he could not
+tell her of what the world of literature was doing now or of what it
+had done in times past. He knew nothing of the inner world of worlds
+which governs the world. She doubted whether he could have told her who
+composed the existing cabinet, or have given the name of a single
+bishop beyond the see in which his own parish was situated. But Captain
+Aylmer knew everybody, and had read everything, and understood, as
+though by instinct, all the movements of the world in which he lived.
+
+But what mattered any such comparison? Even though she should be able
+to prove to herself beyond the shadow of a doubt that her cousin Will
+was of the two the fitter to be loved the one more worthy of her heart
+no such proof could alter her position. Love does not go by worth. She
+did not love her cousin as she must love any man to whom she could give
+her hand and, alas! she did love that other man.
+
+On this night I doubt whether Belton did slumber with that solidity of
+repose which was usual to him. At any rate, before he came down in the
+morning he had found time for sufficient thought, and had brought
+himself to a resolution. He would not give up the battle as lost. To
+his thinking there was something weak and almost mean in abandoning any
+project which he had set before himself. He had been awkward, and he
+exaggerated to himself his own awkwardness. He had been hasty, and had
+gone about his task with inconsiderate precipitancy. It might be that
+he had thus destroyed all his chance of success. But, as he said to
+himself, 'he would never say die, as long as there was a puff of breath
+left in him.' He would not mope, and hang down his head, and wear the
+willow. Such a state of things would ill suit either the roughness or
+the readiness of his life. No! He would bear Like a man the
+disappointment which had on this occasion befallen him, and would
+return at Christmas and once more try his fortune.
+
+At breakfast, therefore, the cloud had passed from his brow. When he
+came in he found Clara alone in the room, and he simply shook hands
+with her after his ordinary fashion. He said nothing of yesterday, and
+almost succeeded in looking as though yesterday had been in no wise
+memorable. She was not so much at her ease, but she also received some
+comfort from his demeanour. Mr Amedroz came down almost immediately,
+and Belton soon took an opportunity of saying that he would be back at
+Christmas if Mr Amedroz would receive him.
+
+'Certainly,' said the squire. 'I thought it had been all settled.'
+
+'So it was till I said a word yesterday which foolishly seemed to
+unsettle it. But I have thought it over again, and I find that I can
+manage it.'
+
+'We shall be so glad to have you!' said Clara.
+
+'And I shall be equally glad to come. They are already at work, sir,
+about the sheds.'
+
+'Yes; I saw the carts full of bricks go by,' said the squire,
+querulously. 'I didn't know there was to be any brickwork. You said you
+would have it made of deal slabs with oak posts.'
+
+'You must have a foundation, sir. I propose to carry the brickwork a
+foot and a half above the ground.'
+
+'I suppose you know best. Only that kind of thing is so very ugly.'
+
+'If you find it to be ugly after it is done, it shall be pulled down
+again.'
+
+'No it can never come down again.'
+
+'It can and it shall, if you don't like it. I never think anything of
+changes like that.'
+
+'I think they'll be very pretty!' said Clara.
+
+'I dare say,' said the squire,' but at any rate it won't make much
+difference to me. I shan't be here long to see them.'
+
+This was rather melancholy; but Belton bore up even against this,
+speaking cheery words and expressing bright hopes so that it seemed,
+both to Clara and her father, that he had in a great measure overcome
+the disappointment of the preceding day. It was probable that he was a
+man not prone to be deeply sensitive in such matters for any long
+period. The period now had certainly not been long, and yet Will Belton
+was alive again.
+
+Immediately after breakfast there occurred a little incident which was
+not without its effect upon them all. There came up on the drive
+immediately before the front door, under the custody of a boy, a cow.
+It was an Alderney cow, and any man or woman at all understanding cows
+would at once have perceived that this cow was perfect in her kind. Her
+eyes were mild, and soft, and bright. Her legs were like the legs of a
+deer; and in her whole gait and demeanour she almost gave the lie to
+her own name, asserting herself to have sprung from some more noble
+origin among the woods, than maybe supposed to be the origin of the
+ordinary domestic cow a useful animal, but heavy in its appearance, and
+seen with more pleasure at some little distance than at close quarters.
+But this cow was graceful in its movements, and almost tempted one to
+regard her as the far-off descendant of the elk or the antelope.
+
+'What's that?' said Mr Amedroz, who, having no cows of his own, was not
+pleased to see one brought up in that way before his hail door.
+'There's somebody's cow come here.'
+
+Clara understood it in a moment; but she was pained, and said nothing.
+Had the cow come without any such scene as that of yesterday, she would
+have welcomed the animal with all cordiality, and would have sworn to
+her cousin that the cow should be cherished for his sake. But after
+what had passed it was different. How was she to take any present from
+him now?
+
+But Belton faced the difficulty without any bashfulness or apparent
+regret. 'I told you I would give you a cow,' said he 'and here she is.'
+
+'What can she want with a cow?' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'I am sure she wants one very much. At any rate she won't refuse the
+present from me; will you, Clara?'
+
+What could she say? 'Not if papa will allow me to keep it.'
+
+'But we've no place to put it!' said the squire. 'We haven't got grass
+for it!'
+
+'There's plenty of grass,' said Belton. 'Come, Mr Amedroz; I've made a
+point of getting this little creature for Clara, and you mustn't stand
+in the way of my gratification.' Of course he was successful, and of
+course Clara thanked him with tears in her eyes.
+
+The next two days passed by without anything special to mark them, and
+then the cousin was to go. During the period of his visit he did not
+see Colonel Askerton, nor did he again see Mrs Askerton. He went to the
+cottage once, with the special object of returning the colonel's call;
+but the master was out, and he was not specially invited in to see the
+mistress. He said nothing more to Clara about her friends, but he
+thought of the matter more than once, as he was going about the place,
+and became aware that he would like to ascertain whether there was a
+mystery, and if so, what was its nature. He knew that he did not like
+Mrs Askerton, and he felt also that Mrs Askerton did not like him. This
+was, as he thought, unfortunate; for might it not be the case, that in
+the one matter which was to him of so much importance, Mrs Askerton
+might have considerable influence over Clara?
+
+During these days nothing special was said between him and Clara. The
+last evening passed over without anything to brighten it or to make it
+memorable. Mr Amedroz, in his passive, but gently querulous way, was
+sorry that Belton was going to leave him, as his cousin had been the
+creation of some new excitement for him, but he said nothing on the
+subject; and when the time for going to bed had come, he bade his guest
+farewell with some languid allusion to the pleasure which he would have
+in seeing him again at Christmas. Belton was to start very early in the
+morning before six, and of course he was prepared to take leave also of
+Clara. But she told him very gently, so gently that her father did not
+hear it, that she would be up to give him a cup of coffee before he
+went.
+
+'Oh no,' he said.
+
+'But I shall. I won't have you go without seeing you out of the door.'
+
+And on the following morning she was up before him. She hardly
+understood, herself, why she was doing this. She knew that it should be
+her object to avoid any further special conversation on that subject
+which they discussed up among the rocks. She knew that she could give
+him no comfort, and that he could give none to her. It would seem that
+he was willing to let the remembrance of the scene pass away, so that
+it should be as though it had never been; and surely it was not for her
+to disturb so salutary an arrangement! But yet she was up to bid him
+God speed as he went. She could not bear,. so she excused the matter to
+herself she could not bear to think that he should regard her as
+ungrateful. She knew all that he had done for them. She had perceived
+that the taking of the land, the building of the sheds, the life which
+he had contrived in so short a time to throw into the old place, had
+all come from a desire on his part to do good to those in whose way he
+stood by family arrangements made almost before his birth; and she
+longed to say to him one word of thanks. And had he not told her once
+in the heat of his disappointment; for then at that moment, as Clara
+had said to herself, she supposed that he must have been in some
+measure disappointed had he not even then told her that when she wanted
+a brother's care, a brother's care should be given to her by him? Was
+she not therefore~ bound to do for him what she would do for a brother?
+
+She, with her own hands, brought the coffee into the little breakfast
+parlour, and handed the cup into his hands. The gig, which had come
+overnight from Taunton, was not yet at the door, and there was a minute
+or two during which they must speak to each other. Who has not seen
+some such girl when she has come down early, without the full
+completeness of her morning toilet, and yet nicer, fresher, prettier to
+the eye of him who is so favoured, than she has ever been in more
+formal attire? And what man who has been so favoured has not loved her
+who has so favoured him, even though he may not previously have been
+enamoured as deeply as poor Will Belton?
+
+'This is so good of you,' he said.
+
+'I wish I knew how to be good to you,' she answered not meaning to
+trench upon dangerous ground, but feeling, as the words came from her,
+that she had done so. 'You have been so good to us, so very good to
+papa, that we owe you everything. I am so grateful to you for saying
+that you will come back at Christmas.'
+
+He had resolved that he would refrain from further love-making till the
+winter; but he found it very hard to refrain when so addressed. To take
+her in his arms, and kiss her twenty times, and swear that he would
+never let her go to claim her at once savagely as his own, that was the
+line of conduct to which temptation prompted him. How could she look at
+him so sweetly, how could she stand before him, ministering to him with
+all her pretty maidenly charms brought so close to him, without
+intending that he should love her? But he did refrain. 'Blood is
+thicker than water,' said he. 'That's the real reason why I first came.'
+
+'I understand that quite, and it is that feeling that makes you so
+good. But I'm afraid you are spending a great deal of money here and
+all for our sakes.'
+
+'Not at all. I shall get my money back again. And if I didn't, what
+then? I've plenty of money. it is not money that I want.'
+
+She could not ask him what it was that he did want, and she was obliged
+therefore to begin again. 'Papa will look forward so to the winter now.'
+
+'And so shall I.'
+
+'But you must come for longer then you won't go away at the end of a
+week? Say that you won't.'
+
+'I'll see about it. I can't tell quite yet. You'll write me a line to
+say when the shed is finished, won't you?'
+
+'That I will, and I'll tell you how Bessy goes on.' Bessy was the cow.
+'I will be so very fond of her. She'll come to me for apples already.'
+
+Belton thought that he would go to her, wherever she might be, even if
+he were to get no apples. 'It's all cupboard love with them,' he said.
+'I'll tell you what I'll do when I come, I'll bring you a dog that will
+follow you without thinking of apples.' Then the gig was heard on the
+gravel before the door, and Belton was forced to go. For a moment he
+reflected whether, as her cousin, it was not his duty to kiss her. It
+was a matter as to which he had doubt as is the case with many male
+cousins; but ultimately he resolved that if he kissed her at all he
+would not kiss her in that light, and so he again refrained. 'Goodbye,'
+he said, putting out his great hand to her.
+
+'Good-bye, Will, and God bless you.' I almost think he might have
+kissed her, asking himself no questions as to the light in which it was
+done.
+
+As he turned from her he saw the tears in her eyes; and as he sat in
+the gig, thinking of them, other tears came into his own. By heaven, he
+would have her yet! He was a man who had not read much of romance. To
+him all the imagined mysteries of passion had not been made common by
+the perusal of legions of love stories but still he knew enough of the
+game to be aware that women had been won in spite, as it were, of their
+own teeth. He knew that he could not now run away with her, taking her
+off by force; but still he might conquer her will by his own. As he
+remembered the tears in her eyes, and the tone of her voice, and the
+pressure of her hand, and the gratitude that had become tender in its
+expression, he could not hut think that he would be wise to love her
+still. Wise or foolish, he did love her still; and it should not be
+owing to fault of his if she did not become his wife. As he drove along
+he saw little of the Quantock hills, little of the rich Somersetshire
+pastures, little of the early beauty of the August morning. He saw
+nothing but her eyes, moistened with bright tears, and before he
+reached Taunton he had rebuked himself with many revilings in that he
+had parted from her and not kissed her.
+
+Clara stood at the door watching the gig till it was out of sight
+watching it as well as her tears would allow. What a grand cousin he
+was! Had it not been a pity a thousand pities that that grievous
+episode should have come to mar the brotherly love, the sisterly
+confidence, which might otherwise have been so perfect between them?
+But perhaps it might all be well yet. Clara knew, or thought that she
+knew, that men and women differed in their appreciation of love. She,
+having once loved, could not change. Of that she was sure. Her love
+might be fortunate or unfortunate. It might be returned, or it might
+simply be her own, to destroy all hope of happiness for her on earth.
+But whether it were this or that, whether productive of good or evil,
+the love itself could not be changed. But with men she thought it might
+be different. Her cousin, doubtless, had been sincere in the full
+sincerity of his heart when he made his offer. And had she accepted it
+had she been able to accept it she believed that he would have loved
+her truly and constantly. Such was his nature. But she also believed
+that love with him, unrequited love, would have no enduring effect, and
+that he had already resolved, with equal courage and wisdom, to tread
+this short-lived passion out beneath his feet. One night had sufficed
+to him for that treading out. As she thought of this the tears ran
+plentifully down her cheek; and going again to her room she remained
+there crying till it was time for her to wipe away the marks of her
+weeping, that she might go to her father.
+
+But she was very glad that Will bore it so well very glad! Her cousin
+was safe against love-making once again.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ GOES TO PERIVALE
+
+It had been settled for some time past that Miss Amedroz was to go to
+Perivale for a few days in November. Indeed it seemed to be a
+recognized fact in her life that she was to make the journey from
+Belton to Perivale and back very often, as there prevailed an idea that
+she owed a divided duty. This was in some degree hard upon her, as she
+had very little gratification in these visits to her aunt. Had there
+been any intention on the part of Mrs Winterfield to provide for her,
+the thing would have been intelligible according to the usual
+arrangements which are made in the world on such matters; but Mrs
+Winterfield had scarcely a right to call upon her niece for dutiful
+attendance after having settled it with her own conscience that her
+property was all to go to her nephew. But Clara entertained no thought
+of rebelling, and had agreed to make the accustomed journey in
+November, travelling then, as she did on all such journeys, at her
+aunt's expense.
+
+Two things only occurred to disturb her tranquillity before she went,
+and they were not of much violence. Mr Wright, the clergyman, called at
+Belton Castle, and in the course of conversation with Mr Amedroz
+renewed one of those ill-natured rumours which had before been spread
+about Mrs Askerton. Clara did not see him, but she heard an account of
+it all from her father.
+
+'Does it mean, papa,' she said, speaking almost with anger, 'that you
+want me to give up Mrs Askerton?'
+
+'How can you be so unkind as to ask me such a question?' he replied.
+'You know how I hate to be bothered. I tell you what I hear, and then
+you can decide for yourself.'
+
+'But that isn't quite fair either, papa. That man comes here'
+
+'That man, as you call him, is the rector of the parish, and I've known
+him for forty years.'
+
+'And have never liked him, papa.'
+
+'I don't know much about liking anybody, my dear. Nobody likes me, and
+so why should I trouble myself?'
+
+'But, papa, it all amounts to this that somebody has said that the
+Askertons are not Askertons at all, but ought to be called something
+else. Now we know that he served as Captain and Major Askerton for
+seven years in India and in fact it all means nothing. If I know
+anything, I know that he is Colonel Askerton.'
+
+'But do you know that she is his wife? That is what Mr Wright asks. I
+don't say anything. I think it's very indelicate talking about such
+things.'
+
+'If I am asked whether I have seen her marriage certificate, certainly
+I have not; nor probably did you ever do so as to any lady that you
+ever knew. But I know that she is her husband's wife, as we all of us
+know things of that sort. I know she was in India with him. I've seen
+things of hers marked with her name that she has had at least ten
+years.'
+
+'I don't know anything about it, my dear,' said Mr Amedroz, angrily.
+
+'But Mr Wright ought to know something about it before he says such
+things. And then this that he's saying now isn't the same that he said
+before.'
+
+'I don't know what he said before.'
+
+'He said they were both of them using a feigned name.'
+
+'It's nothing to me what name they use. I know I wish they hadn't come
+here, if I'm to be troubled about them in this way first by Wright and
+then by you.'
+
+'They have been very good tenants, papa.'
+
+'You needn't tell me that, Clara, and remind me about the shooting when
+you know how unhappy it makes me.'
+
+After this Clara said nothing more, and simply determined that Mr
+Wright and his gossip should have no effect upon her intimacy with Mrs
+Askerton. But not the less did she continue to remember what her cousin
+had said about Miss Vigo.
+
+And she had been ruffled a second time by certain observations which
+Mrs Askerton made to her respecting her cousin or rather by little
+words which were dropped on various occasions. It was very clear that
+Mrs Askerton did not like Mr Belton, and that she wished to prejudice
+Clara against him. 'It's a pity he shouldn't be a lover of yours,' the
+lady said, 'because it would be such a fine instance of Beauty and the
+Beast.' It will of course be understood that Mrs Askerton had never
+been told of the offer that had been made.
+
+'You don't mean to say that he's not a handsome man,' said Clara.
+
+'I never observe whether a man is handsome or not; but I can see very
+well whether he knows what to do with his arms and legs, or whether he
+has the proper use of his voice before ladies.' Clara remembered a word
+or two spoken by her cousin to herself, in speaking which he had seemed
+to have a very proper use of his voice. 'I know when a man is at ease
+like a gentleman, and when he is awkward like a'
+
+'Like a what?' said Clara. 'Finish what you've got to say.'
+
+'Like a ploughboy, I was going to say,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I declare I think you have a spite against him, because he said you
+were like some Miss Vigo,' replied Clara, sharply. Mrs Askerton was on
+that occasion silenced, and she said nothing more about Mr Belton till
+after Clara had returned from Perivale.
+
+The journey itself from Belton to Perivale was always a nuisance, and
+was more so now than usual, as it was made in the disagreeable month of
+November. There was kept at the little inn at Redicote an old fly-so
+called which habitually made the journey to the Taunton
+railway-station, under the conduct of an old grey horse and an older
+and greyer driver, whenever any of the old ladies of the neighbourhood
+were minded to leave their homes. This vehicle usually travelled at the
+rate of five miles an hour; but the old grey driver was never content
+to have time allowed to him for the transit calculated upon such a rate
+of speed. Accidents might happen, and why should he be made, as he
+would plaintively ask, to drive the poor beast out of its skin? He was
+consequently always at Belton a full hour before the time, and though
+Clara was well aware of all this, she could not help herself. Her
+father was fussy and impatient, the man was fussy and impatient; and
+there was nothing for her but to go. On the present occasion she was
+taken off in this way the full sixty minutes too soon, and after four
+dreary hours spent upon the road, found herself landed at the Taunton
+station, with a terrible gulf of time to be passed before she could
+again proceed on her journey.
+
+One little accident had occurred to her. The old horse, while trotting
+leisurely along the level high road, had contrived to tumble down.
+Clara did not think very much of this, as the same thing had happened
+with her before; but, even with an hour or more to spare, there arises
+a question whether under such circumstances the train can be saved. But
+the grey old man reassured her. 'Now, miss,' said he, coming to the
+window, while he left his horse recumbent and apparently comfortable on
+the road, 'where'd you have been now, zure, if I hadn't a few minutes
+in hand for you?' Then he walked off to some neighbouring cottage, and
+having obtained assistance, succeeded in putting his beast again upon
+his legs. After that he looked once more in at the window. 'Who's right
+now, I wonder?' he said, with an air of triumph. And when he came to
+her for his guerdon at Taunton, he was evidently cross in not having it
+increased because of the accident.
+
+That hour at the Taunton station was terrible to her. I know of no
+hours more terrible than those so passed. The minutes will not go away,
+and utterly fail in making good their claim to be called winged. A man
+walks up and down the platform, and in that way obtains something of
+the advantage of exercise; but a woman finds herself bound to sit still
+within the dreary dullness of the waiting- room. There are, perhaps,
+people who under such circumstances can read, but they are few in
+number. The mind altogether declines to be active, whereas the body is
+seized by a spirit of restlessness to which delay and tranquillity are
+loathsome. The advertisements on the walls are examined, the map of
+some new Eden is studied some Eden in which an irregular pond and a
+church are surrounded by a multiplicity of regular villas and shrubs
+till the student feels that no consideration of health or economy would
+induce him to live there. Then the porters come in and out, till each
+porter has made himself odious to the sight. Everything is hideous,
+dirty, and disagreeable; and the mind wanders away, to consider why
+station-masters do not more frequently commit suicide. Clara Amedroz
+had already got beyond this stage, and was beginning to think of
+herself rather than of the station-master, when at last there sounded,
+close to her ears, the bell of promise, and she knew that the train was
+at hand.
+
+At Taunton there branched away from the main line that line which was
+to take her to Perivale, and therefore she was able to take her own
+place quietly in the carriage when she found that the down- train from
+London was at hand. This she did, and could then watch with equanimity,
+while the travellers from the other train went through the penance of
+changing their seats. But she had not been so watching for many seconds
+when she saw Captain Frederic Aylmer appear upon the platform.
+Immediately she sank back into her corner and watched no more. Of
+course he was going to Perivale; but why had not her aunt told her that
+she was to meet him? Of course she would be staying in the same house
+with him, and her present small attempt to avoid him would thus be
+futile. The attempt was made; but nevertheless she was probably pleased
+when she found that it was made in vain. He came at once to the
+carriage in which she was sitting, and had packed his coats, and
+dressing-bag, and desk about the carriage before he had discovered who
+was his fellow-traveller 'How do you do, Captain Aylmer?' she said, as
+he was about to take his seat.
+
+'Miss Amedroz! Dear me; how very odd! I had not the slightest
+expectation of meeting you here. The pleasure is of course the greater.'
+
+'Nor I of seeing you. Mrs Winterfield has not mentioned to me that you
+were coming to Perivale.'
+
+'I didn't know it myself till the day before yesterday. I'm going to
+give an account of my stewardship to the good-natured Perivalians who
+sent me to Parliament. I'm to dine with the Mayor tomorrow, and as some
+big-wig has come in his way who is going to dine with him also, the
+thing has been got up in a hurry. But I'm delighted to find that you
+are to be with us.'
+
+'I generally go to my aunt about this time of the year.'
+
+'It is very good-natured of you.' Then he asked after her father, and
+she told him of Mr Belton's visit, telling him nothing as the reader
+will hardly require to be told of Mr Belton's offer. And so, by
+degrees, they fell into close and intimate conversation.
+
+'I am so glad, for your, father's sake!' said the captain, with
+sympathetic voice, speaking still of Mr Belton's visit.
+
+
+
+'That's what I feel, of course.'
+
+'I is just as it should be, as he stands in that position to the
+property. And so he is a nice sort of fellow, is he?
+
+
+
+'Nice is no word for him. He is perfect!'
+
+'Dear me! This is terrible! You remember that they hated some old Greek
+patriot when they could find no fault in him?'
+
+'I'll defy you to hate my cousin Will.'
+
+'What sort of looking man is he?'
+
+'Extremely handsome at least I should say so.'
+
+'Then I certainly must hate him. And clever?'
+
+'Well not what you would call clever. He is very clever about fields
+and cattle.'
+
+'Come, there is some relief in that.'
+
+'But you must not mistake me. He is clever; and then there's a way
+about him of doing everything just as he likes it, which is wonderful.
+You feel quite sure that he'll become master of everything.'
+
+'But I do not feel at all sure that I should like him better for that
+
+'But he doesn't meddle in things that he doesn't understand. And then
+he is so generous! His spending all that money down there is only done
+because he thinks it will make the place pleasanter to papa.'
+
+'Has he got plenty of money?'
+
+'Oh, plenty! At least, I think so. He says that he has.'
+
+'The idea of any man owning that he had got plenty of money! What a
+happy mortal! And then to be handsome, and omnipotent, and to
+understand cattle and fields! One would strive to emulate him rather
+than envy him, had not one learned to acknowledge that it is not given
+to every one to get to Corinth.'
+
+'You may laugh at him, but you'd like him if you knew him.'
+
+'One never can be sure of that from a lady's account of a man. When a
+man talks to me about another man, I can generally tell whether I
+should like him or not particularly if I know the man well who is
+giving the description; but it is quite different when a woman is the
+describer.'
+
+'You mean that you won't take my word?'
+
+'We see with different eyes in such matters. I have no doubt your
+cousin is a worthy man and as prosperous a gentleman as the Thane of
+Cawdor in his prosperous days but probably if he and I came together we
+shouldn't have a word to say to each other.'
+
+Clara almost hated Captain Aylmer for speaking as he did, and yet she
+knew that it was true. Will Belton was not an educated man, and were
+they two to meet in her presence the captain and the farmer she felt
+that she might have to blush for her cousin. But yet he was the better
+man of the two. She knew that he was the better man of the two, though
+she knew also that she could not love him as she loved the other.
+
+Then they changed the subject of their conversation, and discussed Mrs
+Winterfield, as they had often done before. Captain Aylmer had said
+that he should return to London on the Saturday, the present day being
+Tuesday, and Clara accused him of escaping always from the real hard
+work of his position. 'I observe that you never stay a Sunday at
+Perivale,' she said.
+
+'Well not often. Why should I? Sunday is just the day that people like
+to be at home.'
+
+'I should have thought it would not have made much difference to a
+bachelor in that way.'
+
+'But Sunday is a day that one specially likes to pass after one's own
+fashion.'
+
+'Exactly and therefore you don't stay with my aunt. I understand it all
+completely.'
+
+'Now you mean to be ill-natured!'
+
+'I mean to say that I don't like Sundays at Perivale at all, and that I
+should do just as you do if I had the power. But women women, that is,
+of my age are such slaves! We are forced to give an obedience for which
+we can see no cause, and for which we can understand no necessity. I
+couldn't tell my aunt that I meant to go away on Saturday.'
+
+'You have no business which makes imperative calls upon your time.'
+
+'That means that I can't plead pretended excuses. But the true reason
+is that we are dependent.'
+
+'There is something in that, I suppose.'
+
+'Not that I am dependent on her. But my position generally is
+dependent, and I cannot assist myself.'
+
+Captain Aylmer found it difficult to make any answer to this, feeling
+the subject to be one which could hardly be discussed between him and
+Miss Amedroz. He not unnaturally looked to be the heir of his aunt's
+property, and any provision made out of that property for Clara would
+so far lessen that which would come to him. For anything that he knew,
+Mrs Winterfield might leave everything she possessed to her niece. The
+old lady had not been open and candid to him whom she meant to favour
+in her will, as she had been to her to whom no such favour was to be
+shown. But Captain Aylmer did know, with tolerable accuracy, what was
+the state of affairs at Belton, and was aware that Miss Amedroz had no
+prospect of maintenance on which to depend, unless she could depend on
+her aunt. She was now pleading that she was not dependent on that lady,
+and Captain Aylmer felt that she was wrong. He was a man of the world,
+and was by no means inclined to abandon any right that was his own; but
+it seemed to him that he was almost bound to say some word to show that
+in his opinion Clara should hold herself bound to comply with her
+aunt's requirements.
+
+'Dependence is a disagreeable word,' he said; and one never quite knows
+what it means.'
+
+'If you were a woman you'd know. It means that I must stay at Perivale
+on Sundays, while you can go up to London or down to Yorkshire. That's
+what it means.'
+
+'What you do mean, I think, is this that you owe a duty to your aunt,
+the performance of which is not altogether agreeable. Nevertheless it
+would be foolish in you to omit it.'
+
+'It isn't that not that at all. It would not be foolish, not in your
+sense of the word, but it would be wrong. My aunt has been kind to me,
+and therefore I am bound to her for this service. But she is kind to
+you also, and yet you are not bound. That's why I complain. You sail
+always under false pretences, and yet you think you do your duty. You
+have to see your lawyer which means going to your club; or to attend to
+your tenants which means hunting and shooting.'
+
+'I haven't got any tenants.'
+
+'You know very well that you could remain over Sunday without doing any
+harm to anybody only you don't like going to church three times, and
+you don't like hearing my aunt read a sermon afterwards. Why shouldn't
+you stay, and I go to the club?'
+
+'With all my heart, if you can manage it.'
+
+'But I can't; we ain't allowed to have clubs, or shooting, or to have
+our own way in anything, putting forward little pretences about
+lawyers.'
+
+'Come, I'll stay if you'll ask me.'
+
+'I'm sure I won't do that. In the first place you'd go to sleep, and
+then she would be offended; and I don't know that your sufferings would
+make mine any lighter. I'm not prepared to alter the ways of the world,
+but feel myself entitled to grumble at them sometimes.'
+
+Mrs Winterfield inhabited a large brick house in the centre of the
+town. It had a long frontage to the street; for there was not only the
+house itself, with its three square windows on each side of the door,
+and its seven windows over that, and again its seven windows in the
+upper story but the end of the coach-house also abutted on the street,
+on which was the family clock, quite as much respected in Perivale as
+was the town-clock; and between the coach-house and the mansion there
+was the broad entrance into the yard, and the entrance also to the back
+door. No Perivalian ever presumed to doubt that Mrs Winterfield's house
+was the most important house in the town. Nor did any stranger doubt it
+on looking at the frontage. But then it was in all respects a town
+house to the eye that is, an English town house, being as ugly and as
+respectable as unlimited bricks and mortar could make it. Immediately
+opposite to Mrs Winterfield lived the leading doctor and a retired
+builder, so that the lady's eye was not hurt by any sign of a shop. The
+shops, indeed, came within a very few yards of her on either side; but
+as the neighbouring shops on each side were her own property, this was
+not unbearable. To me, had I lived there, the incipient growth of grass
+through some of the stones which formed the margin of the road would
+have been altogether unendurable. There is no sign of coming decay
+which is so melancholy to the eye as any which tells of a decrease in
+the throng of men. Of men or horses there was never any throng now in
+that end of Perivale. That street had formed part of the main line of
+road from Salisbury to Taunton, and coaches, wagons, and
+posting-carriages had been frequent on it; but now, alas lit was
+deserted. Even the omnibuses from the railway-station never came there
+unless they were ordered to call at Mrs Winterfield's door. For Mrs
+Winterfield herself, this desolation had, I think, a certain melancholy
+attraction. It suited her tone of mind and her religious views that she
+should be thus daily reminded that things of this world were passing
+away and going to destruction. She liked to have ocular proof that
+grass was growing in the highways under mortal feet, and that it was no
+longer worth man's while to renew human flags in human streets. She was
+drawing near to the pavements which would ever be trodden by myriads of
+bright sandals, and which yet would never be worn, and would be carried
+to those jewelled causeways on which no weed could find a spot for its
+useless growth.
+
+Behind the house there was a square prim garden, arranged in
+parallelograms, tree answering to tree at every corner, round which it
+was still her delight to creep when the weather permitted. Poor Clara!
+How much advice she had received during these creepings, and how often
+had she listened to inquiries as to the schooling of the gardener's
+children. Mrs Winterfield was always unhappy about her gardener.
+Serious footmen are very plentiful, and even coachmen are to be found
+who, at a certain rate of extra payment, will be punctual at prayer
+time, and will promise to read good little books; but gardeners, as a
+class, are a profane people, who think themselves entitled to claim
+liberty of conscience, and who will not submit to the domestic
+despotism of a serious Sunday. They live in cottages by themselves, and
+choose to have an opinion of their own on church matters. Mrs
+Winterfield was aware that she ought to bid high for such a gardener as
+she wanted. A man must be paid well who will submit to daily inquiries
+as to the spiritual welfare of himself, his wife, and family. But even
+though she did bid high, and though she paid generously, no gardener
+would stop with her. One conscientious man attempted to bargain for
+freedom from religion during the six unimportant days of the week,
+being strong, and willing therefore to give up his day of rest; but
+such liberty could not be allowed to him, and he also went. 'He
+couldn't stop,' he said, 'in justice to the greenhouses, when missus
+was so constant down upon him about his sprittual backsliding. And
+after all, where did he backslide? It was only a pipe of tobacco with
+the babby in his arms, instead of that darned evening lecture.'
+
+Poor Mrs Winterfield! She had been strong in her youth, and had herself
+sat through evening lectures with a fortitude which other people cannot
+attain. And she was strong too in her age, with the strength of a
+martyr, submitting herself with patience to wearinesses which are
+insupportable to those who have none of the martyr spirit. The sermons
+of Perivale were neither bright, nor eloquent, nor encouraging. All the
+old vicar or the young curate could tell she had heard hundreds of
+times. She knew it all by heart, and could have preached their sermons
+to them better than they could preach them to her. It was impossible
+that she could learn anything from them: and yet she would sit there
+thrice a day, suffering from cold in winter, from cough in spring, from
+heat in summer, and from rheumatism in autumn; and now that her doctor
+had forbidden her to go more than twice, recommending her to go only
+once, she really thought that she regarded the prohibition as a
+grievance. Indeed, to such as her, that expectation of the jewelled
+causeway, and of the perfect pavement that shall never be worn, must be
+everything. But if she was right right as to herself and others then
+why has the world been made so pleasant? Why is the fruit of the earth
+so sweet; and the trees why are they so green; and the mountains so
+full of glory? Why are women so lovely? and why is it that the activity
+of man's mind is the only sure forerunner of man's progress? In
+Listening thrice a day to outpourings from the clergyman at Perivale
+there certainly was no activity of mind.
+
+Now, in these days, Mrs Winterfield was near to her reward. That she
+had ensured that I cannot doubt. She had fed the poor, and filled the
+young full with religious teachings perhaps not wisely, and in her own
+way only too well, but yet as her judgment had directed her. She had
+cared little for herself forgiving injuries done to her, and not
+forgiving those only which she thought were done to the Lord. She had
+lived her life somewhat as the martyr lived, who stood for years on his
+pillar unmoved, while his nails grew through his flesh. So had she
+stood, doing, I fear, but little positive good with her large means but
+thinking nothing of her own comfort here, in comparison with the
+comfort of herself and others in the world to which she was going.
+
+On this occasion her nephew and niece reached her together; the prim
+boy, with the white cotton gloves and the low four-wheeled carriage,
+having been sent down to meet Clara. For Mrs Winterfield was a lady who
+thought it unbecoming that her niece though only an adopted niece
+should come to her door in an omnibus. Captain Aylmer had driven the
+four-wheeled carriage from the station, dispossessing the boy, and the
+luggage had been confided to the public conveyance.
+
+'It is very fortunate that you should come together,' said Mrs
+Winterfield. 'I didn't know when to expect you, Fred. Indeed, you never
+say at what hour you'll come.'
+
+'I think it safer to allow myself a little margin, aunt, because one
+has so many things to do.'
+
+'I suppose it is so with a gentleman,' said Mrs Winterfield. After
+which Clara looked at Captain Aylmer, but did not betray any of her
+suspicions. 'But I knew Clara would come by this train,' continued the
+old lady; 'so I sent Tom to meet her. Ladies always can be punctual;
+they can do that at any rate.' Mrs Winterfield was one of those women
+who have always believed that their own sex is in every respect
+inferior to the other.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+CAPTAIN AYLMER MEETS HIS CONSTITUENTS
+
+On the first evening of their visit Captain Aylmer was very attentive
+to his aunt. He was quite alive to the propriety of such attentions,
+and to their expediency; and Clara was amused as she watched him while
+he sat by her side, by the hour together, answering little questions
+and making little remarks suited to the temperament of the old lady's
+mind. She, herself, was hardly called upon to join in the conversation
+on that evening, and as she sat and listened, she could not but think
+that Will Belton would have been less adroit, but that he would also
+have been more straightforward. And yet why should not Captain Aylmer
+talk to his mat? Will Belton would also have talked to his aunt if he
+had one, but then he would have talked his own talk, and not his aunt's
+talk. Clara could hardly make up her mind whether Captain Aylmer was or
+was not a sincere man. On the following day Aylmer was out all the
+morning, paying visits among his constituents, and at three o'clock he
+was to make his speech in the town-hall. Special places in the gallery
+were to be kept for Mrs Winterfield and her niece, and the old woman
+was quite resolved that she would be there. As the day advanced she
+became very fidgety, and at length she was quite alive to the perils of
+having to climb up the town-hall stairs; but she persevered, and at ten
+minutes before three she was seated in her place.
+
+'I suppose they will begin with prayer,' she said to Clara. Clara, who
+knew nothing of the manner in which things were done at such meetings,
+said that she supposed so. A town councillor's wife who sat on the
+other side of Mrs Winterfield here took the liberty of explaining that
+as the captain was going to talk politics there would be no prayers.
+'But they have prayers in the Houses of Parliament,' said Mrs
+Winterfield, with much anger. To this the town councillor's wife, who
+was almost silenced by the great lady's wrath, said that indeed she did
+not know. After this Mrs Winterfield continued to hope for the best,
+till the platform was filled and the proceedings had commenced. Then
+she declared the present men of Perivale to be a godless set, and
+expressed herself very sorry that her nephew had ever had anything to
+do with them. 'No good can come of it, my dear,' she said. Clara from
+the beginning had feared that no good would come of her aunt's visit to
+the town-hall.
+
+The business was put on foot at once, and with some little flourishing
+at the commencement, Captain Aylmer made his speech the same speech
+which we have all heard and read so often, specially adapted to the
+meridian of Perivale. He was a Conservative, and of course he told his
+hearers that a good time was coming; that he and his family were really
+about to buckle themselves to the work, and that Perivale would hear
+things that would surprise it. The malt tax was to go, and the farmers
+were to have free trade in beer the arguments from the other side
+having come beautifully round in their appointed circle and old England
+was to be old England once again. He did the thing tolerably well, as
+such gentlemen usually do, and Perivale was contented with its Member,
+with the exception of one Perivalian. To Mrs Winterfield, sitting up
+there and listening with all her ears, it seemed that he had hitherto
+omitted all allusion to any subject that was worthy of mention. At last
+he said some word about the marriage and divorce court, condemning the
+iniquity of the present law, to which Perivale had opposed itself
+violently by petition and general meetings; and upon hearing this Mrs
+Winterfield had thumped with her umbrella, and faintly cheered him with
+her weak old voice. But the surrounding Perivalians had heard the
+cheer, and it was repeated backward and forwards through the room, till
+the Member's aunt thought that it might be her nephew's mission to
+annul that godless Act of Parliament and restore the matrimonial bonds
+of England to their old rigidity. When Captain Aylmer came out to hand
+her up to her little carriage, she patted him, and thanked him, and
+encouraged him; and on her way home she congratulated herself to Clara
+that she should have such a nephew to leave behind in her place.
+
+Captain Aylmer was dining with the Mayor on that evening, and Mrs
+Winterfield was therefore able to indulge herself in talking about him.
+'I don't see much of young men, of course,' she said; 'but I do not
+even hear of any that are like him.' Again Clara thought of her cousin
+Will. Will was not at all like Frederic Aylmer; but was he not better?
+And yet, as she thought thus, she remembered that she had refused her
+cousin Will because she loved that very Frederic Aylmer whom her mind
+was thus condemning.
+
+'I'm sure he does his duty as a Member of Parliament very well,' said
+Clara.
+
+'That alone would not be much; but when that is joined to so much that
+is better, it is a great deal. I am told that very few of the men in
+the House now are believers at all.'
+
+'Oh, aunt!'
+
+'It is terrible to think of, my dear.'
+
+'But, aunt; they have to take some oath, or something of that sort, to
+show that they are Christians.'
+
+'Not now, my dear. They've done away with all that since we had Jew
+members. An atheist can go into Parliament now; and I'm told that most
+of them are that, or nearly as bad. I can remember when no Papist could
+sit in Parliament. But they seem to me to be doing away with
+everything. It's a great comfort to me that Frederic is what he is.'
+
+'I'm sure it must be, aunt.'
+
+Then there was a pause, during which, however, Mrs Winterfield gave no
+sign that the conversation was to be considered as being over. Clara
+knew her aunt's ways so well, that she was sure something more was
+coming, and therefore waited patiently, without any thought of taking
+up her book. 'I was speaking to him about you yesterday,' Mrs
+Winterfield said at last.
+
+'That would not interest him very much.'
+
+'Why not? Do you suppose he is not interested in those I love? Indeed,
+it did interest him; and he told me what I did not know before, and
+what you ought to have told me.'
+
+Clara now blushed, she knew not why, and became agitated. 'I don't know
+that I have kept anything from you that I ought to have told,' she said.
+
+'He says that the provision made for you by your father has all been
+squandered.'
+
+'If he used that word he has been very unkind,' said Clara, angrily.
+
+'I don't know what word he used, but he was not unkind at all; he never
+is. I think he was very generous.
+
+'I do not want his generosity, aunt,'
+
+'That is nonsense, my dear. If he has told me the truth, what have you
+to depend on?'
+
+'I don't want to depend on anything. I hate hearing about it.'
+
+'Clara, I wonder you can talk in that way. If you were only seventeen
+it would be very foolish; but at your age it is inexcusable. When I am
+gone, and your father is gone, who is to provide for you? Will your
+cousin do it Mr Belton, who is to have the property?'
+
+'Yes, he would if I would let him of course I would not let him. But,
+aunt, pray do not go on. I would sooner have to starve than talk about
+it at all.'
+
+There was another pause; but Clara again knew that the conversation was
+not over; and she knew also that it would be vain for her to endeavour
+to begin another subject. Nor could she think of anything else to say,
+so much was she agitated.
+
+'What makes you suppose that Mr Belton would be so liberal?' asked Mrs
+Winterfield.
+
+'I don't know. I can't say. He is the nearest relation I shall have;
+and of all the people I ever knew he is the best, and the most
+generous, and the least selfish. When he came to us papa was quite
+hostile to him disliking his very name; but when the time came, papa
+could not bear to think of his going, because he had been so good.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Well, aunt.'
+
+'I hope you know my affection for you.'
+
+'Of course I do, aunt; and I hope you trust mine for you also.'
+
+'Is there anything between you and Mr Belton besides cousinship?'
+
+'Nothing.'
+
+'Because if I thought that, my trouble would of course be at an end.'
+
+'There is nothing but pray do not lot me be a trouble to you.' Clara,
+for a moment, almost resolved to tell her aunt the whole truth; but she
+remembered that she would be treating her cousin badly if she told the
+story of his rejection.
+
+There was another short period of silence, and then Mrs Winterfield
+went on. 'Frederic thinks that I should make some provision for you by
+will. That, of course, is the same as though he offered to do it
+himself. I told him that it would be so, and I read him my will last
+night. He said that that made no difference, and recommended me to add
+a codicil. I asked him how much I ought to give you, and he said
+fifteen hundred pounds. There will be as much as that after burying me
+without burden to the estate. You must acknowledge that he has been
+very generous.'
+
+But Clara, in her heart, did not at all thank Captain Aylmer for his
+generosity. She would have had everything from him, or nothing. It was
+grievous to her to think that she should owe to him a bare pittance to
+keep her out of the workhouse to him who had twice seemed to be on the
+point of asking her to share everything with him. She did not love her
+cousin Will as she loved him; but her cousin Will's assurance to her
+that he would treat her with a brother's care was sweeter to her by far
+than Frederic Aylmer's well-balanced counsel to his aunt on her behalf.
+In her present mood, too, she wanted no one to have fore. thought for
+her; she desired no provision; for her, in the discomfiture of heart,
+there was consolation in the feeling that when she should find herself
+alone in the world, she would have been ill-treated by her friends all
+round her. There was a charm in the prospect of her desolation of which
+she did not wish to be robbed by the assurance of some seventy pounds a
+year, to be given to her by Captain Frederic Aylmer. To be robbed of
+one's grievance is the last and foulest wrong a wrong under which the
+most enduring temper will at last yield and become soured by which the
+strongest back will be broken. 'Well, my dear,' continued Mrs
+Winterfield, when Clara made no response to this appeal for praise.
+
+'It is so hard for me to say anything about it, aunt. What can I say
+but that I don't want to be a burden to any one?'
+
+'That is a position which very few women can attain, that is, very few
+single women.'
+
+'I think it would be well if all single women were strangled by the
+time they are thirty,' said Clara with a fierce energy which absolutely
+frightened her aunt.
+
+'Clara! how can you say anything so wicked so abominably wicked?'
+
+'Anything would be better than being twitted in this way. How can I
+help it that I am not a man and able to work for my bread? But I am not
+above being a housemaid, and so Captain Aylmer shall find. I'd sooner
+be a housemaid, with nothing but my wages, than take the money which
+you say he is to give me. It will be of no use, aunt, for I shall not
+take it.'
+
+'It is I that am to leave it to you. It is not to be a present from
+Frederic.'
+
+'It is the same thing, aunt. He says you are to do it; and you told me
+just now that it was to come out of his pocket.'
+
+'I should have done it myself long ago, had you told me all the truth
+about your father's affairs.'
+
+'How was I to tell you? I would sooner have bitten my tongue out. But I
+will tell you the truth now. If I had known that all this was to be
+said to me about money, and that our poverty was to be talked over
+between you and Captain Aylmer, I would not have come to Perivale. I
+would rather that you should be angry with me and think that I had
+forgotten you.'
+
+'You would not say that, Clara, if you remembered that this will
+probably be your last visit to me.'
+
+'No, no; it will not be the last. But do not talk about these things.
+And it will be so much better that I should be here when he is not
+here.'
+
+
+
+'I had hoped that when I died you might both be with me together as
+husband and wife.'
+
+'Such hopes never come to anything.'
+
+'I still think that he would wish it.'
+
+'That is nonsense, aunt. it is indeed, for neither of us wish it.' A
+lie on such a subject from a woman under such circumstances is hardly
+to be considered a lie at all. It is spoken with no mean object, and is
+the only bulwark which the woman has ready at her need to cover her own
+weakness.
+
+'From what he said yesterday,' continued Mrs Winterfield, 'I think it
+is your own fault.'
+
+'Pray pray do not talk in that way. It cannot be matter of any fault
+that two people do not want to marry each other.'
+
+'Of course I asked him no positive question. It would be indelicate
+even in me to have done that. But he spoke as though he thought very
+highly of you.'
+
+'No doubt he does. And so do I of Mr Possitt.'
+
+'Mr Possitt is a very excellent young man,' said Mrs Winterfield,
+gravely. Mr Possitt was, indeed, her favourite curate of Perivale, and
+always dined at the house on Sundays between services, when Mrs
+Winter-field was very particular in seeing that he took two glasses of
+her best port wine to support him. 'But Mr Possitt has nothing but his
+curacy.'
+
+'There is no danger, aunt, I can assure you.'
+
+'I don't know what you call danger; but Frederic seemed to think that
+you are always sharp with him. You don't want to quarrel with him, I
+hope, because I love him better than any one in the world?'
+
+'Oh, aunt, what cruel things you say to me without thinking of them!'
+
+'I do not mean to be cruel, but I will say nothing more about him. As I
+told you before that I had not thought it expedient to leave away any
+portion of my little property from Frederic believing, as I did then,
+that the money intended for you by your father was still remaining it
+is best that you should now know that I have at last learnt the truth,
+and that I will at once see my lawyer about making the change.'
+
+'Dear aunt, of course I thank you.'
+
+'I want no thanks, Clara. I humbly strive to do what I believe to be my
+duty. I have never felt myself to be more than a steward of my money.
+That I have often failed in my stewardship I know well for in what
+duties do we not all fail?' Then she gently laid herself back in her
+arm-chair, closing her eyes, while she kept fast clasped in her hands
+the little book of daily devotion which she had been striving to read
+when the conversation had been commenced. Clara knew then that nothing
+more was to be said, and that she was not at present to interrupt her
+aunt. From her posture, and the closing of her eyelids, Mrs Winterfield
+might have been judged to be asleep; but Clara could see the gentle
+motion of her lips, and was aware that her aunt was solacing herself
+with prayer.
+
+Clara was angry with herself, and angry with all the world. She knew
+that the old lady who was sitting then before her was very good; and
+that all this that had now been said had come from pure goodness, and a
+desire that strict duty might be done; and Clara was angry with herself
+in that she had not been more ready with her thanks and more
+demonstrative with her love and gratitude. Mrs Winterfield was
+affectionate as well as good, and her niece's coldness, as the niece
+well knew, had hurt her sorely. But still what could Clara have done or
+said? She told herself that it was beyond her power to burst out into
+loud praises of Captain Aylmer; and of such nature was the gratitude
+which Mrs Winterfield had desired. She was not grateful to Captain
+Aylmer, and wanted nothing that was to come from his generosity. And
+then her mind went away to that other portion of her aunt's discourse.
+Could it be possible that this man was in truth attached to her, and
+was repelled simply by her own manner? She was aware that she had
+fallen into a habit of fighting with him, of sparring against him with
+words about indifferent things, and calling his conduct in question in
+a manner half playful and half serious. Could it be the truth that she
+was thus robbing herself of that which would be to her as to herself
+she had frankly declared the one treasure which she would desire?
+Twice, as has been said before, words had seemed to tremble on his lips
+which might have settled the question for her for ever; and on both
+occasions, as she knew, she herself had helped to laugh off the
+precious word that had been coming. But had he been thoroughly in
+earnest in earnest as she would have him to be  no laugh would have
+deterred him from his purpose. Could she have laughed Will Belton out
+of his declaration?
+
+At last the lips ceased to move, and she knew that her aunt was in
+truth asleep. The poor old lady hardly ever slept at night; but nature,
+claiming something of its due, would give her rest such as this in her
+arm-chair by the fire-side. They were sitting in a large double
+drawing-room upstairs, in which there were, as was customary with Mrs
+Winterfield in winter, two fires; and the candles were in the
+back-room, while the two ladies sat in that looking out into the
+street. This Mrs Winterfield did to save her eyes from the candles, and
+yet to be within reach of light if it were wanted. And Clara also sat
+motionless in the dark, careful not to disturb her aunt, and desirous
+of being with her when she should awake. Captain Aylmer bad declared
+his purpose of being home early from the Mayor's dinner, and the ladies
+were to wait for his arrival before tea was brought to them. Clara was
+herself almost asleep when the door was opened, and Captain Aylmer
+entered the room.
+
+'H  sh!' she said, rising gently from her chair, and putting up her
+finger. He saw her by the dull light of the fire, and closed the door
+without a sound. Clara then crept into the back-room and he followed
+her with a noiseless step. ' She did not sleep at all last night,' said
+Clara; 'and now the unusual excitement of the day has fatigued her, and
+I think it is better not to wake her.' The rooms were large, and they
+were able to place themselves at such a distance from the sleeper that
+their low words could hardly disturb her.
+
+'Was she very tired when she got home? 'he asked.
+
+'Not very. She has been talking much since that.'
+
+'Has she spoken about her will to you?'
+
+'Yes she has.'
+
+'I thought she would.' Then he was silent, as though he expected that
+she would speak again on that matter. But she had no wish to discuss
+her aunt's will with him, and therefore, to break the silence, asked
+him some trifling question. 'Are you not home earlier than you
+expected?
+
+'It was very dull, and there was nothing more to be said. I did come
+away early, and perhaps have given affront. I hope you will accept the
+compliment implied.'
+
+'Your aunt will, when she wakes. She will be delighted to find you
+here.'
+
+'I am awake,' said Mrs Winterfield. 'I heard Frederic come in. It is
+very good of him to come so soon. Clara, my dear, we will have tea.'
+
+During tea, Captain Aylmer was called upon to give an account of the
+Mayor's feast how the rector had said grace before dinner, and Mr
+Possitt had done so after dinner, and how the soup had been uneatable.
+'Dear me!' said Mrs Winterfield. 'And yet his wife was housekeeper
+formerly in a family that lived very well!' The Mrs Winterfields of
+this world allow themselves little spiteful pleasures of this kind,
+repenting of them, no doubt, in those frequent moments in which they
+talk to their friends of their own terrible vilenesses. Captain Aylmer
+then explained that his own health had been drunk, and his aunt desired
+to know whether, in returning thanks, he had been able to say anything
+further against that wicked Divorce Act of Parliament. This her nephew
+was constrained to answer with a negative, and so the conversation was
+carried on till tea was over. She was very anxious to hear every word
+that he could be made to utter as to his own doings in Parliament, and
+as to his doings in Perivale, and hung upon him with that wondrous
+affection which old people with warm hearts feel for those whom they
+have selected as their favourites. Clara saw it all, and knew that her
+aunt was almost doting.
+
+'I think I'll go up to bed now, my dears,' said Mrs Winterfield, when
+she had taken her cup of tea. 'I am tired with those weary stairs in
+the Town-hall, and I shall be better in my own room.' Clara offered to
+go with her, but this attendance her aunt declined as she did always.
+So the bell was rung, and the old maid. servant walked off with her
+mistress, and Miss Amedroz and Captain Aylmer were left together.
+
+'I don't think she will last long,' said Captain Aylmer, soon after the
+door was closed.
+
+'I should be sorry to believe that; but she is certainly much altered.'
+
+'She has great courage to keep her up and a feeling that she should not
+give way, but do her duty to the last. In spite of all that, however, I
+can see how changed she is since the summer. Have you ever thought how
+sad it will be if she should be alone when the day comes?'
+
+'She has Martha, who is more to her now than any one else unless it is
+you.'
+
+'You could not remain with her over Christmas, I suppose?'
+
+'Who, I? What would my father do? Papa is as old, or nearly as old, as
+my aunt.'
+
+'But he is strong.'
+
+'He is very lonely. He would be more lonely than she is, for he has no
+such servant as Martha to be with him. Women can do better than men, I
+think, when they come to my aunt's age.'
+
+>From this they got into a conversation as to the character of the lady
+with whom they were both so nearly connected, and, in spite of all that
+Clara could do to prevent it, continual references were made by Captain
+Aylmer to her money and will, and the need of an addition to that will
+on Clara's behalf. At last she was driven to speak out. 'Captain
+Aylmer,' she said, 'the subject is so distasteful to me, that I must
+ask you not to speak about it.'
+
+'In my position I am driven to think about it.'
+
+'I cannot, of course, help your thoughts; but I can assure you that
+they are unnecessary.'
+
+'It seems to me so hard that there should be such a gulf between you
+and me.' This he said after he had been silent for a while; and as he
+spoke he looked away from her at the fire.
+
+'I don't know that there is any particular gulf,' she replied.
+
+'Yes, there is. And it is you that make it. Whenever I attempt to speak
+to you as a friend you draw yourself off from me, and shut yourself up.
+I know that it is not jealousy.'
+
+'Jealousy, Captain Aylmer!'
+
+'Jealousy with my aunt, I mean.'
+
+'No, indeed.'
+
+'You are infinitely too proud for that; but I am sure that a stranger
+seeing it would think that it was so.'
+
+'I don't know what it is that I do or that I ought not to do. But all
+my life everything that I have done at Perivale has always been wrong.'
+
+'It would have been so natural that you and I should be friends.'
+
+'If we are enemies, Captain Aylmer, I don't know it.'
+
+'But if ever I venture to speak of your future life you always repel me
+as though you were determined to let me know that it should not be a
+matter of care to me.'
+
+'That is exactly what I am determined to let you know. You are, or will
+be, a rich man, and you have everything the world can give you. I am,
+or shall be, a very poor woman.'
+
+'Is that a reason why I should not be interested in your welfare?'
+
+'Yes the best reason in the world. We are not related to each other,
+though we have a common connexion in dear Mrs Winterfield. And nothing,
+to my idea, can be more objectionable than any sort of dependence from
+a woman of my age on a man of yours there being no real tie of blood
+between them. I have spoken very plainly, Captain Aylmer, for you have
+made me do it.'
+
+'Very plainly,' he said.
+
+'If I have said anything to offend you, I beg your pardon; but I was
+driven to explain myself.'
+
+Then she got up and took her bed-candle in her hand.
+
+'You have not offended me,' he said, as he also rose.
+
+'Good-night, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+He took her hand and kept it. 'Say that we are friends.'
+
+'Why should we not be friends?'
+
+'There is no reason on my part why we should not be the dearest
+friends,' he said. 'Were it not that I am so utterly without
+encouragement, I should say the very dearest.' He still held her hand,
+and was looking into her face as he spoke. For a moment she stood
+there, bearing his gaze, as though she expected some further words to
+be spoken. Then she withdrew her hand, and again saying, in a clear
+voice, 'Good-night, Captain Aylmer,' she left the room.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+CAPTAIN AYLMER'S PROMISE TO HIS AUNT
+
+What had Captain Aylmer meant by telling her that they might be the
+dearest friends by saying so much as that, and then saying no more? Of
+course Clara asked herself that question as soon as she was alone in
+her bedroom, after leaving Captain Aylmer below. And she made two
+answers to herself two answers which were altogether distinct and
+contradictory one of the other. At first she decided that he had said
+so much and no more because he was deceitful because it suited his
+vanity to raise hopes which he had no intention of fulfilling because
+he was fond of saying soft things which were intended to have no
+meaning. This was her first answer to herself. But in her second she
+accused herself as much as before she had accused him. She had been
+cold to him, unfriendly, and harsh. As her aunt had told her, she spoke
+sharp words to him, and repulsed the kindness which he offered her.
+What right had she to expect from him a declaration of love when she
+was studious to stop him at every avenue by which he might approach it?
+A little management on her side would, she almost knew, make things
+right. But then the idea of any such management distressed her nay,
+more, disgusted her. The management, if any were necessary, must come
+from him. And it was manifest enough that if he had any strong wishes
+in this matter he was not a good manager. Her cousin, Will Belton, knew
+how to manage much better.
+
+On the next morning, however, all her thoughts respecting Captain
+Aylmer were dissipated by tidings which Martha brought to her bedside.
+Her aunt was ill. Martha was afraid that her mistress was very ill. She
+did not dare to send specially for the doctor on her own
+responsibility, as Mrs Winterfield had strong and peculiar feelings
+about doctors' visits, and had on this very morning declined to be so
+visited. On the next day the doctor would come in the usual course of
+things, for she had submitted for some years back to such periodical
+visitings; but she had desired that nothing might be done out of the
+common way. Martha, however, declared that if she were alone with her
+mistress the doctor would be sent for; and she now petitioned for aid
+from Clara. Clara was, of course, by her aunt's bedside in a few
+minutes, and in a few minutes more the doctor from the other side of
+the way was there also.
+
+It was ten o'clock before Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz met at
+breakfast, and they had before that been together in Mrs Winterfield's
+room. The doctor had told Captain Aylmer that his aunt was very ill
+very ill, dangerously ill. She had been wrong to go into such a place
+as the cold, unaired Town-hall, and that, too, in the month of
+November; and the fatigue had also been too much for her. Mrs
+Winterfield, too, had admitted to Clara that she know herself to be
+very ill. 'I felt it coming on me last night,' she said, 'when I was
+talking to you; and I felt it still more strongly when I left you after
+tea. I have lived long enough. God's will be done.' At that moment,
+when she said she had lived long enough, she forgot her intention with
+reference to her will. But she remembered it before Clara had left the
+room. 'Tell Frederic', she said, 'to send at once for Mr Palmer.' Now
+Clara knew that Mr Palmer was the attorney, and resolved that she would
+give no such message to Captain Aylmer. But Mrs Winterfield sent for
+her nephew, who had just left her, and herself gave her orders to him.
+In the course of the morning there came tidings from the attorney's
+office that Mr Palmer was away from Perivale, that he would be back on
+the morrow, and that he would of course wait on Mrs Winterfield
+immediately on his return.
+
+Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz discussed nothing but their aunt's
+state of health that morning over the breakfast-table. Of course, under
+such circumstances in the house, there was no further immediate
+reference made to that offer of dearest friendship. It was clear to
+them both that the doctor did not expect that Mrs Winterfield would
+again leave her bed; and it was clear to Clara also that her aunt was
+of the same opinion.
+
+'I shall hardly be able to go home now,' she said.
+
+'It will be kind of you if you can remain.'
+
+'And you?'
+
+'I shall remain over the Sunday. If by that time she is at all better,
+I will run up to town and come down again before the end of the week. I
+know you don't believe it, but a man really has some things which he
+must do.'
+
+'I don't disbelieve you, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'But you must write to me daily if I do go.'
+
+To this Clara made no objection and she must write also to some one
+else. She must let her cousin know how little chance there was that she
+would be at home at Christmas, explaining to him at the same time that
+his visit to her father would on that account be all the more welcome.
+
+'Are you going to her now?' he asked, as Clara got up immediately after
+breakfast. 'I shall be in the house all the morning, and if you want me
+you will of course send for me.'
+
+'She may perhaps like to see you.'
+
+'I will come up every now and again. I would remain there altogether,
+only I should be in the way.' Then he got a newspaper and made himself
+comfortable over the fire, while she went up to her weary task in her
+aunt's room.
+
+Neither on that day nor on the next did the lawyer come, and on the
+following morning all earthly troubles were over with Mrs Winterfield.
+It was early on the Sunday morning that she died, and late on the
+Saturday evening Mr Palmer had sent up to say that he had been detained
+at Taunton, but that he would wait on Mrs Winterfield early on the
+Monday morning. On the Friday the poor lady had said much on the
+subject, but had been comforted by an assurance from her nephew that
+the arrangement should be carried out exactly as she wished it, whether
+the codicil was or was not added to the will. To Clara she said nothing
+more on the subject, nor at such a time did Captain Aylmer feel that he
+could offer her any assurance on the matter. But Clara knew that the
+will was not altered; and though at the time she was not thinking much
+about money, she had, nevertheless, very clearly made up her own mind
+as to her own conduct. Nothing should induce her to take a present of
+fifteen hundred pounds or, indeed, of as many pence from Captain
+Aylmer. During those hours of sickness in the house they had been much
+thrown together, and no one could have been kinder or more gentle to
+her than he had been. He had come to call her Clara, as people will do
+when joined together in such duties, and had been very pleasant as well
+as affectionate in his manner with her. It had seemed to her that he
+also wished to take upon himself the cares and love of an adopted
+brother. But as an adopted brother she would have nothing to do with
+him. The two men whom she liked best in the world would assume each the
+wrong place; and between them both she felt that she would be left
+friendless.
+
+On the Saturday afternoon they had both surmised how it was going to be
+with Mrs Winterfield, and Captain Aylmer had told Mr Palmer that he
+feared his coming on the Monday would be useless. He explained also
+what was required, and declared that he would be at once ready to make
+good the deficiency in the will Mr Palmer seemed to think that this
+would be better even than the making of a codicil in the last moments
+of the lady's life; and, therefore, he and Captain Aylmer were at rest
+on that subject.
+
+During the greater part of the Saturday night both Clara and Captain
+Aylmer remained with their aunt; and once when the morning was almost
+there, and the last hour was near at hand, she had said a word or two
+which both of them had understood, in which she implored her darling
+Frederic to take a brother's care of Clara Amedroz. Even in that moment
+Clara had repudiated the legacy, feeling sure in her heart that
+Frederic Aylmer was aware what was the nature of the care which he
+ought to owe, if he would consent to owe any care to her. He promised
+his aunt that he would do as she desired him, and it was impossible
+that Clara should then, aloud, repudiate the compact. But she said
+nothing, merely allowing her hand to rest with his beneath the thin,
+dry hand of the dying woman. To her aunt, however, when for a moment
+they were alone together, she showed all possible affection, with
+thanks and tears, and warm kisses, and prayers for forgiveness as to
+all those matters in which she had offended. 'My pretty one my dear,'
+said the old woman, raising her hand on to the head of the crouching
+girl, who was hiding her moist eyes on the bed. Never during her life
+had her aunt appeared to her in so loving a mood as now, when she was
+leaving it. Then, with some eager impassioned words, in which she
+pronounced her ideas of what should be the religious duties of a woman,
+Mrs Winterfield bade farewell to her niece. After that, she had a
+longer interview with her nephew, and then it seemed that all worldly
+cares were over with her.
+
+The Sunday was passed in all that blackness of funeral grief which is
+absolutely necessary on such occasions. It cannot be said that either
+Clara or Captain Aylmer were stricken with any of that agony of woe
+which is produced on us by the death of those whom we have loved so
+well that we cannot bring ourselves to submit to part with them. They
+were both truly sorry for their aunt, in the common parlance of the
+world; but their sorrow was of that modified sort which does not numb
+the heart and make the surviving sufferer feel that there never can be
+a remedy. Nevertheless, it demanded sad countenances, few words, and
+those spoken hardly above a whisper; an absence of all amusement and
+almost of all employment, and a full surrender to the trappings of woe.
+They two were living together without other companion in the big house
+sitting down together to dinner and to tea; but on this day hardly a
+dozen words were spoken between them, and those dozen were spoken with
+no purport. On the Monday Captain Aylmer gave orders for the funeral,
+and then went away to London, undertaking to be back on the day before
+the last ceremony. Clara was rather glad that he should be gone, though
+she feared the solitude of the big house. She was glad that he should
+be gone, as she found it impossible to talk to him with ease to
+herself. She knew that he was about to assume some position as
+protector or quasi guardian over her in conformity with her aunt's
+express wish, and she was quite resolved that she would submit to no
+such guardianship from his hands. That being so, the shorter period
+there might be for any such discussion the better.
+
+The funeral was to take place on the Saturday, and during the four days
+that intervened she received two visits from Mr Possitt. Mr Possitt was
+very discreet in what he said, and Clara was angry with herself for not
+allowing his words to have any avail with her. She told herself that
+they were commonplace; but she told herself, also, after his first
+visit, that she had no right to expect anything else but commonplace
+words. How often are men found who can speak words on such occasions
+that are not commonplaces that really stir the soul, and bring true
+comfort to the listener? The humble listener may receive comfort even
+from commonplace words; but Clara was not humble, and rebuked herself
+for her own pride. On the second occasion of his coming she did
+endeavour to receive him with a meek heart, and to accept what he said
+with an obedient spirit. But the struggle within her bosom was hard,
+and when he bade her to kneel and pray with him, she doubted for a
+moment between rebellion and hypocrisy. But she had determined to be
+meek, and so hypocrisy carried the hour.
+
+What would a clergyman say on such an occasion if the object of his
+solicitude were to decline the offer, remarking that prayer at that
+moment did not seem to be opportune; and that, moreover, he, the person
+thus invited, would like, first of all, to know what was to be the
+special object of the proposed prayer, if he found that he could, at
+the spur of the moment, bring himself at all into a fitting mood for
+the task? Of him who would decline, without argument, the clergyman
+would opine that he was simply a reprobate. Of him who would propose to
+accompany an hypothetical acceptance with certain stipulations, he
+would say to himself that he was a stiff-necked wrestler against grace,
+whose condition was worse than that of the reprobate. Men and women,
+conscious that they will be thus judged, submit to the hypocrisy, and
+go down upon their knees unprepared, making no effort, doing nothing
+while they are there, allowing their consciences to be eased if they
+can only feel themselves numbed into some ceremonial awe by the
+occasion. So it was with Clara, when Mr Possitt, with easy piety, went
+through the formula of his devotion, hardly ever having realized to
+himself the fact that of all works in which man can engage himself,
+that of prayer is the most difficult.
+
+'It is a sad loss to me,' said Mr Possitt, as he sat for half an hour
+with Clara, after she had thus submitted herself. Mr Possitt was a
+weakly, pale-faced little man, who worked so hard in the parish that on
+every day, Sundays included, he went to bed as tired in all his bones
+as a day labourer from the fields 'a very great loss. There are not
+many now who understand what a clergyman has to go through, as our dear
+friend did.' If he was mindful of his two glasses of port wine on
+Sundays, who could blame him?
+
+'She was a very kind woman, Mr Possitt.'
+
+'Yes, indeed and so thoughtful! That she will have an exceeding great
+reward, who can doubt? Since I knew her she always lived as a saint
+upon earth. I suppose there's nothing known as to who will live in this
+house, Miss Amedroz?'
+
+'Nothing I should think.'
+
+'Captain Aylmer won't keep it in his own hands?'
+
+'I cannot tell in the least; but as he is obliged to live in London
+because of Parliament, and goes to Yorkshire always in the autumn, he
+can hardly want it.
+
+'I suppose not. But it will be a sad loss a sad loss to have this house
+empty. Ah I shall never forget her kindness to me. Do you know, Miss
+Amedroz,' and as he told his little secret he became beautifully
+confidential 'do you know, she always used to send me ten guineas at
+Christmas to help me along. She understood, as well as any one, how
+hard it is for a gentleman to live on seventy pounds a year. You will
+not wonder that I should feel that I've had a loss.' It is hard for a
+gentleman to live upon seventy pounds a year; and it is very hard, too,
+for a lady to live upon nothing a year, which lot in life fate seemed
+to have in store for Miss Amedroz.
+
+On the Friday evening Captain Aylmer came back, and Clara was in truth
+glad to see him. Her aunt's death had been now far enough back to admit
+of her telling Martha that she would not dine till Captain Aylmer had
+come, and to allow her to think somewhat of his comfort. People must
+eat and drink even when the grim monarch is in the house; and it is a
+relief when they first dare to do so with some attention to the
+comforts which are ordinarily so important to them. For themselves
+alone women seldom care to exercise much trouble in this direction; but
+the presence of a man at once excuses and renders necessary the
+ceremony of a dinner. So Clara prepared for the arrival, and greeted
+the corner with some returning pleasantness of manner. And he, too, was
+pleasant with her, telling her of his plans, and speaking to her as
+though she were one of those whom it was natural that he should
+endeavour to interest in his future welfare.
+
+'When I come back tomorrow,' he said, 'the will must be opened and
+read. It had better be done here.' They were sitting over the fire in
+the dining-room, after dinner, and Clara knew that the coming back to
+which he alluded was his return from the funeral. But she made no
+answer to this, as she wished to say nothing about her aunt's will.
+'And after that,' he continued, 'you had better let me take you out.'
+
+'I am very well,' she said. 'I do not want any special taking out.'
+
+'But you have been confined to the house a whole week.'
+
+'Women are accustomed to that, and do not feel it as you would.
+However, I will walk with you if you'll take me.'
+
+'Of course I'll take you. And then we must settle our future plans.
+Have you fixed upon any day yet for returning? Of course, the longer
+you stay, the kinder you will be.'
+
+'I can do no good to any one by staying.'
+
+'You do good to me but I suppose I'm nobody. I wish I could tell what
+to do about this house. Dear, good old woman! I know she would have
+wished that I should keep it in my own hands, with some idea of living
+here at some future time but of course I shall never live here.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'Would you like it yourself?'
+
+'I am not Member of Parliament for Perivale, and should not be the
+leading person in the town. You would be a sort of king here; and then,
+some day, you will have your mother's property as well as your aunt's;
+and you would be near to your own tenants.'
+
+'But that does not answer my question. Could you bring yourself to live
+here even if it were your own?'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'Because it is so deadly dull because it has no attraction whatever
+because of all lives it is the one you would like the least. No one
+should live in a provincial town but they who make their money by doing
+so.'
+
+'And what are the wives and daughters of such people to do and
+especially their widows? I have no doubt I could live here very happily
+if I had anybody near me that I liked. I should not wish to have to
+depend altogether on Mr Possitt for society.'
+
+'And you would find him about the best.'
+
+'Mr Possitt has been with me twice whilst you were away, and he, too,
+asked what you meant to do about the house.'
+
+'And what did you say?'
+
+'What could I say? Of course I said I did not know. I suppose he was
+meditating whether you would live here and ask him to dinner on
+Sundays!'
+
+'Mr Possitt is a very good sort of man,' said the captain, gravely for
+Captain Aylmer, in the carrying out of his principles, always spoke
+seriously of everything connected with the Church in Perivale.
+
+'And quite worthy to be asked to dinner on Sundays,' said Clara. 'But I
+did not give him any hope. How could I? Of course I knew that you would
+not live here, though I did not tell him so.'
+
+'No; I don't suppose I shall. But I see very plainly that you think I
+ought to do so.'
+
+'I've the old-fashioned idea as to a man's living near to his own
+property; that is all. No doubt it was good for other people in
+Perivale, besides Mr Possitt, that my dear aunt lived here; and if the
+house is shut up, or let to some stranger, they will feel her loss the
+more. But I don't know that you are bound to sacrifice yourself to
+them.'
+
+'If I were to marry,' said Captain Aylmer, very slowly and in a low
+voice, 'of course I should have to think of my wife's wishes.'
+
+'But if your wife, when she accepted you, knew that you were living
+here, she would hardly take upon herself to demand that you should give
+up your residence.'
+
+'She might find it very dull.'
+
+'She would make her own calculations as to that before she accepted
+you.'
+
+'No doubt but I can't fancy any woman taking a man who was tied by his
+leg to Perivale. What do people do who live in Perivale?'
+
+'Earn their bread.'
+
+'Yes that's just what I said. But I shouldn't earn mine here.'
+
+'I have the feeling I spoke of very strongly about papa's place,' said
+Clara, changing the conversation suddenly. 'I very often think of the
+future fate of Belton Castle when papa shall have gone. My cousin has
+got his house at Plaistow, and I don't suppose he'd live there.'
+
+'And where will you go?' he asked.
+
+As soon as she had spoken, Clara regretted her own imprudence in having
+ventured to speak upon her own affairs. She had been well pleased to
+hear him talk of his plans, and had been quite resolved not to talk of
+her own. But now, by her own speech, she had sot him to make inquiries
+as to her future life. She did not at first answer the question; but he
+repeated it. 'And where will you live yourself?'
+
+'I hope I may not have to think of that for some time to come yet.'
+
+'It is impossible to help thinking of such things.'
+
+'I can assure you that I haven't thought about it; but I suppose I
+shall endeavour to to I don't know what I shall endeavour to do.'
+
+'Will you come and live at Perivale?'
+
+'Why here more than anywhere else?
+
+'In this house I mean.'
+
+'That would suit me admirably would it not? I'm afraid Mr Possitt would
+not find me a good neighbour. To tell the truth, I think that any lady
+who lives here alone ought to be older than I am. The Penvalians would
+not show to a young woman that sort of respect which they have always
+felt for this house.'
+
+'I didn't mean alone,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+Then Clara got up and made some excuse for leaving him, and there was
+nothing more said between them nothing, at least, of moment, on that
+evening. She had become uneasy when he asked her whether she would like
+to live in his house at Perivale. But afterwards, when he suggested
+that she was to have some companion with her there, she felt herself
+compelled to put an end to the conversation. And yet she knew that this
+was always the way, both with him and with herself. He would say things
+which would seem to promise that in another minute he would be at her
+feet, and then he would go no farther. And she, when she heard those
+words though in truth size would have had him at her feet if she could
+would draw away, and recede, and forbid him as it were to go on. But
+Clara continued to make her comparisons, and knew well that her cousin
+Will would have gone on in spite of any such forbiddings.
+
+On that night, however, when she was alone, she could console herself
+with thinking how right she had been. In that front bedroom, the door
+of which was opposite to her own, with closed shutters, in the terrible
+solemnity of lifeless humanity, was still lying the body of her aunt!
+What would she have thought of herself if at such a moment she could
+have listened to words of love, and promised herself as a wife while
+such an inmate was in the house? She little knew that he, within that
+same room, had pledged himself, to her who was now lying there waiting
+for her last removal had pledged himself, just seven days since, to
+make the offer which, when he was talking to her, she was always half
+hoping and half fearing!
+
+He could have meant nothing else when he told her that he had not
+intended to suggest that she should live there alone in that great
+house at Perivale. She could not hinder herself from thinking of this,
+unfit as was the present moment for any such thoughts. How was it
+possible that she should not speculate on the subject, let her
+resolutions against any such speculation be ever so strong? She had
+confessed to herself that she loved the man, and what else could she
+wish but that he also should love her? But there came upon her some
+faint suspicion some glimpse of what was almost a dream  that he might
+possibly in this matter be guided rather by duty than by love. It might
+be that he would feel himself constrained to offer his hand to her
+constrained by the peculiarity of his position towards her. If so
+should she discover that such were his motives there would be no doubt
+as to the nature of her answer.
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+SHOWING HOW CAPTAIN AYLMER KEPT HIS PROMISE
+
+The next day was necessarily very sad. Clara had declared her
+determination to follow her aunt to the churchyard, and did so,
+together with Martha, the old servant. There were three or four
+mourning coaches, as family friends came over from Taunton, one or two
+of whom were to be present at the reading of the will. How melancholy
+was the occasion, and how well the work was done; how substantial and
+yet how solemn was the luncheon, spread after the funeral for the
+gentlemen; and how the will was read, without a word of remark, by Mr
+Palmer, need hardly be told here. The will contained certain
+substantial legacies to servants the amount to that old handmaid Martha
+being so great as to produce a fit of fainting, after which the old
+handmaid declared that if ever there was, by any chance, an angel of
+light upon the earth, it was her late mistress; and yet Martha had had
+her troubles with her mistress; and there was a legacy of two hundred
+pounds to the gentleman who was called upon to act as co-executor with
+Captain Aylmer. Other clause in the will there was none, except that
+one substantial clause which bequeathed to her well-beloved nephew,
+Frederic Folliott Aylmer, everything of which the testatrix died
+possessed. The will had been made at some moment in which Clara's
+spirit of independence had offended her aunt, and her name was not
+mentioned. That nothing should have been left to Clara was the one
+thing that surprised the relatives from Taunton who were present. The
+relatives from Taunton, to give them their due, expected nothing for
+themselves; but as there had been great doubt as to the proportions in
+which the property would be divided between the nephew and adopted
+niece, there was aroused a considerable excitement as to the omission
+of the name of Miss Amedroz an excitement which was not altogether
+unpleasant. When people complain of some cruel shame, which does not
+affect themselves personally, the complaint is generally accompanied by
+an unexpressed and unconscious feeling of satisfaction.
+
+On the present occasion, when the will had been read and refolded,
+Captain Aylmer, who was standing on the rug near the fire, spoke a few
+words. His aunt, he said, had desired to add a codicil to the will, of
+the nature of which Mr Palmer was well aware. She had expressed her
+intention to leave fifteen hundred pounds to her niece, Miss Amedroz;
+but death had come upon her too quickly to enable her to perform her
+purpose. Of this intention on the part of Mrs Winterfield, Mr Palmer
+was as well aware as himself; and he mentioned the subject now, merely
+with the object of saying that, as a matter of course, the legacy to
+Miss Amedroz was as good as though the codicil had been completed. On
+such a question as that there could arise no question as to legal
+right; but he understood that the legal claim of Miss Amedroz, under
+such circumstances, was as void as his own. It was therefore no affair
+of generosity on his part. Then there was a little buzz of satisfaction
+on the part of those present, and the meeting was broken up.
+
+A certain old Mrs. Folliott, who was cousin to everybody concerned, had
+come over from Taunton to see how things were going. She had always
+been at variance with Mrs Winterfield, being a woman who loved cards
+and supper parties, and who had throughout her life stabled her horses
+in stalls very different to those used by the lady of Perivale. Now
+this Mrs Folliott was the first to tell Clara of the will. Clara. of
+course, was altogether indifferent. She had known for months past that
+her aunt had intended to leave nothing to her, and her only hope had
+been that she might be left free from any commiseration or remark on
+the subject. But Mrs Folliott, with sundry shakings of the head, told
+her how her aunt had omitted to name her and then told her also of
+Captain Aylmer's generosity. 'We all did think, my dear,' said Mrs
+Folliott, 'that she would have done better than that for you, or at any
+rate that she would not have left you dependent on him.' Captain
+Aylmer's horses were also supposed to be stabled in strictly Low Church
+stalls, and were therefore regarded by Mrs Folliott with much dislike.
+
+'I and my aunt understood each other perfectly,' said Clara.
+
+'I dare say. But if so, you really were the only person that did
+understand her. No doubt what she did was quite right, seeing that she
+was a saint; but we sinners would have thought it very wicked to have
+made such a will, and then to have trusted to the generosity of another
+person after we were dead.'
+
+'But there is no question of trusting to any one's generosity, Mrs
+Folliott.'
+
+'He need not pay you a shilling, you know, unless he likes it.'
+
+'And he will not be asked to pay me a shilling.'
+
+'I don't suppose he will go back after what he has said publicly.'
+
+'My dear Mrs Folliott,' said Clara earnestly, 'pray do not let us talk
+about it. it is quite unnecessary. I never expected any of my aunt's
+property, and knew all along that it was to go to Captain Aylmer who,
+indeed, was Mrs Winterfield's heir naturally. Mrs Winterfield was not
+really my aunt, and I had no claim on her.'
+
+'But everybody understood that she was to provide for you.'
+
+'As I was not one of the everybodies myself, it will not signify.' Then
+Mrs Folliott retreated, having, as she thought, performed her duty to
+Clara, and contented herself henceforth with abusing Mrs Winterfield's
+will in her own social circles at Taunton.
+
+On the evening of that day, when all the visitors were gone and the
+house was again quiet, Captain Aylmer thought it expedient to explain
+to Clara the nature of his aunt's will, and the manner in which she
+would be allowed to inherit under it the amount of money which her aunt
+had intended to bequeath to her. When she became impatient and objected
+to listen to him, he argued with her, pointing out to her that this was
+a matter of business to which it was now absolutely necessary that she
+should attend. 'It may be the case,' he said, 'and, indeed, I hope it
+will, that no essential difference will be made by it except that it
+will gratify you to know how careful she was of your interests in her
+last moments. But you are bound in duty to learn your own position; and
+I, as her executor, am bound to explain it to you. But perhaps you
+would rather discuss it with Mr Palmer.'
+
+'Oh no save me from that.'
+
+'You must understand, then, that I shall pay over to you the sum of
+fifteen hundred pounds as soon as the will has been proved.'
+
+'I understand nothing of the kind. I know very well that if I were to
+take it, I should be accepting a present from you, and to that I cannot
+consent.'
+
+'But, Clara'
+
+'It is no good, Captain Aylmer. Though I don't pretend to understand
+much about law, I do know that I can have no claim to anything that is
+not put into the will; and I won't have what I could not claim. My mind
+is quite made up, and I hops I mayn't be annoyed about it. Nothing is
+more disagreeable than having to discuss money matters.'
+
+Perhaps Captain Aylmer thought that the having no money matters to
+discuss might be even more disagreeable. 'Well,' he said, 'I can only
+ask you to consult any friend whom you can trust upon the matter. Ask
+your father, or Mr Belton, and I have no doubt that either of them will
+tell you that you are as much entitled to the legacy as though it had
+been written in the will.'
+
+'On such a matter, Captain Aylmer, I don't want to ask anybody. You
+can't pay me the money unless I choose to take it, and I certainly
+shall not do that.' Upon hearing this he smiled, assuming, as Clara
+fancied that he was sometimes wont to do, a look of quiet superiority;
+and then, for that time, he allowed the subject to be dropped between
+them.
+
+But Clara knew that she must discuss it at length with her father, and
+the fear of that discussion made her unhappy. She had already written
+to say that she would return home on the day but one after the funeral,
+and had told Captain Aylmer of her purpose. So very prudent a man as he
+of course could not think it right that a young lady should remain with
+him, in his house, as his visitor; and to her decision on this point he
+had made no objection. She now heartily wished that she had named the
+day after the funeral, and that she had not been deterred by her
+dislike of making a Sunday journey. She dreaded this day, and would
+have been very thankful if he would have left her and gone back to
+London. But he intended, he said, to remain at Perivale throughout the
+next week, and she must endure the day as best she might be able. She
+wished that it were possible to ask Mr Possitt to his accustomed
+dinner; but she did not dare to make the proposition to the master of
+the house. Though Captain Aylmer had declared Mr Possitt to be a very
+worthy man, Clara surmised that he would not be anxious to commence
+that practice of a Sabbatical dinner so soon after his aunt's decease.
+The day, after all, would be but one day, and Clara schooled herself
+into a resolution to bear it with good humour.
+
+Captain Aylmer had made a positive promise to his aunt on her deathbed
+that he would ask Clara Amedroz to be his wife, and be had no more idea
+of breaking his word than he had of resigning the whole property which
+had been left to him. Whether Clara would accept him he had much doubt.
+He was a man by no means brilliant, not naturally self-confident, nor
+was he, perhaps, to be credited with the possession of high principles
+of the finest sort; but he was clever, in the ordinary sense of the
+word, knowing his own interest, knowing, too, that that interest
+depended on other things besides money; and ha was a just man,
+according to the ordinary rules of justice in the world. Not for the
+first time, when he was sitting by the bedside of his dying aunt, had
+he thought of asking Clara to marry him. Though he had never hitherto
+resolved that he would do so though he had never till then brought
+himself absolutely to determine that he would take so important a step
+he had pondered over it often, and was aware that he was very fond of
+Clara. He was, in truth, as much in love with her as it was in his
+nature to be in love. He was not a man to break his heart for a girl
+nor even to make a strong fight for a wife, as Belton was prepared to
+do. If refused once, he might probably ask again having some idea that
+a first refusal was not always intended to mean much and he might
+possibly make a third attempt, prompted by some further calculation of
+the same nature. But it might be doubted whether, on the first, second,
+or third occasion, he would throw much passion into his words; and
+those who knew him well would hardly expect to see him die of a broken
+heart, should he ultimately be unsuccessful.
+
+When he had first thought of marrying Miss Amedroz he had imagined that
+she would have shared with him his aunt's property, and indeed such had
+been his belief up to the days of the last illness of Mrs Winterfield.
+The match therefore had recommended itself to him as being prudent as
+well as pleasant; and though his aunt had never hitherto pressed the
+matter upon him, he had understood what her wishes were. When she first
+told him, three or four days before her death, that her property was
+left altogether to him, and then, on hearing how totally her niece was
+without hope of provision from her father, had expressed her desire to
+give a sum of money to Clara, she had spoken plainly of her desire but
+she had not on that occasion asked him for any promise. But afterwards,
+when she knew that she was dying, she had questioned him as to his own
+feelings, and he, in his anxiety to gratify her in her last wishes, had
+given her the promise which she was so anxious to hear. He made no
+difficulty in doing so. It was his own wish as well as hers. In a money
+point of view he might no doubt now do better; but then money was not
+everything. He was very fond of Clara, and felt that if she would
+accept him he would be proud of his wife. She was well born and well
+educated, and it was the proper sort of thing for him to do. No doubt
+he had some idea, seeing how things had now arranged themselves, that
+he would be giving much more than he would get; and perhaps the manner
+of his offer might be affected by that consideration; but not on that
+account did he feel at all sure that he would be accepted. Clara
+Amedroz was a proud girl perhaps too proud. Indeed, it was her fault.
+If her pride now interfered with her future fortune in life, it should
+be her fault, not his. He would do his duty to her and to his aunt he
+would do it perseveringly and kindly; and then, if she refused him, the
+fault would not be his.
+
+Such, I think, was the state of Captain Aylmer's mind when he got up on
+the Sunday morning, resolving that he would on that day make good his
+promise. And it must be remembered, on his behalf, that he would have
+prepared himself for his task with more animation if he had hitherto
+received warmer encouragement. He had felt himself to be repulsed in
+the little efforts which he had already made to please the lady, and
+had no idea whatever as to the true state of her feelings. Had he known
+what she knew, he would, I think, have been animated enough, and gone
+to his task as happy and thriving a lover as any. But he was a man
+somewhat diffident of himself, though sufficiently conscious of the
+value of the worldly advantages which he possessed and he was, perhaps,
+a little afraid of Clara, giving her credit for an intellect superior
+to his own.
+
+
+
+He had promised to walk with her on the Saturday after the reading of
+the will, intending to take her out through the gardens down to a farm,
+now belonging to himself, which lay at the back of the town, and which
+was held by an old widow who had been senior in life to her late
+landlady; but no such walk had been possible, as it was dark before the
+last of the visitors from Taunton had gone. At breakfast on Sunday he
+again proposed the walk, offering to take her immediately after
+luncheon. 'I suppose you will not go to church?' he said.
+
+'Not today. I could hardly bring myself to do it today.'
+
+'I think you are right. I shall go. A man can always do these things
+sooner than a lady can. But you will come out afterwards?' To this she
+assented, and then she was left alone throughout the morning. The walk
+she did not mind. That she and Captain Aylmer should walk together was
+all very well. They might probably have done so had Mrs Winterfield
+been still alive. It was the long evening afterwards that she dreaded
+the long winter evening, in which she would have to sit with him as his
+guest, and with him only. She could not pass these hours without
+talking to him, and she felt that she could not talk to him naturally
+and easily. It would, however, be but for once, and she would bear it.
+
+They went together down to the house of Mrs Partridge, the tenant, and
+made their kindly speeches to the old woman. Mrs Partridge already knew
+that Captain Aylmer was to be her landlord, but having hitherto seen
+more of Miss Amedroz than of the captain, and having always regarded
+her landlady's niece as being connected irrevocably with the property,
+she addressed them as though the estate were a joint affair.
+
+'I shan't be here to trouble you long that I shan't, Miss Clara,' said
+the old woman.
+
+'I am sure Captain Aylmer would be very sorry to lose you,' replied
+Clara, speaking loud, and close to the poor woman's ear, for she was
+deaf.
+
+'I never looked to live after she was gone, Miss Clara never. No more I
+didn't. Deary deary! And I suppose you'll be living at the big house
+now; won't ye?'
+
+'The big house belongs to Captain Aylmer, Mrs Partridge.' She was
+driven to bawl out her words, and by no means liked the task. Then
+Captain Aylmer said something, but his speech was altogether lost.
+
+'Oh it belongs to the captain, do it? They told me that was the way of
+the will; but I suppose it's all one.'
+
+'Yes; it's all one,' said Captain Aylmer, gaily.
+
+'It's not exactly all one, as you call it,' said Clara, attempting to
+laugh, but still shouting at the top of her voice.
+
+'Ah I don't understand; but I hope you'll both live there together and
+I hope you'll be as good to the poor as she that is gone. Well, well; I
+didn't ever think that I should be still here, while she is lying under
+the stones up in the old church!'
+
+Captain Aylmer had determined that he would ask his question on the way
+back from the farm, and now resolved that he might as well begin with
+some allusion to Mrs Partridge's words about the house. The afternoon
+was bright and cold, and the lane down to the farmhouse had been dried
+by the wind, so that the day was pleasant for walking. 'We might as
+well go on to the bridge,' he said, as they left the farmyard. 'I
+always think that Perivale church looks better from Creevy bridge than
+any other point.' Perivale church stood high in the centre of the town,
+on an eminence, and was graced with a spire which was declared by the
+Perivalians to be preferable to that of Salisbury in proportion, though
+it was acknowledged to be somewhat inferior to it in height. The little
+river Creevy, which ran through a portion of the suburbs of the town,
+and which, as there seen, was hardly more than a ditch, then sloped
+away behind Creevy Grange, as the farm of Mrs Partridge was called, and
+was crossed by a small wooden bridge, from which there was a view, not
+only of the church, but of all that side of the hill on which Mrs
+Winterfield's large brick house stood conspicuously.
+
+So they walked down to Creevy bridge, and, when there, stood leaning on
+the parapet and looking back upon the town.
+
+'How well I know every house and spot in the place as I see them from
+here,' he said.
+
+'A good many of the houses are your own or will be some day; and
+therefore you should know them.'
+
+'I remember, when I used to be here as a boy fishing, I always thought
+Aunt Winterfield's house was the biggest house in the county.'
+
+'It can't be nearly so large as your father's house in Yorkshire.'
+
+'No; certainly it is not. Aylmer Park is a large place; but the house
+does not stretch itself out so wide as that; nor does it stand on the
+side of a hill so as to show out its proportions with so much
+ostentation. The coach-house and the stables, and the old brewhouse,
+seem to come half way down the hill. And when I was a boy I had much
+more respect for my aunt's red-brick house in Perivale than I had for
+Aylmer Park.'
+
+'And now it's your own.'
+
+'Yes; now it's my own and all my respect for it is gone. I used to
+think the Creevy the best river in England for fish; but I wouldn't
+give a sixpence now for all the perch I ever caught in it.'
+
+'Perhaps your taste for perch is gone also.'
+
+'Yes; and my taste for jam. I never believed in the store-room at
+Aylmer Park as I did in my aunt's store-room here.'
+
+'I don't doubt but what it is full now.'
+
+'I dare say; but I shall never have the curiosity even to inquire. Ah,
+dear I wish I knew what to do about the house.'
+
+'You won't sell it, I suppose?'
+
+'Not if I could either live in it, or let it. It would be wrong to let
+it stand idle.'
+
+'But you need not decide quite at once.'
+
+'That's just what I want to do. I want to decide at once.'
+
+'Then I'm sure I cannot advise you. It seems to me very unlikely that
+you should come and live here by yourself. It isn't like a
+country-house exactly.'
+
+'I shan't live there by myself certainly. You heard what Mrs Partridge
+said just now.'
+
+'What did Mrs Partridge say?'
+
+'She wanted to know whether it belonged to both of us, and whether it
+was not all one. Shall it be all one, Clara?'
+
+She was leaning over the rail of the bridge as he spoke, with her eyes
+fixed on the slowly moving water. When she heard his words she raised
+her face and looked full upon him. She was in some sort prepared for
+the moment, though it would be untrue to say that she had now expected
+it. Unconsciously she had made some resolve that if ever the question
+were put to her by him, she would not be taken altogether off her
+guard; and now that the question was put to her, she was able to
+maintain her composure. Her first feeling was one of triumph as it must
+be in such a position to any woman who has already acknowledged to
+herself that she loves the man who then asks her to be his wife. She
+looked up into Captain Aylmer's face and his eye almost quailed beneath
+hers. Even should he be triumphant, he was not perfectly assured that
+his triumph would be a success.
+
+'Shall what be all one?' she asked.
+
+'Shall it be in your house and my house? Can you tell me that you will
+love me and be my wife?' Again she looked at him, and he repeated his
+question. 'Clara, can you love me well enough to take me for your
+husband?'
+
+'I can,' she said. Why should she hesitate, and play the coy girl, and
+pretend to any doubts in her mind which did not exist there? She did
+love him, and had so told herself with much earnestness. To him, while
+his words had been doubtful while he had simply played at making love
+to her, she had given no hint of the state of her affections. She had
+so carried herself before him as to make him doubt whether success
+could be possible for him. But now why should she hesitate now? It was
+as she had hoped or as she bad hardly dared to hope. He did love her.
+'I can,' she said; and then, before he could speak again, she repeated
+her words with more emphasis. 'Indeed I can; with all my heart.'
+
+As regarded herself, she was quite equal to the occasion; but had she
+known more of the inner feelings of men and women in general, she would
+have been slower to show her own. What is there that any man desires
+any man or any woman that does not lose half its value when it is found
+to be easy of access and easy of possession? Wine is valued by its
+price, not its flavour. Open your doors freely to Jones and Smith, and
+Jones and Smith will not care to enter them. Shut your doors obdurately
+against the same gentlemen, and they will use all their little
+diplomacy to effect an entrance. Captain Aylmer, when he heard the
+hearty tone of the girl's answer, already began almost to doubt whether
+it was wise on his part to devote the innermost bin of his cellar to
+wine that was so cheap.
+
+Not that he had any idea of receding. Principle, if not love, prevented
+that. 'Then the question about the house is decided,' he said, giving
+his hand to Clara as he spoke.
+
+'I don't care a bit about the house now,' she answered.
+
+'That's unkind.'
+
+'I am thinking so much more of you of you and of myself. What does an
+old house matter?'
+
+'It's in very good repair,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'You must not laugh at me,' she said; and in truth he was not laughing
+at her. 'What I mean is that anything about a house is indifferent to
+me now. It is as though I had got all that I want in the world. Is it
+wrong of me to say so?'
+
+'Oh, dear, no not wrong at all. How can it be wrong?' He did not tell
+her that he also had got all he wanted; but his lack of enthusiasm in
+this respect did not surprise her, or at first even vex her. She had
+always known him to be a man careful of his words knowing their value
+not speaking with hurried rashness as would her dear cousin Will. And
+she doubted whether, after all, such hurried words mean as much as
+words which are slower and calmer. After all his heat in love and
+consequent disappointment, Will Belton had left her apparently well
+contented. His fervour had been short-lived. She loved her cousin
+dearly, and was so very glad that his fervour had been short-lived!
+
+'When you asked me, I could but tell you the truth,' she said, smiling
+at him.
+
+The truth is very well, but he would have liked it better had the truth
+come to him by slower degrees. When his aunt had told him to marry
+Clara Amedroz, he had been at once reconciled to the order by a feeling
+on his own part that the conquest of Clara would not be too facile. She
+was a woman of value, not to be snapped up easily or by any one. So he
+had thought then; but he began to fancy now that he had been wrong in
+that opinion.
+
+The walk back to the house was not of itself very exciting, though to
+Clara it was a short period of unalloyed bliss. No doubt had then come
+upon her to cloud her happiness, and she was 'wrapped up in measureless
+content.' It was well that they should both be silent at such a moment.
+Only yesterday had been buried their dear old friend the friend who had
+brought them together, and been so anxious for their future happiness!
+And Clara Amedroz was not a young girl, prone to jump out of her shoes
+with elation because she had got a lover. She could be steadily happy
+without many immediate words about her happiness. When they reached the
+house, and were once more together in the drawing-room, she again gave
+him her hand, and was the first to speak. And you; are you contented?'
+she asked. Who does not know the smile of triumph with which a girl
+asks such a question at such a moment as that?
+
+'Contented? well yes; I think I am,' he said.
+
+But even those words did not move her to doubt. 'If you are,' she
+said,' I am. And now I will leave you till dinner, that you may think
+over what you have done.'
+
+'I had thought about it before, you know,' he replied. Then he stooped
+over her and kissed her. It was the first time he had done so; but his
+kiss was as cold and proper as though they had been man and wife for
+years! But it sufficed for her, and she went to her room as happy as a
+queen.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MISS AMEDROZ IS TOO CANDID BY HALE
+
+Clara, when she left her accepted lover in the drawing-room and went
+up to her own chamber, had two hours for consideration before she would
+see him again and she had two hours for enjoyment. She was very happy.
+She thoroughly believed in the man who was to be her husband, feeling
+confident that he possessed those qualities which she thought to be
+most necessary for her married happiness. She had quizzed him at times,
+pretending to make it matter of accusation against him that his life
+was not in truth all that his aunt believed it to be but had it been
+more what Mrs Winterfield would have wished, it would have been less to
+Clara's taste. She liked his position in the world; she liked the
+feeling that he was a man of influence; perhaps she liked to think that
+to some extent he was a man of fashion. He was not handsome, but he
+looked always like a gentleman. He was well educated, given to reading,
+prudent, steady in his habits, a man likely to rise in the world; and
+she loved him. I fear the reader by this time may have begun to think
+that her love should never have been given to such a man. To this
+accusation I will make no plea at present, but I will ask the
+complainant whether such men are not always loved. Much is said of the
+rashness of women in giving away their hearts wildly; but the charge
+when made generally is, I think, an unjust one. I am more often
+astonished by the prudence of girls than by their recklessness. A woman
+of thirty will often love well and not wisely; but the girls of twenty
+seem to me to like propriety of demeanour, decency of outward life, and
+a competence. It is, of course, good that it should be so; but if it is
+so, they should not also claim a general character for generous and
+passionate indiscretion, asserting as their motto that Love shall still
+be Lord of All. Clara was more than twenty; but she was not yet so far
+advanced in age as to have lost her taste for decency of demeanour and
+propriety of life. A Member of Parliament, with a small house near
+Eaton Square, with a moderate income, and a liking for committees, who
+would write a pamphlet once every two years, and read Dante critically
+during the recess, was, to her, the model for a husband. For such a one
+she would read his blue books, copy his pamphlets, and learn his
+translations by heart. She would be safe in the hands of such a man,
+and would know nothing of the miseries which her brother bad
+encountered. Her model may not appear, when thus described, to be a
+very noble one; but I think it is the model most approved among ladies
+of her class in England.
+
+She made up her mind on various points during those two hours of
+solitude. In the first place, she would of course keep her purpose of
+returning home on the following day. It was not probable that Captain
+Aylmer would ask her to change it; but let him ask ever so much it must
+not be changed. She must at once have the pleasure of telling her
+father that all his trouble about her would now be over; and then,
+there was the consideration that her further sojourn in the house, with
+Captain Aylmer as her lover, would hardly be more proper than it would
+have been bad he not occupied that position. And what was she to say if
+he pressed her as to the time of their marriage? Her aunt's death would
+of course be a sufficient reason why it should be delayed for some few
+months; and, upon the whole, she thought it would be best to postpone
+it till the next session of Parliament should have nearly expired. But
+she would be prepared to yield to Captain Aylmer, should he name any
+time after Easter. It was clearly his intention to keep up the house in
+Perivale as his country residence. She did not like Perivale or the
+house, but she would say nothing against such am arrangement. Indeed,
+with what face could she do so? She was going to bring nothing to the
+common account absolutely nothing but herself! As she thought of this
+her love grew warmer, and she hardly knew how sufficiently to testify
+to herself her own gratitude and affection.
+
+She became conscious, as she was preparing herself for dinner, of some
+special attention to her toilet. She was more than ordinarily careful
+with her hair, and felt herself to be aware of an anxiety to look her
+best. She had now been for some time so accustomed to dress herself in
+black, that in that respect her aunt's death had made no difference to
+her. Deep mourning had ceased from habit to impress her with any
+special feeling of funereal solemnity. But something about herself, or
+in the room, at last struck her with awe, bidding her remember how
+death had of late been busy among those who had been her dearest and
+nearest friends; and she sat down, almost frightened at her own
+heartlessness, in that she was allowing herself to be happy at such a
+time. Her aunt had been carried away to her grave only yesterday, and
+her brother's death had occurred under circumstances of peculiar
+distress within the year and yet she was happy, triumphant almost lost
+in the joy of her own position! She remained for a while in her chair,
+with her black dress hanging across her lap, as she argued with herself
+as to her own state of mind. Was it a sign of a hard heart within her,
+that she could be happy at such a time? Ought the memory of her poor
+brother to have such an effect upon her as to make any joy of spirits
+impossible to her? Should she at the present moment be so crushed by
+her aunt's demise, as to be incapable of congratulating herself upon
+her own success? Should she have told him, when he asked her that
+question upon the bridge, that there could be no marrying or giving in
+marriage between them, no talking on such a subject in days so full of
+sorrow as these? I do not know that she quite succeeded in recognizing
+it as a truth that sorrow should be allowed to bar out no joy that it
+does not bar out of absolute necessity by its own weight, without
+reference to conventional ideas; that sorrow should never, under any
+circumstances, be nursed into activity, as though it were a thing in
+itself divine or praiseworthy. I do not know that she followed out her
+arguments till she had taught herself that it is the Love that is
+divine the Love which, when outraged by death or other severance,
+produces that sorrow which man would control if he were strong enough,
+but which he cannot control by reason of the weakness of his humanity.
+I doubt whether so much as this made itself plain to her, as she sat
+there before her toilet table, with her sombre dress hanging from her
+hands on to the ground. But something of the strength of such reasoning
+was hers. Knowing herself to be full of joy, she would not struggle to
+make herself believe that it behoved her to be unhappy. She told
+herself that she was doing what was good for others as well as for
+herself what would be very good for her father, and what should be
+good, if it might be within her power to make it so, for him who was to
+be her husband. The blackness of the cloud of her brother's death would
+never altogether pass away from her. It had tended, as she knew well,
+to make her serious, grave, and old, in spite of her own efforts to the
+contrary. The cloud had been so black with her that it had nearly lost
+for her the prize which was now her own. But she told herself that that
+blackness was an injury to her, and not a benefit, and that it had now
+become a duty to her for his sake, if not for her own to dispel its
+shadows rather than encourage them. She would go down to him full of
+joy, though not full of mirth, and would confess to him frankly, that
+in receiving the assurance of his love, she had received everything
+that had seemed to have any value for her in the world.
+
+Hitherto she had been independent she had specially been careful to
+show to him her resolve to be independent of him. Now she would put
+aside all that, and let him know that she recognized in him her lord
+and master as well as husband. To her father had been left no strength
+on which she could lean, and she had been forced therefore to trust to
+her own strength. Now she would be dependent on him who was to be her
+husband. As heretofore she had rejected his offers of assistance almost
+with disdain, so now would she accept them without scruple, looking to
+him to be her guide in all things, putting from her that carping spirit
+in which she had been wont to judge of his actions, and believing in
+him as a wife should believe in her husband.
+
+Such were the resolutions which Clara made in the first hour of
+solitude which came to her after her engagement; and they would have
+been wise resolutions but for this flaw that the stronger was
+submitting itself to the weaker, the greater to the less, the more
+honest to the less honest, that which was nearly true to that which was
+in great part false. The theory of man and wife that special theory in
+accordance with which the wife is to bend herself in loving submission
+before her husband is very beautiful; and would be good altogether if
+it could only be arranged that the husband should be the stronger and
+the greater of the two. The theory is based upon that hypothesis and
+the hypothesis sometimes fails of confirmation. In ordinary marriages
+the vessel rights itself, and the stronger and the greater takes the
+lead, whether clothed in petticoats, or in coat, waistcoat, and
+trousers; but there sometimes comes a terrible shipwreck, when the
+woman before marriage has filled herself full with ideas of submission,
+and then finds that her golden. headed god has got an iron body and
+feet of clay.
+
+Captain Aylmer, when he was left alone, had also something to think
+about; and as there were two hours left for such thought before he
+would again meet Clara, and as he had nothing else with which to occupy
+himself during those two hours, he again strolled down to the bridge on
+which be had made his offer. He strolled down there, thinking that he
+was thinking, but hardly giving much mind to his thoughts, which he
+allowed to run away with themselves as they listed. Of course he was
+going to be married. That was a thing settled. And he was perfectly
+satisfied with himself in that he had done nothing in a hurry, and
+could accuse himself of no folly even if he had no great cause for
+triumph. He had been long thinking that he should like to have Clara
+Amedroz for his wife long thinking that he would ask her to marry him;
+and having for months indulged such thoughts, he could not take blame
+to himself for having made to his aunt that deathbed promise which she
+had exacted. At the moment in which she asked him the question he was
+himself anxious to do the thing she desired of him. How then could be
+have refused her? And, having given the promise, it was a matter of
+course with him to fulfil it. He was a man who would have never
+respected himself again would have hated himself for ever, had he
+failed to keep a promise from which no living being could absolve him.
+He had been right therefore to make the promise, and having made it,
+had been right to keep it, and to do the thing at once. And Clara was
+very good and very wise, and sometimes looked very well, and would
+never disgrace him; and as she was in worldly matters to receive much
+and give nothing, she would probably be willing to make herself
+amenable to any arrangements as to their future mode of life which he
+might propose. In respect of this matter he was probably thinking of
+lodgings for himself in London during the parliamentary session, while
+she remained alone in the big red house upon which his eyes were fixed
+at the time. There was much of convenience in all this, which might
+perhaps atone to him for the sacrifice which he was undoubtedly making
+of himself. Had marriage simply been of itself a thing desirable, he
+could doubtless have disposed of himself to better advantage. His
+prospects, present fortune, and general position were so favourable,
+that he might have dared to lift his expectations, in regard both to
+wealth and rank, very high. The Aylmers were a considerable people, and
+he, though a younger brother, bad much more than a younger brother's
+portion. His seat in Parliament was safe; his position in society was
+excellent and secure; he was exactly so placed that marriage with a
+fortune was the only thing wanting to put the finishing coping-stone to
+his edifice that, and perhaps also the useful glory of having some Lady
+Mary or Lady Emily at the top of his table. Lady Emily Aylmer? Yes it
+would have sounded better, and there was a certain Lady Emily who might
+have suited. Now, as some slight regrets stole upon him gently, he
+failed to remember that this Lady Emily had not a shilling in the world.
+
+Yes; some faint regrets did steal upon him, though he went on telling
+himself that he had acted rightly. His stars, which were generally very
+good to him, had not perhaps on this occasion been as good as usual. No
+doubt he had to a certain degree become encumbered with Clara Amedroz.
+Had not the direct and immediate leap with which she had come into his
+arms shown him somewhat too plainly that one word of his mouth tending
+towards matrimony had been regarded by her as being too valuable to be
+lost? The fruit that falls easily from the tree, though it is ever the
+best, is never valued by the gardener. Let him have well-nigh broken
+his neck in gathering it, unripe and crude, from the small topmost
+boughs of the branching tree, and the pippin will be esteemed by him as
+invaluable. On that morning, as Captain Aylmer had walked home from
+church, he had doubted much what would be Clara's answer to him. Then
+the pippin was at the end of the dangerous bough. Now it had fallen to
+his feet, and he did not scruple to tell himself that it was his and
+always might have been his as a matter of course. Well, the apple had
+come of a good kind, and, though there might be specks upon it, though
+it might not be fit for any special glory of show or pride of place
+among the dessert service, still it should be garnered and used, and no
+doubt would be a very good apple for eating. Having so concluded,
+Captain Aylmer returned to the house, washed his hands, changed his
+boots, and went down to the drawing-room just as dinner was ready.
+
+She came up to him almost radiant with joy, and put her hand upon his
+arm. 'Martha did not know but what you were here,' she said, 'and told
+them to put dinner on the table.'
+
+'I hope I have not kept you waiting.'
+
+'Oh, dear, no. And what if you did? Ladies never care about things
+getting cold. It is gentlemen only who have feelings in such matters as
+that.'
+
+'I don't know that there is much difference; but, however ' Then they
+were in the dining-room, and as the servant remained there during
+dinner, there was nothing in their conversation worth repeating. After
+dinner they still remained down-stairs, seating themselves on the two
+sides of the fire, Clara having fully resolved that she would not on
+such an evening as this leave Captain Aylmer to drink his glass of port
+wine by himself.
+
+'I suppose I may stay with you, mayn't I?' she said.
+
+'Oh, dear, yes; I'm sure I'm very much obliged. I'm not at all wedded
+to solitude.' Then there was a slight pause.
+
+'That's lucky,' she said 'as you have made up your mind to be wedded in
+another sort of way.' Her voice as she spoke was very low, but there
+was a gentle ring of restrained joyousness in it which ought to have
+gone at once to his heart and made him supremely blessed for the time.
+
+'Well yes,' he answered. 'We are in for it now, both of us are we not?
+I hope you have no misgivings about it, Clara.'
+
+'Who? I? I have misgivings! No, indeed. I have no misgivings, Frederic;
+no doubts, no scruples, no alloy in my happiness. With me it is all as
+I would have it be. Ah; you haven't understood why it has been that I
+have seemed to be harsh to you when we have met.'
+
+'No, I have not,' said he. This was true; but it is true also that it
+would have been well that he should be kept in his ignorance. She was
+minded, however, to tell him everything, and therefore she went on.
+
+'I don't know how to tell you; and yet, circumstanced as we are now, it
+seems that I ought to tell you everything.'
+
+'Yes, certainly; I think that,' said Aylmer. He was one of those men
+who consider themselves entitled to see, hear, and know every little
+detail of a woman's conduct, as a consequence of the circumstances of
+his engagement, and who consider themselves shorn of their privilege if
+anything be kept back. If any gentleman had said a soft word to Clara
+eight years ago, that soft word ought to be repeated to him now. lam
+afraid that these particular gentlemen sometimes hear some fibs; and I
+often wonder that their own early passages in the tournays of love do
+not warn them that it must be so. When James has sat deliciously
+through all the moonlit night with his arm round Mary's waist and
+afterwards sees Mary led to the altar by John, does it not occur to him
+that some John may have also sat with his arm round Anna's waist that
+Anna whom he is leading to the altar? These things should not be
+inquired into too curiously; but the curiosity of some men on such
+matters has no end. For the most part, women like telling only they do
+not choose to be pressed beyond their own modes of utterance. 'I should
+like to know that I have your full confidence,' said he.
+
+'You have got my full confidence,' she replied.
+
+'I mean that you should tell me anything that there is to be told.'
+
+'It was only this, that I had learned to love you before I thought that
+my love would be returned.'
+
+'Oh was that it?' said Captain Aylmer, in a tone which seemed to imply
+something like disappointment.
+
+'Yes. Fred; that was It. And how could I, under such circumstances,
+trust myself to be gentle with you, or to look to you for assistance?
+How could I guess then all that I know now?'
+
+'Of course you couldn't.'
+
+'And therefore I was driven to be harsh. My aunt used to speak to me
+about it.'
+
+'I don't wonder at that, for she was very anxious that we should be
+married.'
+
+Clara for a moment felt herself to be uncomfortable as she heard these
+words, half perceiving that they implied some instigation on the part
+of Mrs Winterfield. Could it be that Captain Aylmer's offer had been
+made in obedience to a promise? 'Did you know of her anxiety?' she
+asked.
+
+'Well yes; that is to say, I guessed it. It was natural enough that the
+same idea should come to her and to me too. Of course, seeing us so
+much thrown together, she could not but think of our being married as a
+chance upon the cards.'
+
+'She used to tell me that I was harsh to you abrupt, she called it. But
+what could I do? I'll tell you, Fred, how I first found out that I
+really cared for you. What I tell you now is of course a secret; and I
+should speak of it to no one under any circumstances but those which
+unite us two together. My Cousin Will, when he was at Belton, made me
+an offer.'
+
+'He did, did he? You did not tell me that when you were saying all
+those fine things in his praise in the railway carriage.'
+
+Of course I did not. Why should I? I wasn't bound to tell you my
+secrets then, sir.'
+
+'But did he absolutely offer to you?'
+
+'Is there anything so wonderful in that? But, wonderful or not, he did.'
+
+'And you refused him?'
+
+'I refused him certainly.'
+
+'It wouldn't have been a bad match, if all that you say about his
+property is true.'
+
+'If you come to that, it would have been a very good match; and perhaps
+you think I was silly to decline it?'
+
+'I don't say that.'
+
+'Papa thought so but, then, I couldn't tell papa the whole truth, as I
+can tell it to you now, Captain Aylmer. I couldn't tell dear papa that
+my heart was not my own to give to my Cousin Will; nor could I give
+Will any such reason. Poor Will! I could only say to him bluntly that I
+wouldn't have him.'
+
+'And you would, if it hadn't been hadn't been for me.'
+
+'Nay, Fred; there you tax me too far. What might have come of my heart
+if you hadn't fallen in my way, who can say? I love Will Belton dearly,
+and hope that you may do so'
+
+'I must see him first.'
+
+'Of course but, as I was saying, I doubt whether, under any
+circumstances, he would have been the man I should have chosen for a
+husband. But as it was it was impossible. Now you know it all, and I
+think that I have been very frank with you.'
+
+'Oh! very frank.' He would not take her little jokes, nor understand
+her little prettinesses. That he was a man not prone to joking she knew
+well, but still it went against the grain with her to find that be was
+so very hard in his replies to her attempts.
+
+It was not easy for Clara to carry on the conversation after this, so
+she proposed that they should go upstairs into the drawing-room. Such a
+change even as that would throw them into a different way of talking,
+and prevent the necessity of any further immediate allusion to Will
+Belton. For Clara was aware, though she hardly knew why, that her
+frankness to her future husband had hardly been successful, and she
+regretted that she had on this occasion mentioned her cousin's name.
+They went upstairs and again sat themselves in chairs over the fire;
+but for a while conversation did not seem to come to them freely. Clara
+felt that it was now Captain Aylmer's turn to begin, and Captain Aylmer
+felt that he wished he could read the newspaper. He had nothing in
+particular that he desired to say to his lady-love. That morning, as he
+was shaving himself, he had something to say that was very particular
+as to which he was at that moment so nervous, that he had cut himself
+slightly through the trembling of his hand. But that had now been said,
+and he was nervous no longer. That had now been said, and the thing
+settled so easily, that he wondered at his own nervousness. He did not
+know that there was anything that required much further immediate
+speech. Clara had thought somewhat of the time which might be proposed
+for their marriage, making some little resolves, with which the reader
+is already acquainted; but no ideas of this kind presented themselves
+to Captain Aylmer. He had asked his cousin to be his wife, thereby
+making good his promise to his aunt. There could be no further
+necessity for pressing haste. Sufficient for the day is the evil
+thereof.
+
+It is not to be supposed that the thriving lover actually spoke to
+himself in such language as that or that he confessed to himself that
+Clara Amedroz was an evil to him rather than a blessing. But his
+feelings were already so far tending in that direction, that he was by
+no means disposed to make any further promise, or to engage himself in
+closer connexion with matrimony by the mention of any special day.
+Clara, finding that her companion would not talk without encouragement
+from her, had to begin again, and asked all those natural questions
+about his family, his brother, his sister, his home habits, and the old
+house in Yorkshire, the answers to which must be so full of interest to
+her. But even on these subjects he was dry, and in-disposed to answer
+with the full copiousness of free communication which she desired. And
+at last there came a question and an answer a word or two on one side,
+and then a word or two on the other, from which Clara got a wound which
+was very sore to her.
+
+'I have always pictured to myself,' she said 'your mother as a woman
+who has been very handsome.'
+
+'She is still a handsome woman, though she is over sixty.'
+
+'Tall, I suppose?'
+
+'Yes, tall, and with something of of what shall I say dignity, about
+her.'
+
+'She is not grand, I hope?'
+
+'I don't know what you call grand.'
+
+'Not grand in a bad sense I'm sure she is not that. But there are some
+ladies who seem to stand so high above the level of ordinary females as
+to make us who are ordinary quite afraid of them.'
+
+'My mother is certainly not ordinary,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'And I am,' said Clara, laughing. 'I wonder what she'll say to me or,
+rather, what she will think of me.' Then there was a moment's silence,
+after which Clara, still laughing, went on. 'I see, Fred, that you have
+not a word of encouragement to give me about your mother.'
+
+'She is rather particular,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+Then Clara drew herself up, and ceased to laugh. She had called herself
+ordinary with that half- insincere depreciation of self which is common
+to all of us when we speak of our own attributes, but which we by no
+means intend that they who hear us shall accept as strictly true, or
+shall re-echo as their own approved opinions. But in this instance
+Captain Aylmer, though he had not quite done that, had done almost as
+bad.
+
+'Then I suppose I had better keep out of her way,' said Clara, by no
+means laughing as she spoke.
+
+'Of course when we are married you must go and see her.'
+
+'You do not, at any rate, promise me a very agreeable visit, Fred. But
+I dare say I shall survive it. After all, it is you that I am to marry,
+and not your mother; and as long as you are not majestic to me, I need
+not care for her majesty.'
+
+'I don't know what you mean by majesty.'
+
+'You must confess that you speak of her as of something very terrible.'
+
+'I say that she is particular and so she is. And as my respect for her
+opinion is equal to my affection for her person, I hope that you will
+make a great effort to gain her esteem.'
+
+'I never make any efforts of that kind. If esteem doesn't come without
+efforts it isn't worth having.'
+
+'There I disagree with you altogether but I especially disagree with
+you as you are speaking about my mother, and about a lady who is to
+become your own mother-in-law. I trust that you will make such efforts,
+and that you will make them successfully. Lady Aylmer is not a woman
+who will give you her heart at once, simply because you have become her
+son's wife. She will judge you by your own qualities and will not
+scruple to condemn you should she see cause.'
+
+Then there was a longer silence, and Clara's heart was almost in
+rebellion even on this, the first day of her engagement. But she
+quelled her high spirit, and said no further word about Lady Aylmer.
+Nor did she speak again till she had enabled herself to smile as she
+spoke.
+
+'Well, Fred,' she said, putting her hand upon his arm, 'I'll do my
+best, and woman can do no more. And now I'll say good-night, for I must
+pack for tomorrow's journey before I go to bed.' Then he kissed her
+with a cold, chilling kiss and she left him for the night.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ RETURNS HOME
+
+Clara was to start by a train leaving Perivale at eight on the
+following morning, and therefore there was not much time for
+conversation before she went. During the night she had endeavoured so
+to school herself as to banish from her breast all feelings of anger
+against her lover, and of regret as regarded herself. Probably, as she
+told herself, she had made more of what he had said than he had
+intended that she should do; and then, was it not natural that he
+should think much of his mother, and feel anxious as to the way in
+which she might receive his wife. As to that feeling of anger on her
+own part, she did get quit of it; but the regret was not to be so
+easily removed. It was not only what Captain Aylmer had said about his
+mother that clung to her, doing much to quench her joy; but there had
+been a coldness in his tone to her throughout the evening which she
+recognized almost unconsciously, and which made her heart heavy in
+spite of the joy which she repeatedly told herself ought to be her own.
+And she also felt though she was not clearly aware that she did so that
+his manner towards her had become less affectionate, less like that of
+a lover, since the honest tale she had told him of her own early love
+for him. She should have been less honest, and more discreet; less
+bold, and more like in her words to the ordinary run of women. She had
+known this as she was packing last night, and she told herself that it
+was so as she was dressing on this her last morning at Perivale. That
+frankness of hers had not been successful, and she regretted that she
+had not imposed on herself some little reticence or even a little of
+that coy pretence of indifference which is so often used by ladies when
+they are wooed. She had been boldly honest, and had found her honesty
+to be bad policy. She thought, at least, that she had found its policy
+to be bad. Whether in truth it may not have been very good have been
+the best policy in the world tending to give her the first true
+intimation which she had ever yet received of the real character of the
+man who was now so much to her that is altogether another question.
+
+But it was clearly her duty to make the best of her present
+circumstances, and she went down-stairs with a smiling face and with
+pleasant words on her tongue. When she entered the breakfast-room
+Captain Aylmer was there; but Martha was there also, and her pleasant
+words were received indifferently in the presence of the servant. When
+the old woman was gone, Captain Aylmer assumed a grave face, and began
+a serious little speech which he had prepared. But he broke down in the
+utterance of it, and was saying things very different from what he had
+intended before he had completed it.
+
+'Clara,' he began, 'what occurred between us yesterday is a source of
+great satisfaction to me.'
+
+'I am glad of that, Frederick,' said she, trying to be a little less
+serious than her lover.
+
+'Of very great satisfaction,' he continued; 'and I cannot but think
+that we were justified by the circumstances of our position in
+forgetting for a time the sad solemnity of the occasion. When I
+remember that it was but the day before yesterday that I followed my
+dear old aunt to the grave, I am astonished to think that yesterday I
+should have made an offer of marriage.'
+
+What could be the good of his talking in this strain? Clara, too, had
+had her own misgivings on the same subject little qualms of conscience
+that had come to her as she remembered her old friend in the silent
+watches of the night; but such thoughts were for the silent watches,
+and not for open expression in the broad daylight. But he had paused,
+and she must say something.
+
+'One's excuse to oneself is this that she would have wished it so.'
+
+'Exactly. She would have wished it. Indeed she did wish it, and
+therefore ' He paused in what he was saying, and felt himself to be on
+difficult ground. Her eye was full upon him, and she waited for a
+moment or two as though expecting that he would finish his words. But
+as he did not go on, she finished them for him.
+
+'And therefore you sacrificed your own feelings.' Her heart was
+becoming sore, and she was unable to restrain the utterance of her
+sarcasm.
+
+'Just so,' said he; 'or, rather, not exactly that. I don't mean that I
+am sacrificed; for, of course, as I have just now said, nothing as
+regards myself can be more satisfactory. But yesterday should have been
+a solemn day to us; and as it was not'
+
+'I thought it very solemn.'
+
+'What I mean is that I find an excuse in remembering that I was doing
+what she asked me to do.'
+
+'What she asked you to do, Fred?'
+
+'What I had promised, I mean.'
+
+'What you had promised? I did not hear that before.' These last words
+were spoken in a very low voice, but they went direct to Captain
+Aylmer's ears.
+
+'But you have heard me declare,' he said, 'that as regards myself
+nothing could be more satisfactory.'
+
+'Fred,' she said, 'listen to me for a moment. You and I engaged
+ourselves to each other yesterday as man and wife.'
+
+'Of course we did.'
+
+'Listen to me, dear Fred. In doing that there was nothing in my mind
+unbefitting the sadness of the day. Even in death we must think of
+life, and if it were well for you and me that we should be together it
+would surely have been but a foolish ceremony between us to have
+abstained from telling each other that it would be so because my aunt
+had died last week. But it may be, and I think it is the case, that the
+feelings arising from her death have made us both too precipitate.'
+
+'I don't understand how that can be.'
+
+'You have been anxious to keep a promise made to her, without
+considering sufficiently whether in doing so you would secure your own
+happiness; and I'
+
+'I don't know about you, but as regards myself I must be considered to
+be the best judge.'
+
+'And I have been too much in a hurry in believing that which I wished
+to believe.'
+
+'What do you mean by all this, Clara?'
+
+'I mean that our engagement shall be at an end; not necessarily so for
+always. But that as an engagement binding us both, it shall for the
+present cease to exist. You shall be again free'
+
+'But I don't choose to be free.'
+
+'When you think of it you will find it best that it should be so. You
+have performed your promise honestly, even though at a sacrifice to
+yourself. Luckily for you for both of us, I should say the full truth
+has come out; and we can consider quietly what will be best for us to
+do, independently of that promise. We will part, therefore, as dear
+friends but not as engaged to each other as man and wife.'
+
+'But we are engaged, and I will not hear of its being broken.'
+
+'A lady's word, Fred, is always the most potential before marriage; and
+you must therefore yield to me in this matter. I am sure your judgment
+will approve of my decision when you think of it. There shall be no
+engagement between us. I shall consider myself quite free free to do as
+I please altogether; and you, of course, will be free also.'
+
+'If you please, of course it must be so.'
+
+'I do please, Fred.'
+
+'And yesterday, then, is to go for nothing.'
+
+'Not exactly. It cannot go for nothing with me. I told you too many of
+my secrets for that. But nothing that was done or said yesterday is to
+be held as binding upon either of us.'
+
+'And you made up your mind to that last night?'
+
+'It is at any rate made up to that now. Come I shall have to go without
+my breakfast if I do not eat it at once. Will you have your tea now, or
+wait and take it comfortably when I am gone?'
+
+Captain Aylmer breakfasted with her, and took her to the station, and
+saw her off with all possible courtesy and attention, and then he
+walked back by himself to his own great house in Perivale. Not a word
+more had been said between him and Clara as to their engagement, and he
+recognized it as a fact that he was no longer bound to her as her
+future husband. Indeed, he had no power of not recognizing the fact, so
+decided had been her language, and so imperious her manner It had been
+of no avail that he had said that the engagement should stand. She had
+told him that her voice was to be the more potential, and he had felt
+that it was so. Well might it not be best for him that it should be so?
+He had kept his promise to his aunt, and bad done all that lay in his
+power to make Clara Amedroz his wife. If she chose to rebel against her
+own good fortune simply because he spoke to her a few words which
+seemed to him to be fitting, might it not be well for him to take her
+at her word?
+
+Such were his first thoughts; but as the day wore on with him,
+something more generous in his nature came to his aid, and something
+also that was akin to real love. Now that she was no longer his own, he
+again felt a desire to have her. Now that there would be again
+something to be done in winning her, he was again stirred by a man's
+desire to do that something. He ought not to have told her of the
+promise. He was aware that what he had said on that point had been
+dropped by him accidentally, and that Clara's resolution after that had
+not been unnatural. He would, therefore, give her another chance, and
+resolved before he went to bed that night that he would allow a
+fortnight to pass away, and would then write to her, renewing his offer
+with all the strongest declarations of affection which he would be
+enabled to make.
+
+Clara on her way home was not well satisfied with herself or with her
+position. She had had great joy, during the few hours of joy which had
+been hers, in thinking of the comfort which her news would give to her
+father. He would be released from all further trouble on her account by
+the tidings which she would convey to him by the tidings which she had
+intended to convey to him. But now the story which she would have to
+tell would by no means be comfortable. She would have to explain to him
+that her aunt had left no provision for her, and that would be the
+beginning and the end of her story. As for those conversations about
+the fifteen hundred pounds of them she would say nothing. When she
+reflected on what had taken place between herself and Captain Aylmer
+she was more resolved than ever that she would not touch any portion of
+that money or of any money that should come from him. Nor would she
+tell her father anything of the marriage engagement which had been made
+on one day and unmade on the next. Why should she add to his distress
+by showing him what good things might have been hers had she only had
+the wit to keep them? No; she would tell her father simply of the will,
+and then comfort him in his affliction as best she might.
+
+As regarded her position with Captain Aylmer, the more she thought of
+it the more sure she became that everything was over in that quarter.
+She had, indeed, told him that such need not necessarily be the case
+but this she had done in her desire at the moment to mitigate the
+apparent authoritativeness of her own decision, rather than with any
+idea of leaving the matter open for further consideration. She was sure
+that Captain Aylmer would be glad of a means of escape, and that he
+would not again place himself in the jeopardy which the promise exacted
+from him by his aunt had made so nearly fatal to him. And for herself,
+though she still loved the man so loved him that she lay back in the
+corner of her carriage weeping behind her veil as she thought of what
+she had lost still she would not take him, though he should again press
+his suit upon her with all the ardour at his command. No, indeed. No
+man should ever be made to regard her as a burden imposed upon him by
+an extorted promise! What! let a man sacrifice himself to a sense of
+duty on her behalf! And then she repeated the odious words to herself,
+till she came to think that it had fallen from his lips and not from
+her own.
+
+In writing to her father from Perivale, she had merely told him of Mrs
+Winterfield's death and of her own intended return. At the Taunton
+station she met the well-known old fly and the well-known old driver,
+and was taken home in the accustomed manner. As she drew nearer to
+Belton the sense of her distress became stronger and stronger, till at
+last she almost feared to meet her father. What could she say to him
+when he should repeat to her, as be would be sure to do, his
+lamentation as to her future poverty?
+
+On arriving at the house she learned that he was upstairs in his
+bedroom. He had been ill, the servant said, and though he was not now
+in bed, he had not come down-stairs. So she ran up to his room, and
+finding him seated in an old arm-chair by the fire-side, knelt down at
+his feet, as she took his hand and asked him as to his health.
+
+'What has Mrs Winterfield done for you in her will?' These were the
+first words he spoke to her.
+
+'Never mind about wills now, papa. I want you to tell me of yourself.'
+
+'Nonsense, Clara. Answer my question.'
+
+'Oh, papa, I wish you would not think so much about money for me.'
+
+'Not think about it? Why am I not to think about it? What else have I
+got to think of? Tell me at once, Clara, what she has done. You ought
+to have written to me directly the will was made known.'
+
+There was no help for her, and the terrible word must be spoken. 'She
+has left her property to Captain Aylmer, papa; and I must say that I
+think she is right.'
+
+'You do not mean everything?'
+
+'She has provided for her servants.'
+
+'And has made no provision for you?'
+
+'No, papa.'
+
+'Do you mean to tell me that she has left you nothing absolutely
+nothing?' The old man's manner was altogether altered as he asked the
+question; and there came over his face so unusual a look of energy of
+the energy of anger that Clara was frightened, and knew not how to
+answer him with that tone of authority which she was accustomed to use
+when she found it necessary to exercise control over him. 'Do you mean
+to say that there is nothing nothing?' And as he repeated the question
+he pushed her away from his knees and stood up with an effort, leaning
+against the back of his chair.
+
+'Dear papa, do not let this distress you.'
+
+'But is it so? Is there in truth nothing?'
+
+'Nothing, papa. Remember that she was not really my aunt.'
+
+'Nonsense, child! nonsense! How can you talk such trash to me as that?
+And then you tell me not to distress myself! I am to know that you will
+be a beggar in a year or two probably in a few months and that is not
+to distress me! She has been a wicked woman!'
+
+'Oh, papa, do not say that.'
+
+'A wicked woman. A very wicked woman. It is always so with those who
+pretend to be more religious than their neighbours. She has been a very
+wicked woman, alluring you into her house with false hopes.'
+
+'No, papa no; I must contradict you. She had given me no grounds for
+such hope.'
+
+'I say she had even though she may not have made a promise. I say she
+had. Did not everybody think that you were to have her money?'
+
+'I don't know what people may have thought. Nobody has had any right to
+think about it at all.'
+
+'That is nonsense, Clara. You know that I expected it that you expected
+it yourself.'
+
+'No no, no!'
+
+'Clara how can you tell me that?'
+
+'Papa, I knew that she intended to leave me nothing. She told me so
+when I was there in the spring.'
+
+'She told you so?'
+
+'Yes, papa. She told me that Frederic Aylmer was to have all her
+property. She explained to me everything that she meant to do, and I
+thought that she was right.'
+
+'And why was not I told when you came home?'
+
+'Dear papa!'
+
+'Dear papa, indeed. What is the meaning of dear papa? Why have I been
+deceived?'
+
+'What good could I do by telling you? You could not change it.'
+
+'You have been very undutiful; and as for her, her wickedness and
+cruelty shock me shock me. They do, indeed. That she should have known
+your position, and had you with her always and then have made such a
+will as that! Quite heartless! She must have been quite heartless.'
+
+Clara now began to find that she must in justice to her aunt's memory
+tell her father something more. And yet it would be very difficult to
+tell him anything that would not bring greater affliction upon him, and
+would not also lead her into deeper trouble. Should it come to pass
+that her aunt's intention with reference to the fifteen hundred pounds
+was mentioned, she would be subjected to an endless persecution as to
+the duty of accepting that money from Captain Aylmer. But her present
+feelings would have made her much prefer to beg her bread upon the
+roads than accept her late lover's generosity. And then again, how
+could she explain to her father Mrs Winterfield's mistake about her own
+position without seeming to accuse her father of having robbed her? But
+nevertheless she must say something, as Mr Amedroz continued to apply
+that epithet of heartless to Mrs Winterfield, going on with it in a low
+droning tone, that was more injurious to Clara's ears than the first
+full energy of his anger.
+
+'Heartless quite heartless shockingly heartless shockingly heartless!'
+
+'The truth is, papa,' Clara said at last, 'that when my aunt told me
+about her will, she did not know but what I had some adequate provision
+from my own family.'
+
+'Oh, Clara!'
+
+'That is the truth, papa for she explained the whole thing to me. I
+could not tell her that she was mistaken, and thus ask for her money.'
+
+'But she knew everything about that poor wretched boy.' And now the
+father dropped back into his chair, and buried his face in his hands.
+
+When he did this Clara again knelt at his feet. She felt that she had
+been cruel, and that she had defended her aunt at the cost of her own
+father. She had, as it were, thrown in his teeth his own imprudence,
+and twitted him with the injuries which he had done to her. 'Papa,' she
+said, 'dear papa, do not think about it at all. What is the use? After
+all, money is not everything. I care nothing for money. If you will
+only agree to banish the subject altogether, we shall be so
+comfortable.'
+
+'How is it to be banished?'
+
+'At any rate we need not speak of it. Why should we talk on a subject
+which is simply uncomfortable, and which we cannot mend?'
+
+'Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!' And now he swayed himself backwards and
+forwards in his chair, bewailing his own condition and hers, and his
+past imprudence, while the tears ran down his checks. She still knelt
+there at his feet, looking up into his face with loving, beseeching
+eyes, praying him to be comforted, and declaring that all would still
+be well if he would only forget the subject, or, at any rate, cease to
+speak of it. But still he went on wailing, complaining of his lot as a
+child complains, and refusing all consolation. 'Yes; I know,' said he,
+'it has all been my fault. But how could I help it? What was I to do?'
+
+'Papa, nobody has said that anything was your fault; nobody has thought
+so.'
+
+'I never spent anything on myself never, never; and yet and yet and yet
+!'
+
+'Look at it with more courage, papa. After all, what harm will it be if
+I should have to go out and earn my own bread like any other young
+woman? I am not afraid.'
+
+At last he wept himself into an apathetic tranquillity, as though he
+had at present no further power for any of the energy of grief; and she
+left him while she went about the house and learned how things had gone
+on during her absence. It seemed, from the tidings which the servant
+gave her, that he had been ill almost since she had been gone. He had,
+at any rate, chosen to take his meals in his own room, and as far as
+was remembered, had not once left the house since she had been away. He
+had on two or three occasions spoken of Mr Belton, appearing to be
+anxious for his coming, and asking questions as to the cattle and the
+work that was still going on about the place; and Clara, when she
+returned to his room, tried to interest him again about her cousin. But
+he had in truth been too much distressed by the ill news as to Mrs
+Winterfield's will to be able to rally himself, and the evening that
+was spent up in his room was very comfortless to both of them. Clara
+had her own sorrows to bear as well as her father's, and could take no
+pleasant look out into the world of her own circumstances. She had
+gained her lover merely to lose him and had lost him under
+circumstances that were very painful to her woman's feeling. Though he
+had been for one night betrothed to her as her husband, he had never
+loved her. He had asked her to be his wife simply in fulfilment of a
+death-bed promise! The more she thought of it the more bitter did the
+idea of it become to her. And she could not also but think of her
+cousin. Poor Will! He, at any rate, had loved her, though his eagerness
+in love had been, as she told herself, but short-lived. As she thought
+of him, it seemed but the other day that he had been with her up on the
+rock in the park but as she thought of Captain Aylmer, to whom she had
+become engaged only yesterday, and from whom she had separated herself
+only that morning, she felt that an eternity of time had passed since
+she had parted from him.
+
+On the following day, a dull, dark, melancholy day, towards the end of
+November, she went out to saunter about the park, leaving her father
+still in his bedroom, and after a while made her way down to the
+cottage. She found Mrs Askerton as usual alone in the little
+drawing-room, sitting near the window with a book in her hand; but
+Clara knew at once that her friend had not been reading that she had
+been sitting there looking out upon the clouds, with her mind fixed
+upon things far away. The general cheerfulness of this woman had often
+been cause of wonder to Clara, who knew how many of her hours were
+passed in solitude; but there did occasionally come upon her periods of
+melancholy in which she was unable to act up to the settled rule of her
+life, and in which she would confess that the days and weeks and months
+were too long for her.
+
+'So you are back,' said Mrs Askerton, as soon as the first greeting was
+over.
+
+'Yes; I am back.'
+
+'I supposed you would not stay there long after the funeral.'
+
+'No; what good could I do?'
+
+'And Captain Aylmer is still there, I suppose?'
+
+'I left him at Perivale.'
+
+There was a slight pause, as Mrs Askerton hesitated before she asked
+her next question. 'May I be told anything about the will?' she said.
+
+'The weary will! If you knew how I hated the subject you would not ask
+me. But you must not think I hate it because it has given me nothing.'
+
+'Given you nothing?'
+
+'Nothing ! But that does not make me hate it. It is the nature of the
+subject that is so odious. I have now told you all everything that
+there is to be told, though we were to talk for a week. If you are
+generous you will not say another word about it.'
+
+'But I am so sorry.'
+
+'There that's it. You won't perceive that the expression of such sorrow
+is a personal injury to me. I don't want you to be sorry.'
+
+'How am I to help it?'
+
+'You need not express it. I don't come pitying you for supposed
+troubles. You have plenty of money; but if you were so poor that you
+could eat nothing but cold mutton, I shouldn't condole with you as to
+the state of your larder. I should pretend to think that poultry and
+piecrust were plentiful with you.'
+
+'No, you wouldn't, dear not if I were as dear to you as you are to me.'
+
+'Well, then, be sorry; and let there be an end of it. Remember how much
+of all this I must of necessity have to go through with poor papa.'
+
+'Ah, yes; I can believe that.'
+
+'And he is so far from well. Of course you have not seen him since I
+have been gone.'
+
+'No; we never see him unless he comes up to the gate there.' Then there
+was another pause for a moment. And what about Captain Aylmer?' asked
+Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Well what about him?'
+
+'He is the heir now?'
+
+'Yes he is the heir.'
+
+'And that is all?'
+
+'Yes; that is all. What more should there be? The poor old house at
+Perivale will be shut up, I suppose.'
+
+'I don't care about the old house much, as it is not to be your house.'
+
+'No it is not to be my house certainly.'
+
+'There were two ways in which it might have become yours.'
+
+'Though there were ten ways, none of those ways have come my way,' said
+Clara.
+
+'Of course I know that you are so close that though there were anything
+to tell you would not tell it.'
+
+'I think I would tell you anything that was proper to be told; but now
+there is nothing proper or improper.'
+
+'Was it proper or improper when Mr Belton made an offer to you as I
+knew he would do of course; as I told you that he would? Was that so
+improper that it could not be told?'
+
+Clara was aware that the tell-tale colour in her face at once took from
+her the possibility of even pretending that the allegation was untrue,
+and that in any answer she might give she must acknowledge the fact. 'I
+do not think,' she said, 'that it is considered fair to gentlemen to
+tell such stories as that.'
+
+'Then I can only say that the young ladies I have known are generally
+very unfair.'
+
+'But who told you?'
+
+'Who told me? My maid. Of course she got it from yours. Those things
+are always known.'
+
+'Poor Will!'
+
+'Poor Will, indeed. He is coming here again, I hear, almost
+immediately, and it needn't be "poor Will" unless you like it. But as
+for me, I am not going to be an advocate in his favour. I tell you
+fairly that I did not like what little I saw of poor Will.'
+
+'I like him of all things.'
+
+'You should teach him to be a little more courteous in his demeanour to
+ladies; that is all. I will tell you something else, too, about poor
+Will but not now. Some other day I will tell you something of your
+Cousin Will.'
+
+Clara did not care to ask any questions as to this something that was
+to be told, and therefore took her leave and went away.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MR WILLIAM BELTON TAKES A WALK IN THE COUNTRY
+
+Clara Amedroz had made one great mistake about her cousin, Will
+Belton, when she came to the conclusion that she might accept his
+proffered friendship without any apprehension that the friend would
+become a lover; and she made another, equally great, when she convinced
+herself that his love had been as short-lived as it had been eager.
+Throughout his journey back to Plaistow, he bad thought of nothing else
+but his love, and had resolved to persevere, telling himself sometimes
+that he might perhaps be successful, and feeling sure at other times
+that he would encounter renewed sorrow and permanent disappointment but
+equally resolved in either mood that he would persevere. Not to
+persevere in pursuit of any desired object let the object be what it
+might was, to his thinking, unmanly, weak, and destructive of
+self-respect. He would sometimes say of himself, joking with other men,
+that if he did not succeed in this or that thing, he could never speak
+to himself again. To no man did he talk of his love in such a strain as
+this; but there was a woman to whom he spoke of it; and though he could
+not joke on such a matter, the purport of what he said showed the same
+feeling. To be finally rejected, and to put up with such rejection,
+would make him almost contemptible in his own eyes.
+
+This woman was his sister, Mary Belton. Something has been already said
+of this lady, which the reader may perhaps remember. She was a year or
+two older than her brother, with whom she always lived, but she had
+none of those properties of youth which belonged to him in such
+abundance. She was, indeed, a poor cripple, unable to walk beyond the
+limits of her own garden, feeble in health, dwarfed in stature, robbed
+of all the ordinary enjoyments of life by physical deficiencies, which
+made even the task of living a burden to her. To eat was a pain, or at
+best a trouble. Sleep would not comfort her in bed, and weariness
+during the day made it necessary that the hours passed in bed should be
+very long. She was one of those whose lot in life drives us to marvel
+at the inequalities of human destiny, and to inquire curiously within
+ourselves whether future compensation is to be given.
+
+It is said of those who are small and crooked-backed in their bodies,
+that their minds are equally cross-grained and their tempers as
+ungainly as their stature. But no one had ever said this of Mary
+Belton. Her friends, indeed, were very few in number; but those who
+knew her well loved her as they knew her, and there were three or four
+persons in the world who were ready at all times to swear that she was
+faultless. It was the great happiness of her life that among those
+three or four her own brother was the foremost. Will Belton's love for
+his sister amounted almost to veneration, and his devotion to her was
+so great, that in all the affairs of his life he was prepared to make
+her comfort one of his first considerations. And she, knowing this, had
+come to fear that she might be an embargo on his prosperity, and a
+stumbling-block in the way of his success. It had occurred to her that
+he would have married earlier in life if she had not been, as it were,
+in his way; and she had threatened him playfully for she could be
+playful that he would leave him if he did not soon bring a mistress to
+Plaistow Hall. 'I will go to uncle Robert,' she had said. Now uncle
+Robert was the clergyman in Lincolnshire of whom mention has been made,
+and he was among those two or three who believed in Mary Belton with an
+implicit faith as was also his wife. ' I will go to uncle Robert, Will,
+and then you will be driven to get a wife.'
+
+'If my sister ever leaves my house, whether there be a wife in it or
+not,' Will had answered, 'I will never put trust in any woman again.'
+
+Plaistow Manor-house or Hall was a fine brick mansion, built in the
+latter days of Tudor house architecture, with many gables and countless
+high chimneys very picturesque to the eye, but not in all respects
+comfortable as are the modern houses of the well-to-do squirearchy of
+England. And, indeed, it was subject to certain objectionable
+characteristics which in some degree justified the scorn which Mr
+Amedroz intended to throw upon it when he declared it to be a
+farm-house. The gardens belonging to it were large and excellent; but
+they did not surround it, and allowed the farm appurtenances to come
+close up to it on two sides. The door which should have been the front
+door, opening from the largest room in the house, which had been the
+hall and which was now the kitchen, led directly into the farm-yard.
+From the farther end of this farm-yard a magnificent avenue of elms
+stretched across the home pasture down to a hedge which crossed it at
+the bottom. That there had been a road through the rows of trees or, in
+other words, that there had in truth been an avenue to the house on
+that side was, of course, certain. But now there was no vestige of such
+road, and the front entrance to Plaistow Hall was by a little path
+across the garden from a modern road which had been made to run cruelly
+near to the house. Such was Plaistow Hall, and such was its mistress.
+Of the master, the reader, I hope, already knows so much as to need no
+further description.
+
+As Belton drove himself home from the railway station late on that
+August night, he made up his mind that he would tell his sister all his
+story about Clara Amedroz. She had ever wished that he should marry,
+and now he had made his attempt. Little as had been her opportunity of
+learning the ways of men and women from experience in society, she had
+always seemed to him to know exactly what every one should do in every
+position of life. And she would be tender with him, giving him comfort
+even if she could not give him hope. Moreover Mary might be trusted
+with his secret; for Belton felt, as men always do feel, a great
+repugnance to have it supposed that his suit to a woman had been
+rejected. Women, when they have loved in vain, often almost wish that
+their misfortune should be known. They love to talk about their wounds
+mystically telling their own tales under feigned names, and extracting
+something of a bitter sweetness out of the sadness of their own
+romance. But a man, when he has been rejected rejected with a finality
+that is acknowledged by himself is unwilling to speak or hear a word
+upon the subject, and would willingly wash the episode out from his
+heart if it were possible.
+
+But not on that his first night would he begin to speak of Clara
+Amedroz. He would not let his sister believe that his heart was too
+full of the subject to allow of his thinking of other matters. Mary was
+still up, waiting for him when he arrived, with tea, and cream, and
+fruit ready for him. 'Oh, Mary!' he said, 'why are you not in bed? You
+know that I would have come to you upstairs.' She excused herself,
+smiling, declaring that she could not deny herself the pleasure of
+being with him for half an hour on his first return from his travels.
+'Of course I want to know what they are like,' she said.
+
+'He is a nice-looking old man,' said Will 'and she is a nice-looking
+young woman.'
+
+'That is graphic and short, at any rate.'
+
+'And he is weak and silly, but she is strong and and and'
+
+'Not silly also, I hope?'
+
+'Anything but that. I should say she is very clever.'
+
+'I'm afraid you don't like her, Will.'
+
+'Yes, I do.'
+
+'Really?'
+
+'Yes; really.'
+
+'And did she take your coming well?'
+
+'Very well. I think she is much obliged to me for going.'
+
+'And Mr Amedroz?'
+
+'He liked my coming too very much.'
+
+'What after that cold letter?
+
+'Yes, indeed. I shall explain it all by degrees. I have taken a lease
+of all the land, and I'm to go back at Christmas; and as to the old
+gentleman he'd have me live there altogether if I would.'
+
+'Why, Will?'
+
+'Is it not odd? I'm so glad I didn't make up my mind not to go when I
+got that letter. And yet I don't know.' These last words he added
+slowly, and in a low voice, and Mary at once knew that everything was
+not quite as it ought to be.
+
+'Is there anything wrong, Will?'
+
+'No, nothing wrong; that is to say, there is nothing to make me regret
+that I went. I think I did some good to them.'
+
+'It was to do good to them that you went there.'
+
+'They wanted to have some one near them who could be to them as one of
+their own family. He is too old too much worn out to be capable of
+managing things; and the people there were, of course, robbing him. I
+think I have put a stop to that.'
+
+'And you are to go again at Christmas?'
+
+'Yes; they can do without me at my uncle's, and you will be there. I
+have taken the land, and already bought some of the stock for it, and
+am going to buy more.'
+
+'I hope you won't lose money, Will.'
+
+'No not ultimately, that is. I shall get the place in good condition,
+and I shall have paid myself when he goes, in that way, if in no other.
+Besides, what's a little money? I owe it to them for robbing her of her
+inheritance.'
+
+'You do not rob her, Will.'
+
+'It is hard upon her, though.'
+
+'Does she feel it hard?'
+
+'Whatever may be her feelings on such a matter, she is a woman much too
+proud to show them.'
+
+'I wish I knew whether you liked her or not.'
+
+'I do like her I love her better than any one in the world; better even
+than you, Mary; for I have asked her to be my wife.'
+
+'Oh, Will!'
+
+'And she has refused me. Now you know the whole of it the whole history
+of what I have done while I have been away.' And he stood up before
+her, with his thumbs thrust into the arm-holes of his waistcoat, with
+something serious and almost solemn in his gait, in spite of a smile
+which played about his mouth.
+
+'Oh, Will!'
+
+'I meant to have told you, of course, Mary to have told you everything;
+but I did not mean to tell it to-night; only it has somehow fallen from
+me. Out of the full heart the mouth speaks, they say.'
+
+'I never can like her if she refuses your love.'
+
+'Why not? That is unlike you, Mary. Why should she be bound to love me
+because I love her?'
+
+'Is there any one else, Will?'
+
+'How can I tell? I did not ask her. I would not have asked her for the
+world, though I would have given the world to know.'
+
+'And she is so very beautiful?'
+
+'Beautiful! It isn't that so much though she is beautiful. But but I
+can't tell you why but she is the only girl that I ever saw who would
+suit me for a wife. Oh, dear!'
+
+'My own Will!'
+
+'But I'm not going to keep you up all night, Mary. And I'll tell you
+something else; I'm not going to break my heart for love. Arid I'll
+tell you something else again; I'm not going to give it up yet. I
+believe I've been a fool. Indeed, I know I've been a fool. I went about
+it just as if I were buying a horse, and had told the seller that that
+was my price he might take it or leave it. What right had I to suppose
+that any girl was to be had in that way; much less such a girl as Clara
+Amedroz?'
+
+'It would have been a great match for her.'
+
+'I'm not so sure of that, Mary. Her education has been different from
+mine, and it may well be that she should marry above me. But I swear I
+will not speak another word to you to-night. Tomorrow, if you're well
+enough, I'll talk to you all day.' Soon after that he did get her to go
+up to her room, though, of course, he broke that oath of his as to not
+speaking another word. After that he walked out by moonlight round the
+house, wandering about the garden and farm-yard, and down through the
+avenue, having in his own mind some pretence of the watchfulness of
+ownership, but thinking little of his property and much of his love.
+Here was a thing that he desired with all his heart, but it seemed to
+be out of his reach absolutely out of his reach. He was sick and weary
+with a feeling of longing sick with that covetousness wherewith Ahab
+coveted the vineyard of Naboth. What was the world to him if he could
+not have this thing on which he had set his heart? He had told his
+sister that he would not break his heart; and so much, he did not
+doubt, would be true. A man or woman with a broken heart was in his
+estimation a man or woman who should die of love; and he did not look
+for such a fate as that. But he experienced the palpable misery of a
+craving emptiness within his breast, and did believe of himself that he
+never could again be in comfort unless he could succeed with Clara
+Amedroz. He stood leaning against one of the trees, striking his hands
+together, and angry with himself at the weakness which had reduced him
+to such a state. What could any man be worth who was so little master
+of himself as he had now become?
+
+After awhile he made his way back through the farm-yard, and in at the
+kitchen door, which he locked and bolted; and then, throwing himself
+down into a wooden armchair which always stood there, in the corner of
+the huge hearth, he took a short pipe from the mantelpiece, filled it
+with tobacco, and lighting it almost unconsciously, began to smoke with
+vehemence.
+
+Plaistow Hall was already odious to him, and he longed to be back at
+Belton, which he had left only that morning. Yes, on that very morning
+she had brought to him his coffee, looking sweetly into his face so
+sweetly as she ministered to him. And he might then well have said one
+word more in pleading his suit, if he had not been too awkward to know
+what that word should be. And was it not his own awkwardness that had
+brought him to this state of misery? What right had he to suppose that
+any girl should fall in love with such a one as he at first sight
+without a moment's notice to her own heart? And then, when he had her
+there, almost in his arms, why had he let her go without kissing her?
+It seemed to him now that if he might have once kissed her, even that
+would have been a comfort to him in his present affliction. 'D  tion!'
+he said at last, as he jumped to his feet and kicked the chair on one
+side, and threw the pipe among the ashes. I trust it will be understood
+that he addressed himself, and not his lady-love, in this uncivil way
+'D  tion!' Then when the chair had been well kicked out of his way, he
+took himself up to bed. I wonder whether Clara's heart would have been
+hardened or softened towards him had she heard the oath, and understood
+all the thoughts and motives which had produced it.
+
+On the next morning poor Mary Belton was too ill to come down-stairs;
+and as her brother spent his whole day out upon the farm, remaining
+among reapers and wheat stacks till nine o'clock in the evening,
+nothing was said about Clara on that day. Then there came a Sunday, and
+it was a matter of course that the subject of which they both were
+thinking should be discussed. Will went to church, and, as was their
+custom on Sundays, they dined immediately on his return. Then, as the
+afternoon was very warm, he took her out to a favourite seat she had in
+the garden, and it became impossible that they could longer abstain.
+
+'And you really mean to go again at Christmas?' she asked.
+
+'Certainly I shall I promised.'
+
+'Then I am sure you will.'
+
+'And I must go from time to time because of the land I have taken.
+Indeed there seems to be an understanding that I am to manage the
+property for Mr Amedroz.'
+
+'And does she wish you to go?'
+
+'Yes she says so.'
+
+'Girls, I believe, think sometimes that men are indifferent in their
+love. They suppose that a man can forget it at once when he is not
+accepted, and that things can go on just as before.'
+
+'I suppose she thinks so of me,' said Belton wofully.
+
+'She must either think that, or else be willing to give herself the
+chance of learning to like you better.'
+
+'There's nothing of that, I'm sure. She's as true as steel.'
+
+'But she would hardly want you to go there unless she thought you might
+overcome either your love or her indifference. She would not wish you
+to be there that you might be miserable.'
+
+'Before I had asked her to be my wife I had promised to be her brother.
+And so I will, if she should ever want a brother. I am not going to
+desert her because she will not do what I want her to do, or be what I
+want her to be. She understands that. There is to be no quarrel between
+us.'
+
+'But she would be heartless if she were to encourage you to be with her
+simply for the assistance you may give her, knowing at the same time
+that you could not be happy in her presence.'
+
+'She is not heartless.'
+
+'Then she must suppose that you are.'
+
+'I dare say she doesn't think that I care much about it. When I told
+her, I did it all of a heap, you see; and I fancy she thought I was
+just mad at the time.'
+
+'And did you speak about it again?'
+
+'No; not a word. I shouldn't wonder if she hadn't forgotten it before I
+went away.'
+
+'That would be impossible.'
+
+'You wouldn't say so if you knew how it was done. It was all over in
+half an hour; and she had given me such an answer that I thought I had
+no right to say anything more about it. The morning when I left her she
+did seem to be kinder.'
+
+'I wish I knew whether she cares for any one else.'
+
+'Ah! I so often think of that. But I couldn't ask her, you know. I had
+no right to pry into her secrets. When I came away, she got up to see
+me off; and I almost felt tempted to carry her into the gig and drive
+her off.'
+
+'I don't think that would have done, Will.'
+
+'I don't suppose anything will do. We all know what happens to the
+child who cries for the top brick of the chimney. The child has to do
+without it. The child goes to bed and forgets it; but I go to bed  and
+can't forget it.'
+
+'My poor Will!'
+
+Then he got up and shook himself, and stalked about the garden always
+keeping within a few yards of his sister's chair and carried on a
+strong battle within his breast, struggling to get the better of the
+weakness which his love produced, though resolved that the love itself
+should be maintained.
+
+'I wish it wasn't Sunday,' he said at last, 'because then I could go
+and do something. If I thought that no one would see me, I'd fill a
+dung-cart or two, even though it is Sunday. I'll tell you what I'll go
+and take a walk as far as Denvir Sluice; and I'll be hack to tea. You
+won't mind?'
+
+'Denvir Sluice is eight miles off.'
+
+'Exactly I'll be there and back in something over three hours.'
+
+'But, Will there's a broiling sun.'
+
+'It will do me good. Anything that will take something out of me is
+what I want. I know I ought to stay and read to you; but I couldn't do
+it. I've got the fidgets inside, if you know what that means. To have
+the big hay-rick on fire, or something of that sort, is what would do
+me most good.'
+
+Then he started, and did walk to Denvir Sluice and back in three hours.
+The road from Plaistow Hall to Denvir Sluice was not in itself
+interesting. It ran through a perfectly flat country, without a tree.
+For the greater part of the way it was constructed on the top of a
+great bank by the side of a broad dike, and for five miles its course
+was straight as a line. A country walk less picturesque could hardly be
+found in England. The road, too, was very dusty, and the sun was hot
+above Belton's head as he walked. But nevertheless, he persevered,
+going on till he struck his stick against the waterfall which was
+called Denvir Sluice, and then returned not once slackening his pace,
+and doing the whole distance at a rate somewhat above five miles an
+hour. They used to say in the nursery that cold pudding is good to
+settle a man's love; but the receipt which Belton tried was a walk of
+sixteen miles, along a dusty road, after dinner, in the middle of an
+August day.
+
+I think it did him some good. When he got back he took a long draught
+of home-brewed beer, and then went upstairs to dress himself.
+
+'What a state you are in,' Mary said to him when he showed himself for
+a moment in the sitting. room.
+
+'I did it from milestone to milestone in eleven minutes, backwards and
+forwards, all along the five- mile reach.'
+
+Then Mary knew from his answer that the exercise had been of service to
+him, perceiving that he had been able to take an interest in his own
+prowess as a walker.
+
+'I only hope you won't have a fever,' she said.
+
+'The people who stand still are they who get fevers,' he answered.
+'Hard work never does harm to any one. If John Bowden would walk his
+five miles an hour on a Sunday afternoon he wouldn't have the gout so
+often.'
+
+John Bowden was a neighbour in the next parish, and Mary was delighted
+to find that her brother could take a pride in his performance.
+
+By degrees Miss Belton began to know with some accuracy the way in
+which Will had managed his affairs at Belton Castle, and was enabled to
+give him salutary advice.
+
+'You see, Will,' she said, 'ladies are different from men in this, that
+they cannot allow themselves to be in love so suddenly.'
+
+'I don't see how a person is to help it. It isn't like jumping into a
+river, which a person can do or not, just as he pleases.'
+
+'But I fancy it is something like jumping into a river, and that a
+person can help it. What the person can't help is being in when the
+plunge has once been made.'
+
+'No, by George! There's no getting out of that river.'
+
+'And ladies don't take the plunge till they've had time to think what
+may come after it. Perhaps you were a little too sudden with our Cousin
+Clara?'
+
+'Of course I was. Of course I was a fool, and a brute too.'
+
+'I know you were not a brute, and I don't think you were a fool; but
+yet you were too sudden. You see a lady cannot always make up her mind
+to love a man, merely because she is asked all in a moment. She should
+have a little time to think about it before she is called upon for an
+answer.'
+
+'And I didn't give her two minutes.'
+
+'You never do give two minutes to anyone do you, Will? But you'll be
+back there at Christmas, and then she will have had time to turn it
+over in her mind.'
+
+'And you think that I may have a chance?'
+
+'Certainly you may have a chance.'
+
+'Although she was so sure about it?'
+
+'She spoke of her own mind and her own heart as she knew them then. But
+it depends chiefly on this, Will whether there is any one else. For
+anything we know, she may be engaged now.'
+
+'Of course she may.' Then Belton speculated on the extreme probability
+of such a contingency; arguing within his own heart that of course
+every unmarried man who might see Clara would want to marry her, and
+that there could not but be some one whom even she would be able to
+love.
+
+When he had been home about a fortnight, there came a letter to him
+from Clara, which was a great treasure to him. In truth, it simply told
+him of the completion of the cattle-shed, of her father's health, and
+of the milk which the little cow gave; but she signed herself his
+affectionate cousin, and the letter was very gratifying to him. There
+were two lines of a postscript, which could not but flatter him: 'Papa
+is so anxious for Christmas, that you may be here again and so, indeed,
+am I also.' Of course it will be understood that this was written
+before Clara's visit to Perivale, and before Mrs Winterfield's death.
+Indeed, much happened in Clara's history between the writing of that
+letter and Will Belton's winter visit to the Castle.
+
+But Christmas came at last, all too slowly for Will and he started on
+his journey. On this occasion he arranged to stay a week in London,
+having a lawyer there whom he desired to see; and thinking, perhaps,
+that a short time spent among the theatres might assist him in his love
+troubles.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MR WILLIAM BELTON TAKES A WALK IN LONDON
+
+At the time of my story there was a certain Mr Green, a worthy
+attorney, who held chambers in Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, much to
+the profit of himself and family and to the profit and comfort also of
+a numerous body of clients a man much respected in the neighbourhood of
+Chancery Lane, and beloved, I do not doubt, in the neighbourhood of
+Bushey, in which delightfully rural parish he was possessed of a
+genteel villa and ornamental garden. With Mr Green's private residence
+we shall, I believe, have no further concern; but to him at his
+chambers in Stone Buildings I must now introduce the reader of these
+memoirs. He was a man not yet forty years of age, with still much of
+the salt of youth about him, a pleasant companion as well as a good
+lawyer, and one who knew men and things in London, as it is given to
+pleasant clever fellows, such as Joseph Green, to know them. Now Mr
+Green and his father before him had been the legal advisers of the
+Amedroz family, and our Mr Joseph Green had had but a bad time of it
+with Charles Amedroz in the last years of that unfortunate young man's
+life. But lawyers endure these troubles, submitting themselves to the
+extravagances, embarrassments, and even villainy of the bad subjects
+among their clients' families, with a good-humoured patience that is
+truly wonderful. That, however, was all over now as regarded Mr Green
+and the Amedrozes, and he had nothing further to do but to save for the
+father what relics of the property he might secure. And he was also
+legal adviser to our friend Will Belton, there having been some old
+family connexion among them, and had often endeavoured to impress upon
+his old client at Belton Castle his own strong conviction that the heir
+was a generous fellow, who might be trusted in everything. But this had
+been taken amiss by the old squire, who, indeed, was too much disposed
+to take all things amiss and to suspect everybody. 'I understand,' he
+had said to his daughter. 'I know all about it. Belton and Mr Green
+have been dear friends always. I can't trust my own lawyer any longer.'
+In all which the old squire showed much ingratitude. It will, however,
+be understood that these suspicions were rife before the time of
+Belton's visit to the family estate.
+
+Some four or five days before Christmas there came a visitor to Mr
+Green with whom the reader is acquainted, and who was no less a man
+than the Member for Perivale. Captain Aylmer, when Clara parted from
+him on the morning of her return to Belton Castle, had resolved that he
+would repeat his offer of marriage by letter. A month had passed by
+since then, and he had not as yet repeated it. But his intention was
+not altered. He was a deliberate man, who did not do such things quite
+as quickly as his rival, and who upon this occasion had thought it
+prudent to turn over more than once in his mind all that he proposed to
+do. Nor had he as yet taken any definite steps as to that fifteen
+hundred pounds which he had promised to Clara in her aunt's name, and
+which Clara had been, and was, so unwilling to receive. He had now
+actually paid it over, having purchased government stock in Clara's
+name for the amount, and had called upon Mr Green, in order that that
+gentleman, as Clara's lawyer, might make the necessary communication to
+her.
+
+'I suppose there's nothing further to be done?' asked Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Nothing further by me,' said the lawyer. 'Of course I shall write to
+her, and explain that she must make arrangements as to the interest. I
+am very glad that her aunt thought of her in her last moments.'
+
+'Mrs Winterfield would have provided for her before, had she known that
+everything had been swallowed up by that unfortunate young man.'
+
+'All's well that ends well. Fifteen hundred pounds are better than
+nothing.'
+
+'Is it not enough?' said the captain, blushing.
+
+'It isn't for me to have an opinion about that, Captain Aylmer. It
+depends on the nature of her claim; and that again depends on the
+relative position of the aunt and niece when they were alive together.'
+
+'You are aware that Miss Amedroz was not Mrs Winterfield's niece?'
+
+'Do not think for a moment that I am criticizing the amount of the
+legacy. I am very glad of it, as, without it, there was literally no
+provision no provision at all.'
+
+'You will write to herself?'
+
+'Oh yes, certainly to herself. She is a better man of business than her
+father and then this is her own, to do as she likes with it.'
+
+'She can't refuse it, I suppose?'
+
+'Refuse it!'
+
+'Even though she did not wish to take it, it would be legally her
+property, just as though it had been really left by the will?'
+
+'Well; I don't know. I dare say you could have resisted the payment.
+But that has been made now, and there seems to be an end of it.'
+
+At this moment a clerk entered the room and handed a card to his
+employer. 'Here's the heir himself,' said Mr Green.
+
+'What heir?
+
+'Will Belton the heir of the property which Mr Amedroz holds.' Captain
+Aylmer had soon explained that he was not personally acquainted with Mr
+William Belton; but, having heard much about him, declared himself
+anxious to make the acquaintance. Our friend Will, therefore, was
+ushered into the room, and the two rivals for Clara's favour were
+introduced to each other. Each had heard much of the other, and each
+had heard of the other from the same person. But Captain Aylmer knew
+much more as to Belton than Belton knew in respect to him. Aylmer knew
+that Belton had proposed to Clara and had been rejected; and he knew
+also that Belton was now again going down to Somersetshire.
+
+'You are to spend your Christmas, I believe, with our friends at Belton
+Castle?' said the captain.
+
+'Yes and am now on my way there. I believe you know them also
+intimately.' Then there was some explanation as to the Winterfield
+connexion, a few remarks as to the precarious state of the old squire's
+health, a message or two from Captain Aylmer, which of course were of
+no importance, and the captain took his leave.
+
+Then Green and Briton became very comfortably intimate in their
+conversation, calling each other Will and Joe for they were old and
+close friends. And they discussed matters in that cozy tone of
+confidential intercourse which is so directly at variance with the
+tones used by men when they ordinarily talk of business. 'He has
+brought me good news for your friend, Miss Amedroz,' said the lawyer.
+
+'What good news?'
+
+'That aunt of hers left her fifteen hundred pounds, after all. Or
+rather, she did not leave it, but desired on her death-bed that it
+might be given.'
+
+'That's the same thing, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh quite that is to say, it's the same thing if the person who has to
+hand over the money does not dispute the legacy. But it shows how the
+old lady's conscience pricked her at last. And after all it was a
+shabby sum, and should have been three times as much.'
+
+'Fifteen hundred pounds! And that is all she will have when her father
+dies 7'
+
+'Every farthing, Will. You'll take all the rest.'
+
+'I wish she wasn't going to have that.'
+
+'Why? Why on earth should you of all men grudge her such a moderate
+maintenance, seeing that you have not got to pay it?'
+
+'It isn't a maintenance. How could it be a maintenance for such as her?
+What sort of maintenance would it be?'
+
+'Much better than nothing. And so you would feel if she were your
+daughter.'
+
+'She shall be my daughter, or my sister, or whatever you like to call
+her. You don't think that I'll take the whole estate and leave her to
+starve on the interest of fifteen hundred pounds a year!'
+
+'You'd better make her your wife at once, Will.'
+
+Will Belton blushed as he answered, 'That, perhaps, would be easier
+said than done. That is not in my power even if I should wish it. But
+the other is in my power.'
+
+'Will, take my advice, and don't make any romantic promises when you
+are down at Belton. You'll be sure to regret them if you do. And you
+should remember that in truth Miss Amedroz has no greater claim on you
+than any other lady in the land.'
+
+'Isn't she my cousin?'
+
+'Well yes. She is your cousin, but a distant one only; and I'm not
+aware that cousinship gives any claim.'
+
+'Who is she to have a claim on? I'm the nearest she has got. Besides,
+am not I going to take all the property which ought to be hers?'
+
+'That's just it. There's no such ought in the case. The property is as
+much your own as this poker is mine. That's exactly the mistake I want
+you to guard against. If you liked her, and chose to marry her, that
+would be all very well; presuming that you don't want to get money in
+marriage.'
+
+'I hate the idea of marrying for money.'
+
+'All right. Then marry Miss Amedroz if you please. But don't make any
+rash undertakings to be her father, or her brother, or her uncle, or
+her aunt. Such romance always leads a man into trouble.'
+
+'But I've done it already.'
+
+'What do you mean?'
+
+'I've told her that I would be her brother, and that as long as I had a
+shilling she should never want sixpence. And I mean it. And as for what
+you say about romance and repenting it, that simply comes from your
+being a lawyer.'
+
+'Thank ye, Will.'
+
+'If one goes to a chemist, of course one gets physic, and has to put up
+with the bad smells.'
+
+'Thank you again.'
+
+'But the chemist may be a very good sort of fellow at home all the
+same, and have a cupboard full of sweetmeats and a garden full of
+flowers. However, the thing is done as far as I am concerned, and I can
+almost find it in my heart to be sorry that Clara has got this driblet
+of money. Fifteen hundred pounds I It would keep her out of the
+workhouse, and that is about all.'
+
+'If you knew how many ladies in her position would think that the
+heavens had rained wealth upon them if some one would give them fifteen
+hundred pounds!'
+
+'Very well. At any rate I won't take it away from her. And now I want
+you to tell me something else. Do you remember a fellow we used to know
+named Berdmore?'
+
+'Philip Berdmore?'
+
+'He may have been Philip, or Daniel, or Jeremiah, for anything I know.
+But the man I mean was very much given to taking his liquor freely.'
+
+'That was Jack Berdmore, Philip's brother. Oh yes, I remember him. He's
+dead now. He drank himself to death at last, out in India.'
+
+'He was in the army?'
+
+'Yes and what a pleasant fellow he was at times! I see Phil constantly,
+and Phil's wife, but they never speak of Jack.'
+
+'He got married, didn't he, after we used to see him?'
+
+Oh yes he and Phil married sisters. It was a sad affair, that.'
+
+'I remember being with him and her and the sister too, after they were
+engaged, and he got so drunk that we were obliged to take him away.
+There was a large party of us at Richmond, but I don't think you were
+there.'
+
+'But I heard of it'
+
+'And she was a Miss Vigo?'
+
+'Exactly. I see the younger sister constantly. Phil isn't very rich,
+and he's got a lot of children but he's very happy.'
+
+'What became of the other sister?
+
+'Of Jack's wife?'
+
+'Yes. What became of her?'
+
+'I haven't an idea. Something bad, I suppose, as they never speak of
+her.'
+
+'And how long is he dead?'
+
+'He died about three years since. I only knew it from Phil's telling me
+that he was in mourning for him. Then he did speak of him for a moment
+or two, and I came to know that he had carried on to the end in the
+same way. If a fellow takes to drink in this country, he'll never get
+cured in India.'
+
+'I suppose not.'
+
+'Never.'
+
+'And now I want to find out something about his widow.'
+
+'And why?'
+
+'Ah I'm not sure that I can tell you why. Indeed I'm sure that I
+cannot. But still you might be able to assist me.'
+
+'There were heaps of people who used to know the Vigos,' said the
+lawyer.
+
+'No end of people though I couldn't for the life of me say who any of
+them were.'
+
+'They used to come out in London with an aunt, but nobody knew much
+about her. I fancy they had neither father nor mother.'
+
+'They were very pretty.'
+
+'And how well they danced. I don't think I ever knew a girl who danced
+so pleasantly giving herself no airs, you know as Mary Vigo.'
+
+'Her name was Mary,' said Belton, remembering that Mrs Askerton's name
+was also Mary.
+
+'Jack Berdmore married Mary.'
+
+'Well now, Joe, you must find out for me what became of her. Was she
+with her husband when he died?'
+
+'Nobody was with him. Phil told me so. No one, that is, but a young
+lieutenant and his own servant. It was very sad. He had D.T., and all
+that sort of thing.'
+
+'And where was she?'
+
+'At Jericho, for anything that I know.'
+
+'Will you find out?' Then Mr Joseph Green thought for a moment of his
+capabilities in that line, and having made an engagement to dine with
+his friend at his club on the evening before Will left London, said at
+last that he thought he could find out through certain mutual friends
+who had known the Berdmores in the old days. 'But the fact is,' said
+the lawyer, 'that the world is so good- natured instead of being
+ill-natured, as people say that it always forgets those who want to be
+forgotten.'
+
+We must now go back for a few moments to Captain Aylmer and his
+affairs. Having given a full month to the consideration of his position
+as regarded Miss Amedroz, he made up his mind to two things. In the
+first place, he would at once pay over to her the money which was to be
+hers as her aunt's legacy, and then he would renew his offer. To that
+latter determination he was guided by mixed motives by motives which,
+when joined together, rarely fail to be operative. His conscience told
+him that he ought to do so and then the fact of her having, as it were,
+taken herself away from him, made him again wish to possess her. And
+there was another cause which, perhaps, operated in the same direction.
+He had consulted his mother, and she had strongly advised him to have
+nothing further to do with Miss Amedroz. Lady Aylmer abused her dead
+sister heartily for having interfered in the matter, and endeavoured to
+prove to her son that he was released from his promise by having in
+fact performed it. But on this point his conscience interfered backed
+by his wishes and he made his resolve as has been above stated. On
+leaving Mr Green's chambers he went to his own lodgings, and wrote his
+letter as follows:
+
+
+
+'Mount Street, December, 186
+
+Dearest Clara,
+
+When you parted from me at Perivale you said certain things about our
+engagement which I have come to understand better since then, than I
+did at the time. It escaped from me that my dear aunt and I had had
+some conversation about you, and that I had told her what was my
+intention. Something was said about a promise, and I think it was that
+word which made you unhappy. At such a time as that when I and my aunt
+were talking together, and when she was, as she well knew, on her
+deathbed, things will be said which would not be thought of in other
+circumstances. I can only assure you now, that the promise I gave her
+was a promise to do that which I had previously resolved upon doing. If
+you can believe what I say on this head, that ought to be sufficient to
+remove the feeling which induced you to break our engagement.
+
+I now write to renew my offer to you, and to assure you that I do so
+with my whole heart. You will forgive me if I tell you that I cannot
+fail to remember, and always to bear in my mind, the sweet assurances
+which you gave me of your regard for myself. As I do not know that
+anything has occurred to alter your opinion of me, I write this letter
+in strong hope that it may be successful. I believe that your fear was
+in respect to my affection for you, not as to yours for me. If this was
+so, I can assure you that there is no necessity for such fear.
+
+I need not tell you that I shall expect your answer with great anxiety.
+
+Yours most affectionately,
+
+F. F. AYLMER.
+
+P.S. I have today caused to be bought in your name Bank Stock to the
+amount of fifteen hundred pounds, the amount of the legacy coming to
+you from my aunt.'
+
+
+
+This letter, and that from Mr Green respecting the money, both reached
+Clara on the same morning. Now, having learned so much as to the
+position of affairs at Belton Castle, we may return to Will and his
+dinner engagement with Mr Joseph Green.
+
+'And what have you heard about Mrs Berdmore?' Belton asked, almost as
+soon as the two men wore together.
+
+'I wish I knew why you want to know.'
+
+'I don't want to do anybody any harm.'
+
+'Do you want to do anybody any good?'
+
+'Any good! I can't say that I want to do any particular good. The truth
+is, I think I know where she is, and that she is living under a false
+name.'
+
+'Then you know more of her than I do.'
+
+'I don't know anything. I'm only in doubt. But as the lady I mean lives
+near to friends of mine, I should like to know.'
+
+'That you may expose her?'
+
+'No by no means. But I hate the idea of deceit. The truth is, that any
+one living anywhere under a false name should be exposed or should be
+made to assume their right name.'
+
+'I find that Mrs Berdmore left her husband some years before he died.
+There was nothing in that to create wonder, for he was a man with whom
+a woman could hardly continue to live. But I fear she left him under
+protection that was injurious to her character.
+
+'And how long ago is that?'
+
+'I do not know. Some years before his death.'
+
+'And how long ago did he die?'
+
+'About three years since. My informant tells me that he believes she
+has since married. Now you know all that I know.' And Belton also knew
+that Mrs Askerton of the cottage was the Miss Vigo with whom he had
+been acquainted in earlier years.
+
+After that they dined comfortably, and nothing passed between them
+which need be recorded as essential to our story till the time came for
+them to part. Then, when they were both standing at the club door, the
+lawyer said a word or two which is essential. 'So you're off tomorrow?'
+said he.
+
+'Yes; I shall go down by the express.'
+
+'I wish you a pleasant journey. By the by, I ought to tell you that you
+won't have any trouble in being either father or mother, or uncle or
+aunt to Miss Amedroz.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'I suppose it's no secret.'
+
+'What's no secret?
+
+'She's going to be married to Captain Aylmer.'
+
+Then Will Belton started so violently, and assumed on a sudden so
+manifest a look of anger, that his tale was at once told to Mr Green.
+'Who says so?' he asked. 'I don't believe it.'
+
+'I'm afraid it's true all the same, Will.'
+
+'Who says it?'
+
+'Captain Aylmer was with me today, and he told me. He ought to be good
+authority on such a subject.'
+
+'He told you that he was going to marry Clara Amedroz?'
+
+'Yes, indeed.'
+
+'And what made him come to you, to tell you?'
+
+'There was a question about some money which he had paid to her, and
+which, under existing circumstances, he thought it as well that he
+should not pay. Matters of that kind are often necessarily told to
+lawyers. But I should not have told it to you, Will, if I had not
+thought that it was good news.'
+
+'It is not good news,' said Belton moodily.
+
+'At any rate, old fellow, my telling it will do no harm. You must have
+learned it soon.' And he put his hand kindly almost tenderly, on the
+other's arm. But Belton moved himself away angrily. The wound had been
+so lately inflicted that he could not as yet forgive the hand that had
+seemed to strike him.
+
+'I'm sorry that it should be so bad with you, Will.'
+
+'What do you mean by bad? It is not bad with me. it is very well with
+me. Keep your pity for those who want it.' Then he walked off by
+himself across the broad street before the club door, leaving his
+friend without a word of farewell, and made his way up into St. James's
+Square, choosing, as was evident to Mr Green, the first street that
+would take him out of sight.
+
+'He's hit, and hit hard,' said the lawyer, looking after him. 'Poor
+fellow! I might have guessed it from what he said. I never knew of his
+caring for any woman before.' Then Mr Green put on his gloves and went
+away home.
+
+We will now follow Will Belton into St. James's Square, and we shall
+follow a very unhappy gentleman. Doubtless he had hitherto known and
+appreciated the fact that Miss Amedroz had refused his offer, and had
+often declared, both to himself and to his sister, his conviction that
+that refusal would never be reversed. But, in spite of that expressed
+conviction, he had lived on hope. Till she belonged to another man she
+might yet be his. He might win her at last by perseverance. At any rate
+he had it in his power to work towards the desired end, and might find
+solace even in that working. And the misery of his loss would not be so
+great to him as he found himself forced to confess to himself before he
+had completed his wanderings on this night in not having her for his
+own, as it would be in knowing that she had given herself to another
+man. He had often told himself that of course she would become the wife
+of some man, but he had never yet realized to himself what it would be
+to know that she was the wife of any one specified rival. He had been
+sad enough on that moonlight night in the avenue at Plaistow when he
+had leaned against the tree, striking his hands together as he thought
+of his great want; but his unhappiness then had been as nothing to his
+agony now. Now it was all over and he knew the man who had supplanted
+him.
+
+How he hated him! With what an unchristian spirit did he regard that
+worthy captain as he walked across St. James's Square, across Jermyn
+Street, across Piccadilly, and up Bond Street, not knowing whither he
+was going. He thought with an intense regret of the laws of modern
+society which forbid duelling forgetting altogether that even had the
+old law prevailed, the conduct of the man whom he so hated would have
+afforded him no casus belli. But he was too far gone in misery and
+animosity to be capable of any reason on the matter. Captain Aylmer had
+interfered with his dearest wishes, and during this now passing hour he
+would willingly have crucified Captain Aylmer had it been within his
+power to do so. Till he had gone beyond Oxford Street, and had wandered
+away into the far distance of Portman Square and Baker Street, he had
+not begun to think of any interest which Clara Amedroz might have in
+the matter on which his thoughts were employed. He was sojourning at an
+hotel in Bond Street, and had gone thitherwards more by habit than by
+thought; but he had passed the door of his inn, feeling it to be
+impossible to render himself up to his bed in his present disturbed
+mood. As he was passing the house in Bond Street he had been intent on
+the destruction of Captain Aylmer and had almost determined that if
+Captain Aylmer could not be made to vanish into eternity, he must make
+up his mind to go that road himself.
+
+It was out of the question that he should go down to Belton. As to that
+he had come to a very decided opinion by the time that he had crossed
+Oxford Street. Go down to see her, when she had treated him after this
+fashion I No, indeed. She wanted no brother now. She had chosen to
+trust herself to this other man, and he, Will Belton, would not
+interfere further in her affairs. Then he drew upon his imagination for
+a picture of the future, in which he portrayed Captain Aylmer as a
+ruined man, who would probably desert his wife, and make himself
+generally odious to all his acquaintance a picture as to the
+realization of which I am bound to say that Captain Aylmer's
+antecedents gave no probability. But it was the looking at this
+self-drawn picture which first softened the artist's heart towards the
+victim whom he had immolated on his imaginary canvas. When Clara should
+be ruined by the baseness and villainy and general scampishness of this
+man whom she was going to marry to whom she was about to be weak enough
+and fool enough to trust herself then he would interpose and be her
+brother once again a broken-hearted brother no doubt, but a brother
+efficacious to keep the wolf from the door of this poor woman and her
+children. Then, as he thus created Captain Aylmer's embryo family of
+unprovided orphans for after a while he killed the captain, making him
+to die some death that was very disgraceful, but not very distinct even
+to his own imagination as he thought of those coming pledges of a love
+which was to him so bitter, he stormed about the streets, performing
+antics of which no one would have believed him capable who had known
+him as the thriving Mr William Belton, of Plaistow Hall, among the fens
+of Norfolk.
+
+But the character of a man is not to be judged from the pictures which
+he may draw or from the antics which he may play in his solitary hours.
+Those who act generally with the most consummate wisdom in the affairs
+of the world, often meditate very silly doings before their wiser
+resolutions form themselves. I beg, therefore, that Mr Belton may be
+regarded and criticized in accordance with his conduct on the following
+morning when his midnight rambles, which finally took him even beyond
+the New Road, had been followed by a few tranquil hours in his Bond
+Street bedroom for at last he did bring himself to return thither and
+put himself to bed after the usual fashion. He put himself to bed in a
+spirit somewhat tranquillized by the exercise of the night, and at last
+wept himself to sleep like a baby.
+
+But he was by no means like a baby when he took him early on the
+following morning to the Paddington Station, and booked himself
+manfully for Taunton. He had had time to recognize the fact that he had
+no ground of quarrel with his cousin because she had preferred another
+man to him. This had happened to him as he was recrossing the New Road
+about two o'clock, and was beginning to find that his legs were weary
+under him. And, indeed, he had recognized one or two things before he
+had gone to sleep with his tears dripping on to his pillow. In the
+first place, he had ill-treated Joe Green, and had made a fool of
+himself in his friend's presence. As Joe Green was a sensible, kind-
+hearted fellow, this did not much signify but not on that account did
+be omit to tell himself of his own fault. Then he discovered that it
+would ill become him to break his word to Mr Amedroz and to his
+daughter, and to do so without a word of excuse, because Clara had
+exercised a right which was indisputably her own. He had undertaken
+certain work at Belton which required his presence, and he would go
+down and do his work as though nothing had occurred to disturb him. To
+remain away because of this misfortune would be to show the white
+feather. It would be unmanly. All this he recognized as the pictures he
+had painted faded away from their canvases. As to Captain Aylmer
+himself, he hoped that he might never be called upon to meet him. He
+still hoped that, even as he was resolutely cramming his shirts into
+his portmanteau before he began his journey. His Cousin Clara he
+thought he could meet, and tender to her some expression of good wishes
+as to her future life, without giving way under the effort. And to the
+old squire he could endeavour to make himself pleasant, speaking of the
+relief from all trouble which this marriage with Captain Aylmer would
+afford for now, in his cooler moments, be could perceive that Captain
+Aylmer was not a man apt to ruin himself, or his wife and children. But
+to Captain Aylmer himself, he could not bring himself to say pleasant
+things or to express pleasant wishes. She who was to be Captain
+Aylmer's wife, who loved him, would of course have told him what had
+occurred up among the rocks in Belton Park; and if that was so, any
+meeting between Will and Captain Aylmer would be death to the former.
+
+Thinking of all this he journeyed down to Taunton, and thinking of all
+this he made his way from Taunton across to Belton Park.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+EVIL WORDS
+
+Clara Amedroz had received her two letters together that, namely, from
+the attorney, and that from Captain Aylmer and the result of those
+letters is already known. She accepted her lover's renewed offer of
+marriage, acknowledging the force of his logic, and putting faith in
+the strength of his assurances. This she did without seeking advice
+from any one. Who was there from whom she could seek advice on such a
+matter as that who, at least, was there at Belton? That her father
+would, as a matter of course, bid her accept Captain Aylmer, was, she
+thought, certain; and she knew well that Mrs Askerton would do the
+same. She asked no counsel from any one, but taking the two letters up
+to her own room, sat down to consider them. That which referred to her
+aunt's money, together with the postscript in Captain Aylmer's letter
+on the same subject, would be of the least possible moment if she could
+bring herself to give a favourable answer to the other proposition. But
+should she not be able to do this should she hesitate as to doing so at
+once then she must write to the lawyer in very strong terms, refusing
+altogether to have anything to do with the money. And in such a case as
+this, not a word could she say to her father either on one subject or
+on the other.
+
+But why should she not accept the offer made to her? Captain Aylmer
+declared that he had determined to ask her to be his wife before he had
+made any promise to Mrs Winterfield. If this were in truth so, then the
+very ground on which she had separated herself from him would be
+removed. Why should she hesitate in acknowledging to herself that she
+loved the man and believed him to be true? So she sat herself down and
+answered both the letters writing to the lawyer first. To him she said
+that nothing need be done about the money or the interest till he
+should see or hear from Captain Aylmer again. Then to Captain Aylmer
+she wrote very shortly, but very openly with the same ill-judged
+candour which her spoken words to him had displayed. Of course she
+would be his; his without hesitation, now that she knew that he
+expressed his own wishes, and not merely those of his aunt. 'As to the
+money,' she said, 'it would be simply nonsense now for us to have any
+talk of money. It is yours in any way, and you had better manage about
+it as you please. I have written an ambiguous letter to Mr Green, which
+will simply plague him, and which you may go and see if you like.' Then
+she added her postscript, in which she said that she should now at once
+tell her father, as the news would remove from his mind all solicitude
+as to her future position. That Captain Aylmer did go to Mr Green we
+already know, and we know also that he told Mr Green of his intended
+marriage.
+
+Nothing was said by Captain Aylmer as to any proposed period for their
+marriage; but that was only natural. It was not probable that any man
+would name a day till he knew whether or not he was accepted. Indeed,
+Clara, on thinking over the whole affair, was now disposed to find
+fault rather with herself than with her lover, and forgetting his
+coldness and formality at Perivale, remembered only the fact of his
+offer to her, and his assurance now received that he had intended to
+make it before the scene which had taken place between him and his
+aunt. She did find fault with herself, telling herself that she had
+quarrelled with him without sufficient cause and the eager loving
+candour of her letter to him was attributable to those self-accusations.
+
+'Papa,' she said, after the postman had gone away from Belton, so that
+there might be no possibility of any recall of her letter, 'I have
+something to tell you which I hope will give you pleasure.'
+
+'It isn't often that I hear anything of that kind,' said he.
+
+'But I think that this will give you pleasure. I do indeed. I am going
+to be married.'
+
+'Going to what?'
+
+'Going to be married, papa. That is, if I have your leave. Of course
+any offer of that kind that I have accepted is subject to your
+approval.'
+
+'And I have been told nothing about it!'
+
+'It began at Perivale, and I could not tell you then. You do not ask me
+who is to be my husband.'
+
+'It is not Will Belton?'
+
+'Poor Will! No; it is not Will. It is Frederic Aylmer. I think you
+would prefer him as a son-in-law even to my Cousin Will.'
+
+'No I shouldn't. Why should I prefer a man whom I don't even know, who
+lives in London, and who will take you away, so that I shall never see
+you again?'
+
+'Dear papa don't speak of it in that way. I thought you would be glad
+to know that I was to be so so so happy!'
+
+'But why is it to be done this way of a sudden? Why didn't he come to
+me? Will came to me the very first thing.'
+
+'He couldn't come all the way to Belton very well particularly as he
+does not know you.'
+
+'Will came here.'
+
+'Oh, papa, don't make difficulties. Of course that was different. He
+was here when he first thought of it. And even then he didn't think
+very much about it.'
+
+'He did all that he could, I suppose?'
+
+'Well yes. I don't know how that might be.' And Clara almost laughed as
+she felt the difficulties into which she was creeping. 'Dear Will. He
+is much better as a cousin than as a husband.'
+
+'I don't see that at all. Captain Aylmer will not have the Belton
+estate or Plaistow Hall.'
+
+'Surely he is well enough off to take care of a wife. He will have the
+whole of the Perivale estate, you know.'
+
+'I don't know anything about it. According to my ideas of what is
+proper he should have spoken to me first. If he could not come he might
+have written. No doubt my ideas may be old-fashioned, and I'm told that
+Captain Aylmer is a fashionable young man.'
+
+'Indeed he is not, papa. He is a hard-working Member of Parliament.'
+
+'I don't know that he is any better for that. People seem to think that
+if a man is a Member of Parliament he may do what he pleases. There is
+Thompson, the Member for Minehead, who has bought some sort of place
+out by the moors. I never saw so vulgar, pigheaded a fellow in my life.
+Being in Parliament used to be something when I was young, but it won't
+make a man a gentleman now-a-days. It seems to me that none but
+brewers, and tallow-chandlers, and lawyers go into Parliament now. Will
+Belton could go into Parliament if he pleased, but he knows better than
+that. He won't make himself such a fool.'
+
+This was not comfortable to Clara; but she knew her father, and allowed
+him to go on with his grumbling. He would come round by degrees, and he
+would appreciate, if he could not be induced to acknowledge, the wisdom
+of the step she was about to take.
+
+'When is it to be?' he asked.
+
+'Nothing of that kind has ever been mentioned, papa.'
+
+'It had better be soon, if I am to have anything to do with it.' Now it
+was certainly the case that the old man was very ill. He had not been
+out of the house since Clara had returned home; and, though he was
+always grumbling about his food, he could hardly be induced to eat
+anything when the morsels for which he expressed a wish were got for
+him.
+
+'Of course you will be consulted, papa, before anything is settled.'
+
+'I don't want to be in anybody's way, my dear.'
+
+'And may I tell Frederic that you have given your consent?
+
+'What's the use of my consenting or not consenting? If you had been
+anxious to oblige me you would have taken your Cousin Will.'
+
+'Oh, papa, how could I accept a man I didn't love?'
+
+'You seemed to me to be very fond of him at first; and I must say, I
+thought he was ill-treated.'
+
+'Papa, papa; do not say such things as that to me!'
+
+'What am I to do? You tell me, and I can't altogether hold my tongue.'
+Then there was a pause. 'Well, my dear, as for my consent, of course
+you may have it if it's worth anything. I don't know that I ever heard
+anything bad about Captain Aylmer.'
+
+He had heard nothing bad about Captain Aylmer! Clara, as she left her
+father, felt that this was very grievous. Whatever cause she might have
+had for discontent with her lover, she could not but be aware that he
+was a man whom any father might be proud to welcome as a suitor for his
+daughter. He was a man as to whom no ill tales had ever been told who
+had never been known to do anything wrong or imprudent; who had always
+been more than respectable, and as to whose worldly position no
+exception could be taken. She had been entitled to expect her father's
+warmest congratulations, and her tidings had been received as though
+she had proposed to give her hand to one whose character and position
+only just made it not imperative on the father to withhold his consent!
+All this was hard, and feeling it to be so, she went upstairs, all
+alone, and cried bitterly as she thought of it.
+
+On the next day she went down to the cottage and saw Mrs Askerton. She
+went there with the express purpose of telling her friend of her
+engagement desirous of obtaining in that quarter the sympathy which her
+father declined to give her. Had her communication to him been accepted
+in a different spirit, she might probably have kept her secret from Mrs
+Askerton till something further had been fixed about her marriage; but
+she was in want of a few kind words, and pined for some of that
+encouragement which ladies in love usually wish to receive, at any rate
+from some one chosen friend. But when she found herself alone with Mrs
+Askerton she hardly knew how to tell her news; and at first could not
+tell it at all, as that lady was eager in speaking on another subject.
+
+'When do you expect your cousin?' Mrs Askerton asked, almost as soon as
+Clara was seated.
+
+'The day after tomorrow.'
+
+'And he is in London now?'
+
+'He may be. I dare say he is. But I don't know anything about it.'
+
+'I can tell you then that he is. Colonel Askerton has heard of his
+being there.'
+
+'You seem to speak of it as though there were some offence in it. Is
+there any reason why he should not be in London if he pleases?'
+
+'None in the least. I would much rather that he should be there than
+here.'
+
+'Why so? Will his coming hurt you?'
+
+'I don't like him. I don't like him at all and now you know the truth.
+You believe in him I don't. You think him to be a fine fellow and a
+gentleman, whereas I don't think him to be either.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton!'
+
+'This is strong language, I know.'
+
+'Very strong language.'
+
+'Yes, my dear; but the truth is, Clara, that you and I, living together
+here this sort of hermit's life, each seeing so much of the other and
+seeing nothing of anybody else, must either be real friends, telling
+each other what we think, or we must be nothing. We can't go on with
+the ordinary make- believes of society, saying little civil speeches
+and not going beyond them. Therefore I have made up my mind to tell you
+in plain language that I don't like your cousin, and don't believe in
+him.'
+
+'I don't know what you mean by believing in a man.'
+
+'I believe in you. Sometimes I have thought that you believe in me, and
+sometimes I have feared that you do not. I think that you are good, and
+honest, and true; and therefore I like to see your face and hear your
+voice though it is not often that you say very pleasant things to me.'
+
+'Do I say unpleasant things?'
+
+'I am not going to quarrel with you not if I can help it. What business
+has Mr Belton to go about London making inquiries as to me? What have I
+done to him, that he should honour me so far?'
+
+'Has he made inquiries?'
+
+'Yes; he has. If you have been contented with me as I am if you are
+satisfied, why should he want to learn more? If you have any question
+to ask me I will answer it. But what right can he have to be asking
+questions among strangers?'
+
+Clara had no question to ask, and yet she could not say that she was
+satisfied. She would have been better satisfied to have known more of
+Mrs Askerton, but yet she had never condescended to make inquiries
+about her friend. But her curiosity was now greatly raised; and,
+indeed, Mrs Askerton's manner was so strange, her vehemence so unusual,
+and her eagerness to rush into dangerous subjects so unlike her usual
+tranquillity in conversation, that Clara did not know how to answer her.
+
+'I know nothing of any questioning,' she said.
+
+'I am sure you don't. Had I thought you did, much as I love you
+valuable as your society is to me down in this desert I would never
+speak to you again. But remember if you want to ask any questions, and
+will ask them of me of me I will answer them, and will not be angry.'
+
+'But I don't want to ask any questions.'
+
+'You may some day; and then you can remember what I say.'
+
+'And am I to understand that you are determined to quarrel with my
+Cousin Will?'
+
+'Quarrel with him! I don't suppose that I shall see him. After what I
+have said it is not probable that you will bring him here, and the
+servant will have orders to say that I am not at home if be should
+call. Luckily he and Colonel Askerton did not meet when he was here
+before.'
+
+'This is the most strange thing I ever heard in my life.'
+
+'You will understand it better, my dear, when he makes his
+communication to you.'
+
+'What communication?'
+
+'You'll find that he'll have a communication to make. He has been so
+diligent and so sharp that he'll have a great deal to tell, I do not
+doubt. Only, remember, Clara, that if anything that he tells you makes
+any difference in your feelings towards me, I shall expect you to come
+to me and say so openly. If he makes his statement, let me make mine. I
+have a right to ask for that, after what I have promised.'
+
+'You may be sure that I will.'
+
+'I want nothing more. I have no distrust in you none in the least. I
+tell you that I believe in you. If you will do that, and will keep Mr
+William Belton out of my way during his visit to these parts, I shall
+be satisfied.' For some time past Mrs Askerton had been walking about
+the room, but, as she now finished speaking, she sat herself down as
+though the subject was fully discussed and completed. For a minute or
+two she made an effort to resume her usual tranquillity of manner, and
+in doing so attempted to smile, as though ridiculing her own energy. 'I
+knew I should make a fool of myself when you came,' she said; and now I
+have done it.'
+
+'I don't think you have been a fool at all, but you may have been
+mistaken.'
+
+'Very well, my dear, we shall see. It's very odd what a dislike I took
+to that man the first time I saw him.'
+
+'And I am so fond of him!'
+
+'Yes; he has cozened you as he has your father. I am only glad that he
+did not succeed in cozening you further than he did. But I ought to
+have known you bettor than to suppose you could give your heart of
+hearts to one who is'
+
+'Do not abuse him any more.'
+
+'Who is so very unlike the sort of people with whom you have lived. I
+may, at any rate, say that.'
+
+'I don't know that. I haven't lived much with any one yet except papa,
+and my aunt, and you.'
+
+'But you know a gentleman when you see him.'
+
+'Come, Mrs Askerton, I will not stand this. I thought you had done with
+the subject, and now you begin again. I had come here on purpose to
+tell you something of real importance that is, to me; but I must go
+away without telling you, unless you will give over abusing my cousin.'
+
+'I will not say a word more about him not at present.'
+
+'I feel so sure that you are mistaken, you know.'
+
+'Very well and I feel sure that you are mistaken. We will leave it so,
+and go to this matter of importance.' But Clara felt it to be very
+difficult to tell her tidings after such a conversation as that which
+had just occurred. When she had entered the room her mind had been
+tuned to the subject, and she could have found fitting words without
+much difficulty to herself; but now her thoughts had been scattered and
+her feelings hurt, and she did not know how to bring herself back to
+the subject of her engagement. She paused, therefore, and sat with a
+doubtful, hesitating look, meditating some mode of escape. 'I am all
+ears,' said Mrs Askerton; and Clara thought that she discovered
+something of ridicule or of sarcasm in the tone of her friend's voice.
+
+'I believe I'll put it off till another day,' she said.
+
+'Why so? You don't think that anything really important to you will not
+be important to me also?'
+
+'I'm sure of that, but somehow'
+
+'You mean to say that I have ruffled you?'
+
+'Well perhaps; a little.'
+
+'Then be unruffled again, like my own dear, honest Clara. I have been
+ruffled too, but I'll be as tranquil now as a drawing-room cat.' Then
+Mrs Askerton got up from her chair, and seated herself by Clara's side
+on the sofa. 'Come; you can't go till you've told me; and if you
+hesitate, I shall think that you mean to quarrel With me.'
+
+'I'll come to you tomorrow.'
+
+'No, no; you shall tell me today. All tomorrow you'll be preparing for
+your cousin.'
+
+'What nonsense!'
+
+'Or else you'll come prepared to vindicate him, and then we shan't get
+on any further. Tell me what it is today. You can't leave me in
+curiosity after what you have said.'
+
+'You've heard of Captain Aylmer, I think.'
+
+'Of course I've heard of him.'
+
+'But you've never seen him?'
+
+'You know I never have.'
+
+'I told you that he was at Perivale when Mrs Winterfield died.'
+
+'And now he has proposed, and you are going to accept him? That will
+indeed be important. Is it so? say. But don't I know it is so? Why
+don't you speak?'
+
+'If you know it, why need I speak?'
+
+'But it is so? Oh, Clara, I am so glad. I congratulate you with all my
+heart with all my heart. My dearest, dearest Clara! What a happy
+arrangement! What a success! It is just as it should be. Dear, good
+man! to come forward in that sensible way, and put an end to all the
+little family difficulties!'
+
+'I don't know so much about success. Who is it that is successful?'
+
+'You, to be sure.'
+
+'Then by the same measurement he must be unsuccessful.'
+
+'Don't be a fool, Clara.'
+
+'Of course I have been successful if I've got a man that I can love as
+my husband.'
+
+'Now, my dear, don't be a fool. Of course all that is between you and
+him, and I don't in the least doubt that it is all as it should be. If
+Captain Aylmer had been the elder brother instead of the younger, and
+had all the Aylmer estates instead of the Perivale property, I know you
+would not accept him if you did not like him.'
+
+'I hope not.'
+
+'I am sure you would not. But when a girl with nothing a year has
+managed to love a man with two or three thousand a year, and has
+managed to be loved by him in return instead of going through the same
+process with the curate or village doctor it is a success, and her
+friend will always think so. And when a girl marries a gentleman, and a
+Member of Parliament, instead of well, I'm not going to say anything
+personal her friends will congratulate her upon his position. It may be
+very wicked, and mercenary, and all that; but it's the way of the
+world.'
+
+'I hate hearing about the world.'
+
+'Yes, my dear; all proper young ladies like you do hate it. But I
+observe that such girls as you never offend its prejudices. You can't
+but know that you would have done a wicked as well as a foolish thing
+to marry a man without an adequate income.'
+
+'But I needn't marry at all.'
+
+'And what would you live on then? Come Clara, we needn't quarrel about
+that. I've no doubt he's charming, and beautiful, and'
+
+'He isn't beautiful at all; and as for charming'
+
+'He has charmed you at any rate.'
+
+'He has made me believe that I can trust him without doubt, and love
+him without fear.'
+
+'An excellent man! And the income will be an additional comfort; you'll
+allow that?'
+
+'I'll allow nothing.'
+
+'And when is it to be?'
+
+'Oh perhaps in six or seven years.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Perhaps sooner; but there's been no word said about time.'
+
+'Is not Mr Amedroz delighted?'
+
+'Not a bit. He quite scolded me when I told him.'
+
+'Why what did he want?'
+
+'You know papa.'
+
+'I know he scolds at everything, but I shouldn't have thought he would
+have scolded at that. And when does he come here?'
+
+'Who come here?'
+
+'Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'I don't know that he is coming at all.'
+
+'He must come to be married.'
+
+'All that is in the clouds as yet. I did not like to tell you, but you
+mustn't suppose that because I've told you, everything is settled.
+Nothing is settled.'
+
+'Nothing except the one thing?'
+
+'Nothing else.'
+
+It was more than an hour after that before Clara went away, and when
+she did so she was surprised to find that she was followed out of the
+house by Colonel Askerton. It was quite dusk at this time, the days
+being just at their shortest, and Colonel Askerton, according to his
+custom, would have been riding, or returning from his ride. Clara had
+been over two hours at the cottage, and had been aware when she reached
+it that be had not as yet gone out. It appeared now that he had not
+ridden at all, and, as she remembered to have seen his horse led before
+the window, it at once occurred to her that he had remained at home
+with the view of catching her as she went away. He came up to her just
+as she was passing through the gate, and offered her his right hand as
+he raised his hat with his left. It sometimes happens to all of us in
+life that we become acquainted with persons intimately that is, with an
+assumed intimacy whom in truth we do not know at all. We meet such
+persons frequently, often eating and drinking in their company, being
+familiar with their appearance, and well-informed generally as to their
+concerns; but we never find ourselves holding special conversations
+with them, or in any way fitting the modes of our life to the modes of
+their life. Accident has brought us together, and in one sense they are
+our friends. We should probably do any little kindness for them, or
+expect the same from them; but there is nothing in common between us,
+and there is generally a mutual though unexpressed agreement that there
+shall be nothing in common. Miss Amedroz was intimately acquainted with
+Colonel Askerton after this fashion. She saw him very frequently, and
+his name was often on her tongue; but she rarely, if ever, conversed
+with him, and knew of his habits only from his wife's words respecting
+them. When, therefore, he followed her through the garden gate into the
+park, she was driven to suppose that he had something special to say to
+her.
+
+'I'm afraid you'll have a dark walk, Miss Amedroz,' he said.
+
+'It's only just across the park, and I know the way so well.'
+
+'Yes of course. I saw you coming out, and as I want to say a word or
+two, I have ventured to follow you. When Mr Belton was down here I did
+not have the pleasure of meeting him.'
+
+'I remember that you missed each other.'
+
+'Yes, we did. I understand from my wife that he will be here again in a
+day or two.'
+
+'He will be with us the day after tomorrow.'
+
+'I hope you will excuse my saying that it will be very desirable that
+we should miss each other again.' Clara felt that her face became red
+with anger as she listened to Colonel Askerton's words. He spoke
+slowly, as was his custom, and without any of that violence of
+expression which his wife had used; but on that very account there was
+more, if possible, of meaning in his words than in hers. William Belton
+was her cousin, and such a speech as that which Colonel Askerton had
+made, spoken with deliberation and unaccompanied by any previous
+explanation, seemed to her almost to amount to insult. But as she did
+not know how to answer him at the spur of the moment, she remained
+silent. Then he continued, 'You may be sure, Miss Amedroz, that I
+should not make so strange a request to you if I had not good reason
+for making it.'
+
+'I think it a very strange request.'
+
+'And nothing but a strong conviction of its propriety on my part would
+have induced me to make it.'
+
+'If you do not want to see my cousin, why cannot you avoid him without
+saying anything to me on the subject
+
+'Because you would not then have understood as thoroughly as I wish you
+to do why I kept out of his way. For my wife's sake and for yours, if
+you will allow me to say so I do not wish to come to any open quarrel
+with him; but if we met, a quarrel would, I think, be inevitable. Mary
+has probably explained to you the nature of his offence against us?'
+
+'Mrs Askerton has told me something as to which I am quite sure that
+she is mistaken.'
+
+'I will say nothing about that, as I have no wish at all to set you
+against your cousin. I will bid you good-night now as you are close at
+home.' Then he turned round and left her.
+
+Clara, as she thought of all this, could not but call to mind her
+cousin's remembrances about Miss Vigo and Mr Berdmore. What if he made
+some inquiry as to the correctness of his old recollections? Nothing,
+she thought, could be more natural. And then she reflected that, in the
+ordinary way of the world, persons feel none of that violent objection
+to the asking of questions about their antecedents which was now
+evinced by both Colonel and Mrs Askerton. But of one thing she felt
+quite assured that her cousin, Will Belton, would make no inquiry which
+he ought not to make; and would make no improper use of any information
+which he might obtain.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE HEIR'S SECOND VISIT TO BELTON
+
+Clara began to doubt whether any possible arrangement of the
+circumstances of her life could be regarded as fortunate. She was very
+fond, in a different degree and after a different fashion, of both
+Captain Aylmer and Mr Belton. As regarded both, her position was now
+exactly what she herself would have wished. The man that she loved was
+betrothed to her, and the other man, whom she loved indeed also as a
+brother, was coming to her in that guise with the understanding that
+that was to be his position. And yet everything was going wrong! Her
+father, though he did not actually say anything against Captain Aylmer,
+showed by a hundred little signs, of which he was a skilful master,
+that the Aylmer alliance was distasteful to him, and that he thought
+himself to be aggrieved in that his daughter would not marry her
+cousin; whereas, over at the cottage, there was a still more bitter
+feeling against Mr Belton a feeling so bitter, that it almost induced
+Clara to wish that her cousin was not coming to them.
+
+But the cousin did come, and was driven up to the door in the gig from
+Taunton, just as had been the case on his previous visit. Then,
+however, he had come in the full daylight, and the hay-carts had been
+about, and all the prettiness and warmth of summer had been there; now
+it was mid-winter, and there had been some slight beginnings of snow,
+and the wind was moaning about the old tower, and the outside of the
+house looked very unpleasant from the hall-door. As it had become dusk
+in the afternoon, the old squire had been very careful in his orders as
+to preparations for Will's comfort as though Clara would have forgotten
+all those things in the preoccupation of her mind, caused by the
+constancy of her thoughts towards Will's rival. He even went so far as
+to creep across the upstairs landing-place to see that the fire was
+lighted in Will's room, this being the first time that he had left his
+chamber for many days and bad given special orders as to the food which
+was to be prepared for Will's dinner in a very different spirit from
+that which bad dictated some former orders when Will was about to make
+his first visit, and when his coming had been regarded by the old man
+as a heartless, indelicate, and almost hostile proceeding.
+
+'I wish I could go down to receive him,' said Mr Amedroz, plaintively.
+'I hope he won't take it amiss.'
+
+'You may be sure he won't do that.'
+
+'Perhaps I can tomorrow.'
+
+'Dear papa, you had better not think of it till the weather is milder.'
+
+'Milder! how is it to get milder at this time of the year?'
+
+'Of course he'll come up to you, papa.'
+
+'He's very good. I know he's very good. No one also would do as much.'
+
+Clara understood accurately what all this meant. Of course she was glad
+that her father should feel so kindly towards her cousin, and think so
+much of his coming; but every word said by the old man in praise of
+Will Belton implied an equal amount of dispraise as regarded Captain
+Aylmer, and contained a reproach against his daughter for having
+refused the former and accepted the latter.
+
+Clara was in the ball when Belton arrived, and received him as he
+entered, enveloped in his damp great-coats. 'It is so good of you to
+come in such weather,' she said.
+
+'Nice seasonable weather, I call it,' he said. It was the same
+comfortable, hearty, satisfactory voice which had done so much towards
+making his way for him on his first arrival at Belton Castle The voices
+to which Clara was most accustomed were querulous as though the world
+had been found by the owners of them to be but a bad place. But
+Belton's voice seemed to speak of cheery days and happy friends, and a
+general state of things which made life worth having. Nevertheless,
+forty-eight hours had not yet passed over his head since he was walking
+about London in such misery that he had almost cursed the hour in which
+be was born. His misery still remained with him, as black now as it had
+been then; and yet his voice was cheery. The sick birds, we are told,
+creep into holes, that they may die alone and unnoticed; and the
+wounded beasts hide themselves that their grief may not be seen of
+their fellows. A man has the same instinct to conceal the weakness of
+his sufferings; but, if he be a man, he hides it in his own heart,
+keeping it for solitude and the watches of the night, while to the
+outer world he carries a face on which his care has made no marks.
+
+'You will be sorry to hear that papa is too ill to come downstairs.'
+
+'Is he, indeed? I am truly sorry. I had beard he was ill; but did not
+know he was so ill as that.'
+
+'Perhaps he fancies himself weaker than he is.'
+
+'We must try and cure him of that. I can see him, I hope?'
+
+'Oh dear, yes. He is most anxious for you to go to him. As soon as ever
+you can come upstairs I will take you.' He had already stripped himself
+of his wrappings, and declaring himself ready, at once followed Clara
+to the squire's room.
+
+'I'm sorry, sir, to find you in this way,' he said.
+
+'I'm very poorly, Will very,' said the squire, putting out his hand as
+though he were barely able to lift it above his knee. Now it certainly
+was the fact that half an hour before he had been walking across the
+passage.
+
+'We must see if we can't soon make you better among us,' said Will.
+
+The squire shook his head with a slow, melancholy movement, not raising
+his eyes from the ground. 'I don't think you'll ever see me much
+better, Will,' he said. And yet half an hour since he had been talking
+of being down in the dining-room on the next day. 'I shan't trouble you
+much longer,' said the squire. 'You'll soon have it all without paying
+rent for it.'
+
+This was very unpleasant, and almost frustrated Belton's attempts to be
+cheery. But he persevered nevertheless. 'It'll be a long time yet
+before that day comes, sir.'
+
+'Ah; that's easily said. But never mind. Why should I want to remain
+when I shall have once seen her properly settled. I've nothing to live
+for except that she may have a home.'
+
+On this subject it was quite impossible that Belton should say
+anything. Clara was standing by him, and she, as he knew, was engaged
+to Captain Aylmer. So circumstanced, what could he say as to Clara's
+settlement in life? That something should be said between him and the
+old man, and something also between him and Clara, was a matter of
+course; but it was quite out of the question that he should discuss
+Clara's prospects in life in presence of them both together.
+
+'Papa's illness makes him a little melancholy,' said Clara.
+
+'Of course of course. It always does,' said Will.
+
+'I think he will be better when the weather becomes milder,' said Clara.
+
+'I suppose I may be allowed to know how I feel myself,' said the
+squire. 'But don't keep Will up here when he wants his dinner. There;
+that'll do. You'd better leave me now.' Then Will went out to his old
+room, and a quarter of an hour afterwards he found himself seated with
+Clara at the dinner- table; and a quarter of an hour after that the
+dinner was over, and they had both drawn their chairs to the fire.
+
+Neither of them knew how to begin with the other. Clara was under no
+obligation to declare her engagement to her cousin, but yet she felt
+that it would be unhandsome in her not to do so. Had Will never made
+the mistake of wanting to marry her himself, she would have done so as
+a matter of course. Had she supposed him to cherish any intention of
+renewing that mistake she would have felt herself bound to tell him so
+that he might save himself from unnecessary pain. But she gave him
+credit for no such intention, and yet she could not but remember that
+scene among the rocks. And then was she, or was she not, to say
+anything to him about the Askertons? With him also the difficulty was
+as great. He did not in truth believe that the tidings which he had
+heard from his friend the lawyer required corroboration; but yet it was
+necessary that he should know from herself that she had disposed of her
+hand and it was necessary also that he should say some word to her as
+to their future standing and friendship.
+
+'You must be very anxious to see how your farm goes on,' said she.
+
+He had not thought much of his agricultural venture at Belton for the
+last three or four days, and would hardly have been vexed had he been
+told that every head of cattle about the place had died of the murrain.
+Some general idea of the expediency of going on with a thing which he
+had commenced still actuated him; but it was the principle involved,
+and not the speculation itself, which interested him. But he could not
+explain all this, and he therefore was driven to some cold agreement
+with her. 'The farm! you mean the stock. Yes; I shall go and have a
+look at them early tomorrow. I suppose they're all alive.'
+
+'Pudge says that they are doing uncommonly well.' Pudge was a leading
+man among the Belton labourers, whom Will had hired to look after his
+concerns.
+
+'That's all right. I dare say Pudge knows quite as much about it as I
+do.'
+
+'But the master's eye is everything.'
+
+'Pudge's eye is quite as good as mine; and probably much better, as he
+knows the country.'
+
+'You used to say that it was everything for a man to look after his own
+interests.'
+
+'And I do look after them. Pudge and I will go and have a look at every
+beast tomorrow, and I shall look very wise and pretend to know more
+about it than he does. In stock-farming the chief thing is not to have
+too many beasts. They used to say that half-stocking was whole profit,
+and. whole- stocking was half profit. If the animals have plenty to
+eat, and the rent isn't too high, they'll take care of. their owner.'
+
+'But then there is so much illness.'
+
+'I always insure.'
+
+Clara perceived that the subject of the cattle didn't suit the present
+occasion. When he had before been at Belton. he had liked nothing so
+much as talking about the cattle-sheds, and the land, and the kind of
+animals which would suit the place; but now the novelty of the thing
+was gone and the farmer did not wish to talk of his farm. In her
+anxiety to find a topic which would not be painful, she went from the
+cattle to the cow. 'You can't think what a pet Bess has been with us.
+And she seems to think that she is privileged to go everywhere, and do
+anything.'
+
+'I hope they have taken care that she has had winter food.'
+
+'Winter food! Why Pudge, and all the Pudges, and all the family in the
+house, and all your cattle would have to want, before Bessy would be
+allowed to miss a meal. Pudge always says, with his sententious shake
+of the head, that the young squire was very particular about Bessy.'
+
+'Those Alderneys want a little care that's all.'
+
+Bessy was. of no better service to Clara in her present difficulty than
+the less aristocratic herd of common cattle. There was a pause for a
+moment, and then she began again. 'How did you leave your sister, Will?'
+
+'Much the same as usual. I think she has borne the first of the cold
+weather better than she did last year.'
+
+'I do so wish that I knew her.'
+
+'Perhaps you will some day. But I don't suppose that you ever will.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'It's not likely that you'll ever come to Plaistow now and Mary never
+leaves it except to go to my uncle's.'
+
+Clara instantly knew that he had heard of her engagement, though she
+could not imagine from what source he had heard it. There was something
+in the tone of his voice something especially in the expression of that
+word 'now', which told her that it must be so. 'I should be so glad to
+go there if I could,' she said, with that special hypocrisy which
+belongs to women, and is allowed to them; 'but, of course, I cannot
+leave papa in his present state.'
+
+'And if you did leave him you would not go to Plaistow.'
+
+'Not unless you and Mary asked me.'
+
+'And you wouldn't if we did. How could you?'
+
+'What do you mean, Will? It seems as though you were almost savage to
+me.'
+
+'Am I? Well I feel savage, but not to you.'
+
+'Nor to any one, I hope, belonging to me.' She knew that it was all
+coming; that the whole subject of her future life must now be
+discussed; and she began to fear that the discussion might not be easy.
+But she did not know how to give it a direction. She feared that he
+would become angry, and yet she knew not why. He had accepted his own
+rejection tranquilly, and could hardly take it as an offence that she
+should now be engaged to Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Mr Green has told me', said he, 'that you are going to be married.'
+
+'How could Mr Green have known?'
+
+'He did know at least I suppose he knew, for he told me.'
+
+'How very odd.'
+
+'I suppose it is true?' Clara did not make any immediate answer, and
+then he repeated the question. 'I suppose it is true?'
+
+'It is true that I am engaged.'
+
+'To Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes; to Captain Aylmer. You know that I had known him very long. I
+hope that you are not angry with me because I did not write and tell
+you. Strange as it may seem, seeing that you had heard it already, it
+is not a week yet since it was settled; and had I written to you, I
+could only have addressed my letter to you here.'
+
+'I wasn't thinking about that. I didn't specially want you to write to
+me. What difference would it make?'
+
+'But I should have felt that I owed it to your kindness and your regard
+for me.'
+
+'My regard! What's the use of regard?'
+
+'You are not going to quarrel with me, Will, because because because .
+If you had really been my brother, as you once said you would be, you
+could not but have approved of what I have done.'
+
+'But I am not your brother.'
+
+'Oh, Will; that sounds so cruel!'
+
+'I am not your brother, and I have no right to approve or disapprove.'
+
+'I will not say that I could make my engagement with Captain Aylmer
+dependent on your approval. It would not be fair to him to do so, and
+it would put me into a false position.'
+
+' Have I asked you to make any such absurd sacrifice?'
+
+'Listen to me, Will. I say that I could not do that. But, short of
+that, there is nothing I would not do to satisfy you. I think so much
+of your judgment and goodness, and so very much of your affection; I
+love you so dearly, that Oh, Will, say a kind word to me!'
+
+'A kind word; yes, but what sort of kindness?
+
+'You must know that Captain Aylmer'
+
+'Don't talk to me of Captain Aylmer. Have I said anything against him?
+Have I ventured to make any objection? Of course, I know his
+superiority to myself. I know that he is a man of the world, and that I
+am not; that he is educated, and that I am ignorant; that he has a
+position, and that I have none; that he has much to offer, and that I
+have nothing. Of course, I see the difference; but that does not make
+me comfortable.'
+
+'Will, I had learned to love him before I had ever seen you.'
+
+'Why didn't you tell me so, that I might have known there was no hope,
+and have gone away utterly out of the kingdom? If it was all settled
+then, why didn't you tell me, and save me from breaking my heart with
+false hopes?'
+
+'Nothing was settled then. I hardly knew my own mind; but yet I loved
+him. There; cannot you understand it? Have I not told you enough?'
+
+'Yes, I understand it.'
+
+'And do you blame me?'
+
+He paused awhile before he answered her. 'No; I do not blame you. I
+suppose I must blame no one but myself. But you should bear with me. I
+was so happy, and now I am so wretched.'
+
+There was nothing that she could say to comfort him. She had altogether
+mistaken the nature of the man's regard, and had even mistaken the very
+nature of the man. So much she now learned, and could tell herself that
+had she known him better she would either have prevented this second
+visit, or would have been careful that he should have learned the truth
+from herself before he came. Now she could only wait till he should
+again have got strength to hide his suffering under the veil of his own
+manliness.
+
+'I have not a word to say against what you are doing,' he said at last;
+'not a word. But you will understand what I mean when I tell you that
+it is not likely that you will come to Plaistow.'
+
+'Some day, Will, when you have a wife of your own'
+
+'Very well; but we won't talk about that at present, if you please.
+When I have, things will be different. In the meantime your course and
+mine will be separate. You, I suppose, will be with him in London,
+while I shall be at the devil as likely as not.'
+
+'How can you speak to me in that way? Is that like being my brother?'
+
+'I don't feel like being your brother. However, I beg your pardon, and
+now we will have done with it. Spilt milk can't be helped, and my milk
+pans have got themselves knocked over. That's all. Don't you think we
+ought to go up to your father again?'
+
+On the following day Belton and Mr Amedroz discussed the same subject,
+but the conversation went off very quietly. Will was determined not to
+exhibit his weakness before the father as he had done before the
+daughter. When the squire, with a maundering voice, drawled out some
+expression of regret that his daughter's choice had not fallen in
+another place, Will was able to say that bygones must he bygones. He
+regretted it also, but that was now over. And when the squire
+endeavoured to say a few ill-natured words about Captain Aylmer, Will
+stopped him at once by asserting that the captain was all that he ought
+to be.
+
+'And it would have made me so happy to think that my daughter's child
+should come to live in his grandfather's old house,' murmured Mr
+Amedroz.
+
+'And there's no knowing that he mayn't do so yet,' said Will. 'But all
+these things are so doubtful that a man is wrong to fix his happiness
+upon them.' After that he went out to ramble about, the place, and
+before the third day was over Clara was able to perceive that, in spite
+of what he had said, he was as busy about the cattle as though his
+bread depended on them.
+
+Nothing had been said as yet about the Askertons, and Clara had
+resolved that their name should not first be mentioned by her. Mrs
+Askerton had prophesied that Will would have some communication to make
+about herself, and Clara would at any rate see whether her cousin
+would, of his own accord, introduce the subject. But three days passed
+by, and he had made no allusion to the cottage or its inhabitants. This
+in itself was singular, as the Askertons were the only local friends
+whom Clara knew, and as Belton had become personally acquainted with
+Mrs Askerton. But such was the case; and when Mr Amedroz once said
+something about Mrs Askerton in the presence of both Clara and Belton,
+they both of them shrank from the subject in a manner that made Clara
+understand that any conversation about the Askertons was to be avoided.
+On the fourth day Clara saw Mrs Askerton, but then Will Belton's name
+was not mentioned. There was therefore, among them all, a sense of some
+mystery which made them uncomfortable, and which seemed to admit of no
+solution. Clara was more sure than ever that her cousin had made no
+inquiries that he should not have made, and that he would put no
+information that he might have to an improper use. But of such
+certainty on her part she could say nothing.
+
+Three weeks passed by, and it seemed as though Belton's visit were to
+come to an end without any further open trouble. Now and then something
+was said about. Captain Aylmer; but it was very little, and Belton made
+no further reference to his own feelings. It had come to be understood
+that his visit was to be limited to a month; and to both him and Clara
+the month wore itself away slowly, neither of them having much pleasure
+in the society of the other. The old squire came downstairs once for an
+hour or two, and spent the whole time in bitter complaints. Everything
+was wrong, and everybody was ill-treating him. Even with Will he
+quarrelled, or did his best to quarrel, in regard to everything about
+the place, though at the same time he did not cease to grumble at his
+visitor for going away and leaving him. Belton bore it all so well that
+the grumbling and quarrelling did not lead to much; but it required all
+his good-humour and broad common sense to prevent serious troubles and
+misunderstanding.
+
+During the period of her cousin's visit at Belton, Clara received two
+letters from Captain Aylmer, who was spending the Christmas holidays
+with his father and mother, and on the day previous to that of her
+cousin's departure there came a third. In neither of these letters was
+there much said about Sir Anthony, but they were all very full of Lady
+Aylmer. In the first he wrote with something of the personal enthusiasm
+of a lover and therefore Clara hardly felt the little drawbacks to her
+happiness which were contained in certain innuendoes respecting Lady
+Aylmer's ideas, and Lady Aylmer's hopes, and Lady Aylmer's fears. Clara
+was not going to marry Lady Aylmer, and did not fear but that she could
+hold her own against any mother-in-law in the world when once they
+should be brought face to face. And as long as Captain Aylmer seemed to
+take her part rather than that of his mother it was all very well. The
+second letter was more trying to her temper, as it contained one or two
+small morsels of advice as to conduct which had evidently originated
+with her ladyship. Now there is nothing, I take it, so irritating to an
+engaged young lady as counsel from her intended husband's mamma. An
+engaged young lady, if she be really in love, will take almost anything
+from her lover as long as she is sure that it comes altogether from
+himself. He may take what liberties he pleases with her dress. He may
+prescribe high church or low church if he be not, as is generally the
+case, in a condition to accept, rather than to give, prescriptions on
+that subject. He may order almost any course of reading providing that
+he supply the books. And he may even interfere with the style of
+dancing, and recommend or prohibit partners. But he may not thrust his
+mother down his future wife's throat. In answer to the second letter,
+Clara did not say much to show her sense of objection. Indeed she said
+nothing. But in saying nothing she showed her objection, and Captain
+Aylmer understood it. Then came the third letter, and as it contained
+matter touching upon our story, it shall be given entire and I hope it
+may be taken by gentlemen about to marry as a fair specimen of the sort
+of letter they ought not to write to the girls of their hearts:
+
+Aylmer Castle
+
+19th January, 186 .
+
+'Dearest Clara I got your letter of the 16th yesterday, and was sorry
+you said nothing in reference to my mother's ideas as to the house at
+Perivale. Of course she knew that I heard from you, and was
+disappointed when, I was obliged to tell her, that you had not alluded
+to the subject. She is very anxious about you, and, having now given
+her assent to our marriage, is of course desirous of knowing that her
+kindly feeling is reciprocated. I assured her that my own Clara was the
+last person to be remiss in such a matter, and reminded her that young
+ladies are seldom very careful in their mode of answering letters.
+Remember, therefore, that I am now your guarantee, and send some
+message to relieve me from my liability.
+
+When I told her of your father's long illness, which she laments
+greatly, and of your cousin's continued presence at Belton Castle, she
+seemed to think that Mr Belton's visit should not be prolonged. When I
+told her that he was your nearest relative, she remarked that cousins
+are the same as any other people which indeed they are. I know that my
+Clara Will not suppose that I mean more by this than the words convey.
+Indeed I mean less. But not having the advantage of a mother of your
+own, you will not be sorry to know what are my mother's opinions on
+matters which so nearly concern you.
+
+And now I come to another subject, as to which what I shall say will
+surprise you very much. You know, I think, that my aunt Winterfield and
+I had some conversation about your neighbours, the Askertons; and you
+will remember that my aunt, whose ideas on such matters were always
+correct, was a little afraid that your father had not made sufficient
+inquiry respecting them before he allowed them to settle near him as
+tenants. It now turns out that she is very far, indeed, from what she
+ought to be. My mother at first thought of writing to you about this;
+but she is a little fatigued, and at last resolved that under all the
+circumstances it might be as well that I should tell you. It seems that
+Mrs Askerton was married before to a certain Captain Berdmore, and that
+she left her first husband during his lifetime under the protection of
+Colonel Askerton. I believe they, the Colonel and Mrs Askerton, have
+been since married. Captain Berdmore died about four years ago in
+India, and it is probable that such a marriage has taken place. But
+under these circumstances, as Lady Aylmer says, you will at once
+perceive that all acquaintance between you and the lady should be
+brought to an end. Indeed, your own sense of what is becoming to you,
+either as an unmarried girl or as my future wife, or indeed as a woman
+at all, will at once make you feel that this must be so. I think, if I
+were you, I would tell the whole to Mr Amedroz; but this I will leave
+to your own discretion. I can assure you that Lady Aylmer has full
+proof as to the truth of what I tell you.
+
+I go up to London in February. I suppose I may hardly hope to see you
+before the recess in July or August; but I trust that before that we
+shall have fixed the day when you will make me the happiest of men.
+
+Yours, with truest affection,
+
+F. F. AYLMER.'
+
+It was a disagreeable, nasty letter from the first line to the last.
+There was not a word in it which did not grate against Clara's feelings
+not a thought expressed which did not give rise to fears as to her
+future happiness. But the information which it contained about the
+Askertons 'the communication,' as Mrs Askerton herself would have
+called it made her for the moment almost forget Lady Aylmer and her
+insolence. Could this story be true? And if true, how far would it be
+imperative on her to take the hint,, or rather obey the order, which
+had been given her? What steps should she take to learn the truth? Then
+she remembered Mrs Askerton's promise 'If you want to ask any
+questions, and will ask them of me, I will answer them.' The
+communication, as to which Mrs Askerton had prophesied, had now been
+made but it had been made not by Will Belton, whom Mrs Askerton had
+reviled, but by Captain Aylmer, whose praises Mrs Askerton had so
+loudly sung. As Clara thought of this, she could not analyse her own
+feelings, which were not devoid of a certain triumph. She had known
+that Belton would not put on his armour to attack a woman. Captain
+Aylmer had done so, and she was hardly surprised at his doing it. Yet
+Captain Aylmer was the man she loved! Captain Aylmer was the man she
+had promised to marry. But, in truth, she hardly knew which was the man
+she loved!
+
+This letter came on a Sunday morning, and on that day she and Belton
+went to church together. On the following morning early he was to start
+for Taunton. At church they saw Mrs Askerton, whose attendance there
+was not very frequent. It seemed, indeed, as though she had come with
+the express purpose of seeing Belton once during his visit. As they
+left the church she bowed to him, and that was all they saw of each
+other throughout the month that he remained in Somersetshire.
+
+'Come to me tomorrow Clara,' Mrs Askerton said as they all passed
+through the village together. Clara muttered some reply, having not as
+yet made up her mind as to what her conduct must be. Early on the next
+morning Will Belton went away, and again Clara got up to give him his
+breakfast. On this occasion he had no thought of kissing her. He went
+away without having had a word said to him about Mrs Askerton, and then
+Clara settled herself down to the work of deliberation. What should she
+do with reference to the communication that had been made to her by
+Captain Aylmer?
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AYLMER PARK
+
+Aylmer Park and the great house of the Aylmers together formed an
+important and, as regarded in some minds, an imposing country
+residence. The park was large, including some three or four hundred
+acres, and was peopled, rather thinly, by aristocratic deer. It was
+surrounded by an aristocratic paling, and was entered, at three
+different points, by aristocratic lodges. The sheep were more numerous
+than the deer, because Sir Anthony, though he had a large income, was
+not in very easy circumstances. The ground was quite flat; and though
+there were thin belts of trees, and some ornamental timber here and
+there, it was not well wooded. It had no special beauty of its own, and
+depended for its imposing qualities chiefly on its size, on its three
+sets of double lodges, and on its old established character as an
+important family place in the county. The house was of stone, with a
+portico of Ionic columns which looked as though it hardly belonged of
+right to the edifice, and stretched itself out grandly, with two
+pretentious wings, which certainly gave it a just claim to be called a
+mansion. It required a great many servants to keep it in order, and the
+numerous servants required an experienced duenna, almost as grand in
+appearance as Lady Aylmer herself, to keep them in order. There was an
+open carriage and a close carriage, and a butler, and two footmen, and
+three gamekeepers, and four gardeners, and there was a coachman, and
+there were grooms, and sundry inferior men and boys about the place to
+do the work which the gardeners and game-keepers and grooms did not
+choose to do themselves. And they all became fat, and lazy, and stupid,
+and respectable together; so that, as the reader will at once perceive,
+Aylmer Park was kept up in the proper English style. Sir Anthony very
+often discussed with his steward the propriety of lessening the
+expenditure of his residence, and Lady Aylmer always attended and
+probably directed these discussions; but it was found that nothing
+could be done. Any attempt to remove a gamekeeper or a gardener would
+evidently throw the whole machinery of Aylmer Park out of gear. If
+retrenchment was necessary Aylmer Park must be abandoned, and the glory
+of the Aylmers must be allowed to pale. But things were not so had as
+that with Sir Anthony. The gardeners, grooms, and gamekeepers were
+maintained; ten domestic servants sat down to four heavy meals in the
+servants' hall every day, and Lady Aylmer contented herself with
+receiving little or no company, and with stingy breakfasts and bad
+dinners for herself and her husband and daughter. By all this it must
+be seen that she did her duty as the wife of an English country
+gentleman, and properly maintained his rank as a baronet.
+
+He was a heavy man, over seventy years of age, much afflicted with
+gout, and given to no pursuit on earth which was available for his
+comfort. He had been a hunting man, and he had shot also; but not with
+that energy which induces a sportsman to carry on those amusements in
+opposition to the impediments of age. He had been, and still was, a
+county magistrate; but he had never been very successful in the
+justice-room, and now seldom troubled the county with his judicial
+incompetence. He had been fond of good dinners and good wine, and
+still, on occasions, would make attempts at enjoyment in that line; but
+the gout and Lady Aylmer together were too many for him, and he had but
+small opportunity for filling up the blanks of his existence out of the
+kitchen or cellar. He was a big man, with a broad chest, and a red
+face, and a quantity of white hair and was much given to abusing his
+servants. He took some pleasure in standing, with two sticks, on the
+top of the steps before his own front door, and railing at any one who
+came in his way. But he could not do this when Lady Aylmer was by; and
+his dependents, knowing his habits, had fallen into an ill-natured way
+of deserting the side of the house which he frequented. With his eldest
+son, Anthony Aylmer, he was not on very good terms; and though there
+was no positive quarrel, the heir did not often come to Aylmer Park. Of
+his son Frederic he was proud and the best days of his life were
+probably those which Captain Aylmer spent at the house. The table was
+then somewhat more generously spread, and this was an excuse for having
+up the special port in which he delighted. Altogether his life was not
+very attractive; and though he bad been born to a baronetcy, and eight
+thousand a-year, and the possession of Aylmer Park, I do not think that
+he was, or had been, a happy man.
+
+Lady Aylmer was more fortunate. She had occupations of which her
+husband knew nothing, and for which he was altogether unfit. Though she
+could not succeed in making retrenchments, the could and did succeed in
+keeping the household books. Sir Anthony could only blow up the
+servants when they were thoughtless enough to come in his way, and in
+doing that was restricted by his wife's presence. But Lady Aylmer could
+get at them day and night. She had no gout to impede her progress about
+the house and grounds, and could make her way to places which the
+master never saw; and then she wrote many letters daily, whereas Sir
+Anthony hardly ever took a pen in his hand. And she knew the cottages
+of all the poor about the place, and knew also all their sins of
+omission and commission. She was driven out, too, every day, summer and
+winter, wet and dry, and consumed enormous packets of wool and worsted,
+which were sent to her monthly from York. And she had a companion in
+her daughter, whereas Sir Anthony had no companion. Wherever Lady
+Aylmer went, Miss Aylmer went with her, and relieved what might
+otherwise have been the tedium of her life. She had been a beauty on a
+large scale, and was still aware that she had much in her personal
+appearance which justified pride. She carried herself uprightly, with a
+commanding nose and broad forehead; and though the graces of her own
+hair had given way to a front, there was something even in the front
+which added to her dignity, if it did not make her a handsome woman.
+
+Miss Aylmer, who was the eldest of the younger generation, and who was
+now gently descending from her fortieth year, lacked the strength of
+her mother's character, but admired her mother's ways, and followed
+Lady Aylmer in all things at a distance. She was very good as indeed
+was Lady Aylmer entertaining a high idea of duty, and aware that her
+own life admitted of but little self- indulgence. She had no pleasures,
+she incurred no expenses ; and was quite alive to the fact that as
+Aylmer Park required a regiment of lazy, gormandizing servants to
+maintain its position in the county, the Aylmers themselves should not
+be lazy, and should not gormandize. No one was more careful with her
+few shillings than Miss Aylmer. She had, indeed, abandoned a life's
+correspondence with an old friend because she would not pay the postage
+on letters to Italy. She knew that it was for the honour of the family
+that one of her brothers should sit in Parliament, and was quite
+willing to deny herself a new dress because sacrifices must be made to
+lessen electioneering expenses. She knew that it was her lot to be
+driven about slowly in a carriage with a livery servant before her and
+another behind her, and then eat a dinner which the cook-maid would
+despise. She was aware that it was her duty to be snubbed by her
+mother, and to encounter her father's ill-temper, and to submit to her
+brother's indifference, and to have, so to say, the slightest possible
+modicum of personal individuality. She knew that she had never
+attracted a man's love, and might hardly hope to make friends for the
+comfort of her coming age. But still she was contented, and felt that
+she had consolation for it all in the fact that she was am. Aylmer. She
+read many novels, and it cannot but be supposed that something of
+regret would steal over her as she remembered that nothing of the
+romance of life had ever, or could ever, come in her way. She wept over
+the loves of many women, though she had never been happy or unhappy in
+her own. She read of gaiety, though she never encountered it, and must
+have known that the world elsewhere was less dull than it was at Aylmer
+Park. But she took her life as it came, without a complaint, and prayed
+that God would make her humble in the high position to which it had
+pleased Him to call her. She hated Radicals, and thought that Essays
+and Reviews, and Bishop Colenso, came direct from the Evil One. She
+taught the little children in the parish, being specially urgent to
+them always to courtesy when they saw any of the family and was as
+ignorant, meek, and stupid a poor woman as you shall find anywhere in
+Europe.
+
+It may be imagined that Captain Aylmer, who knew the comforts of his
+club and was accustomed to life in London, would feel the dullness of
+the paternal roof to be almost unendurable. In truth, he was not very
+fond of Aylmer Park, but he was more gifted with patience than most men
+of his age and position, and was aware that it behoved him to keep the
+Fifth Commandment if he expected to have his own days prolonged in the
+land. He therefore made his visits periodically, and contented himself
+with clipping a few days at both ends from the length prescribed by
+family tradition, which his mother was desirous of exacting. September
+was always to be passed at Aylmer Park, because of the shooting. In
+September, indeed, the eldest son himself was wont to be there probably
+with a friend or two and the fat old servants bestirred themselves, and
+there was something of life about the place. At Christmas, Captain
+Aylmer was there as the only visitor, and Christmas was supposed to
+extend from the middle of December to the opening of Parliament. It
+must, however, be explained, that on the present occasion his visit had
+been a matter of treaty and compromise. He had not gone to Aylmer Park
+at all till his mother had in some sort assented to his marriage with
+Clara Amedroz. To this Lady Aylmer had been very averse, and there had
+been many serious letters. Belinda Aylmer, the daughter of the house,
+had had a bad time in pleading her brother's cause and some very harsh
+words had been uttered but ultimately the matter had been arranged,
+and, as is usual in such contests, the mother had yielded to the son.
+Captain Aylmer had therefore gone down a few days before Christmas,
+with a righteous feeling that he owed much to his mother for her
+condescension, and almost prepared to make himself very disagreeable to
+Clara by way of atoning to his family for his folly in desiring to
+marry her.
+
+Lady Aylmer was very plain-spoken on the subject of all Clara's
+shortcomings very plain-spoken, and very inquisitive. 'She will never
+have one shilling, I suppose?' she said.
+
+'Yes, ma'am.' Captain Aylmer always called his mother 'ma'am'. 'She
+will have that fifteen hundred pounds that I told you of.'
+
+'That is to say, you will have back the money which you yourself have
+given her, Fred. I suppose that is the English of it?' Then Lady Aylmer
+raised her eyebrows and looked very wise.
+
+'Just so, ma'am.'
+
+'You can't call that having anything of her own. In point of fact she
+is penniless.'
+
+'It is no good harping on that,' said Captain Aylmer, somewhat sharply.
+
+'Not in the least, my dear; no good at all. Of course you have looked
+it all in the face. You will be a poor man instead of a rich man, but
+you will have enough to live on that is if she doesn't have a large
+family which of course she will.'
+
+'I shall do very well, ma'am.'
+
+'You might do pretty well, I dare say, if you could live privately at
+Perivale, keeping up the old family house there, and having no
+expenses; but you'll find even that close enough with your seat in
+Parliament, and the necessity there is that you should be half the year
+in London. Of course she won't go to London. She can't expect it. All
+that had better be made quite clear at once.' Hence had come the letter
+about the house at Perivale, containing Lady Aylmer's advice on that
+subject, as to which Clara made no reply.
+
+Lady Aylmer, though she had given her assent, was still not altogether
+without hope. It might be possible that the two young people could be
+brought to see the folly and error of their ways before it would be too
+late; and that Lady Aylmer, by a judicious course of constant advice,
+might be instrumental in opening the eyes, if not of ,the lady, at any
+rate of the gentleman. She had great reliance on her own powers, and
+knew well that a falling drop will hollow a stone. Her son manifested
+no hot eagerness to complete his folly in a hurry, and to cut the
+throat of his prospects out of hand. Time, therefore, would be allowed
+to her, and she was a woman who could use time with patience. Having,
+through her son, dispatched her advice about the house at Perivale
+which which simply amounted to this, that Clara should expressly state
+her willingness to live there alone whenever it might suit her husband
+to be in London or elsewhere she went to work on other points,
+connected with the Amedroz family, and eventually succeeded in learning
+something very much like the truth as to poor Mrs Askerton and her
+troubles. At first she was so comfortably horror-stricken by the
+iniquity she had unravelled  so delightfully shocked and astounded as
+to believe that the facts as they then stood would suffice to annul the
+match.
+
+'You don't tell me', she said to Belinda, 'that Frederic's wife will
+have been the friend of such a woman as that!' And Lady Aylmer, sitting
+upstairs with her household books before her, put up her great fat
+hands and her great fat arms, and shook her head front and all in most
+satisfactory dismay.
+
+'But I suppose Clara did not know it.' Belinda had considered it to be
+an act of charity to call Miss Amedroz Clara since the family consent
+had been given.
+
+'Didn't know it! They have been living in that sort of way that they
+must have been confidantes in everything. Besides, I always hold that a
+woman is responsible for her female friends.'
+
+'I think if she consents to drop her at once that is, absolutely to
+make a promise that she will never speak to her again Frederic ought to
+take that as sufficient. That is, of course, mamma, unless she has had
+anything to do with it herself.'
+
+'After this I don't know how I'm to trust her. I don't indeed. It seems
+to me that she has been so artful throughout. It has been a regular
+case of catching.'
+
+'I suppose, of course, that she has been anxious to marry Frederic but
+perhaps that was natural.'
+
+'Anxious look at her going there just when he had to meet his
+constituents. How young women can do such things passes me! And how it
+is that men don't see it all, when it's going on just under their
+noses, I can't understand. And then, her getting my poor dear sister to
+speak to him when she was dying! I didn't think your aunt would have
+been so weak.' It will be thus seen that there was entire confidence on
+this subject between Lady Aylmer and her daughter.
+
+We know what were the steps taken with reference to the discovery, and
+how the family were waiting for Clara's reply. Lady Aylmer, though in
+her words she attributed so much mean cunning to Miss Amedroz, still
+was disposed to believe that that lady would show rather a high spirit
+on this occasion; and trusted to that high spirit as the means for
+making the breach which she still hoped to accomplish. It had been
+intended or rather desired that Captain Aylmer's letter should have
+been much sharper and authoritative than he had really made it; but the
+mother could not write the letter herself, and had felt that to write
+in her own name would not have served to create anger on Clara's part
+against her betrothed. But she had quite succeeded in inspiring her son
+with a feeling of horror against the iniquity of the Askertons. He was
+prepared to be indignantly moral; and perhaps perhaps the misguided
+Clara might be silly enough to say a word for her lost friend! Such
+being the present position of affairs, there was certainly ground for
+hope.
+
+And now they were all waiting for Clara's answer. Lady Aylmer had well
+calculated the course of post, and knew that a letter might reach them
+by Wednesday morning. 'Of course she will not write on Sunday,' she had
+said to her son, 'but you have a right to expect that not another day
+should go by.' Captain Aylmer, who felt that they were putting Clara on
+her trial, shook his head impatiently, and made no immediate answer.
+Lady Aylmer, triumphantly feeling that she had the culprit on the hip,
+did not care to notice this. She was doing the best she could for his
+happiness as she had done for his health, when in days gone by she had
+administered to him his infantine rhubarb and early senna; but as she
+had never then expected him to like her doses, neither did she now
+expect that he should be well pleased at the remedial measures to which
+he was to be subjected.
+
+No letter came on the Wednesday, nor did any come on the Thursday, and
+then it was thought by the ladies at the Park that the time had come
+for speaking a word or two. Belinda, at her mother's instance, began
+the attack not in her mother's presence, but when she only was with her
+brother.
+
+'Isn't it odd, Frederic, that Clara shouldn't write about those people
+at Belton?'
+
+'Somersetshire is the other side of London, and letters take a long
+time.'
+
+'But if she had written on Monday, her answer would have been here on
+Wednesday morning indeed, you would have had it Tuesday evening, as
+mamma sent over to Whitby for the day mail letters.' Poor Belinda was a
+bad lieutenant, and displayed too much of her senior officer's tactics
+in thus showing how much calculation and how much solicitude there had
+been as to the expected letter.
+
+'If I am contented I suppose you may be,' said the brother.
+
+'But it does seem to me to be so very important! If she hasn't got your
+letter, you know, it would be so necessary that you should write again,
+so that the the the contamination should be stopped as soon as
+possible.' Captain Aylmer shook his head and walked away. He was, no
+doubt, prepared to be morally indignant morally very indignant at the
+Askerton iniquity; but he did not like the word contamination as
+applied to his future wife.
+
+'Frederic,' said his mother, later on the same day when the hardly-used
+groom had returned from his futile afternoon's inquiry at the
+neighbouring post. town 'I think you should do something in this
+affair.'
+
+'Do what, ma'am? Go off to Belton myself?'
+
+'No, no. I certainly would not do that. In the first place it would be
+very inconvenient to you, and in the next place it would not be fair
+upon us. I did not mean that at all. But I think that something should
+be done. She should be made to understand.'
+
+'You may be sure, ma'am, that she understands as well as anybody.'
+
+'I dare say she is clever enough at these kind of things.'
+
+'What kind of things?'
+
+'Don't bite my nose off, Frederic, because I am anxious about your
+wife.'
+
+'What is it that you wish me to do? I have written to her, and can only
+wait for her answer.'
+
+'It may be that she feels a delicacy in writing to you on such a
+subject; though I own However, to make a long story short, if you like,
+I will write to her myself.'
+
+'I don't see that that would do any good. It would only give her
+offence.'
+
+'Give her offence, Frederic, to receive a letter from her future
+mother-in-law from me! Only think, Frederic, what you are saying.'
+
+'If she thought she was being bullied about this, she would turn rusty
+at once.'
+
+'Turn rusty! What am I to think of a young lady who is prepared to turn
+rusty at once, too because she is cautioned by the mother of the man
+she professes to love against an improper acquaintance against an
+acquaintance so very improper?' Lady Aylmer's eloquence should have
+been heard to be appreciated. It is but tame to say that she raised her
+fat arms and fat hands, and wagged her front her front that was the
+more formidable as it was the old one, somewhat rough and dishevelled,
+which she was wont to wear in the morning. The emphasis of her words
+should have been heard, and the fitting solemnity of her action should
+have been seen. 'If there were any doubt,' she continued to say, 'but
+there is no doubt. There are the damning proofs.' There are certain
+words usually confined to the vocabularies of men, which women such as
+Lady Aylmer delight to use on special occasions, when strong
+circumstances demand strong language. As she said this she put her hand
+below the table, pressing it apparently against her own august person;
+but she was in truth indicating the position of a certain valuable
+correspondence, which was locked up in the drawer of her writing-table.
+
+'You can write if you like it, of course; but I think you ought to wait
+a few more days.'
+
+'Very well, Frederic; then I will wait. I will wait till Sunday. I do
+not wish to take any step of which you do not approve. If you have not
+heard by Sunday morning, then I will write to her on Monday.'
+
+On the Saturday afternoon life was becoming inexpressibly disagreeable
+to Captain Aylmer, and he began to meditate an escape from the Park. In
+spite of the agreement between him and his mother, which he understood
+to signify that nothing more was to be said as to Clara's wickedness,
+at any rate till Sunday after post-hour, Lady Aylmer had twice attacked
+him on the Saturday, and had expressed her opinion that affairs were in
+a very frightful position. Belinda went about the house in melancholy
+guise, with her eyes rarely lifted off the ground, as though she were
+prophetically weeping the utter ruin of her brother's respectability.
+And even Sir Anthony had raised his eyes and shaken his head, when, on
+opening the post-bag at the breakfast-table an operation which was
+always performed by Lady Aylmer in person her ladyship had exclaimed,
+'again no letter!' Then Captain Aylmer thought that he would fly, and
+resolved that, in the event of such flight, he would give special
+orders as to the re-direction of his own letters from the post-office
+at Whitby.
+
+That evening, after dinner, as soon as his mother and sister had left
+the room, he began the subject with his father. 'I think I shall go up
+to town on Monday, sir,' said he.
+
+'So soon as that. I thought you were to stop till the 9th.'
+
+'There are things I must see to in London, and I believe I had better
+go at once.'
+
+'Your mother will be greatly disappointed.'
+
+'I shall be sorry for that but business is business, you know.' Then
+the father filled his glass and passed the bottle. He himself did not
+at all like the idea of his son's going before the appointed time, but
+he did not say a word of himself. He looked at the red-hot coals, and a
+hazy glimmer of a thought passed through his mind, that he too would
+escape from Aylmer Park if it were possible.
+
+'If you'll allow me, I'll take the dog-cart over to Whitby on Monday,
+for the express train.'
+
+'You can do that certainly, but'
+
+'Sir?'
+
+'Have you spoken to your mother yet?'
+
+'Not yet. I will to-night.'
+
+'I think she'll be a little angry, Fred.' There was a sudden tone of
+subdued confidence in the old man's voice as he made this suggestion,
+which, though it was by no means a customary tone, his son well
+understood. 'Don't you think she will be eh, a little?'
+
+'She shouldn't go on as she does with me about Clara,' said the captain.
+
+'Ah I supposed there was something of that. Are you drinking port?
+
+'Of course I know that she means all that is good,' said the son,
+passing back the bottle.
+
+'Oh yes she means all that is good.'
+
+'She is the best mother in the world.'
+
+'You may say that, Fred and the best wife.'
+
+'But if she can't have her own way altogether ' then the son paused,
+and the father shook his head.
+
+'Of course she likes to have her own way,' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'It's all very well in some things.'
+
+'Yes it's very well in some things'
+
+'But there are things which a man must decide for himself.'
+
+'I suppose there are,' said Sir Anthony, not venturing to think what
+those things might be as regarded himself.
+
+'Now, with reference to marrying'
+
+'I don't know what you want with marrying at all, Fred. You ought to be
+very happy as you are. By heavens, I don't know any one who ought to be
+happier. If I were you, I know'
+
+'But you see, sir, that's all settled.'
+
+'If it's all settled, I suppose there's an end of it.'
+
+'It's no good my mother nagging at one.'
+
+'My dear boy, she's been nagging at me, as you call it, for forty
+years. That's her way. The best woman in the world, as we were saying
+but that's her way. And it's the way with most of them. They can do
+anything if they keep it up anything. The best thing is to bear it if
+you've got it to bear. But why on earth you should go and marry, seeing
+that you're not the eldest son, and that you've got everything on earth
+that you want as a bachelor, I can't understand. I can't indeed, Fred.
+By heaven, I can't!' Then Sir Anthony gave a long sigh, and sat musing
+awhile, thinking of the club in London to which he belonged, but which
+he never entered of the old days in which he had been master of a
+bedroom near St. James's Street of his old friends whom he never saw
+now, and of whom he never heard, except as one and another, year after
+year, shuffled away from their wives to that world in which there is no
+marrying or giving in marriage. Ah, well,' he said, 'I suppose we may
+as well go into the drawing-room. If it is settled, I suppose it is
+settled. But it really seems to me that your mother is trying to do the
+best she can for you. It really does.'
+
+Captain Aylmer did not say anything to his mother that night as to his
+going, but as he thought of his prospects in the solitude of his
+bedroom, he felt really grateful to his father for the solicitude which
+Sir Anthony had displayed on his behalf. It was not often that he
+received paternal counsel, but now that it had come he acknowledged its
+value. That Clara Amedroz was a self-willed woman he thought that he
+was aware. She was self-reliant, at any rate and by no means ready to
+succumb with that pretty feminine docility which he would like to have
+seen her evince. He certainly would not wish to be 'nagged' by his wife
+Indeed he knew himself well enough to assure himself that he would not
+stand it for a day. In his own house he would be master, and if there
+came tempests he would rule them. He could at least promise himself
+that. As his mother had been strong, so had his father been weak. But
+he had as he felt thankful in knowing inherited his mother's strength
+rather than his father's weakness. But, for all that, why have a
+tempest to rule at all? Even though a man do rule his domestic
+tempests, he cannot have a very quiet house with them. Then again he
+remembered how very easily Clara had been won. He wished to be just to
+all men and women, and to Clara among the number. He desired even to be
+generous to her with a moderate generosity. But above all things he
+desired not to be duped. What if Clara had in truth instigated her aunt
+to that deathbed scene, as his mother had more than once suggested! He
+did not believe it. He was sure that it had not been so. But what if it
+were so? His desire to be generous and trusting was moderate but his
+desire not to be cheated, not to be deceived, was immoderate. Upon the
+whole might it not be well for him to wait a little longer, and
+ascertain how Clara really intended to behave herself in this emergency
+of the Askertons? Perhaps, after all, his mother might be right.
+
+On the Sunday the expected letter came but before its contents are made
+known, it will be well that we should go back to Belton, and see what
+was done by Clara in reference to the tidings which her lover had sent
+her.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+MRS ASKERTON'S STORY
+
+When Clara received the letter from Captain Aylmer on which so much is
+supposed to hang, she made up her mind to say nothing of it to any one
+not to think of it if she could avoid thinking of it till her cousin
+should have left her. She could not mention it to him; for, though
+there was no one from whom she would sooner have asked advice than from
+him, even on so delicate a matter as this, she could not do so in the
+present case, as her informant was her cousin's successful rival. When,
+therefore, Mrs Askerton on leaving the church had spoken some customary
+word to Clara, begging her to come to the cottage on the following day,
+Clara had been unable to answer not having as yet made up her mind
+whether she would or would not go to the cottage again. Of course the
+idea of consulting her father occurred to her or rather the idea of
+telling him; but any such telling would lead to some advice from him
+which she would find it difficult to obey, and to which she would be
+unable to trust. And, moreover, why should she repeat this evil story
+against her neighbours?
+
+She had a long morning by herself after Will had started, and then she
+endeavoured to arrange her thoughts and lay down for herself a line of
+conduct. Presuming this story to be true, to what did it amount? It
+certainly amounted to very much. If, in truth, this woman had left her
+own husband and gone away to live with another man, she had by doing so
+at any rate while she was doing so fallen in such a way as to make
+herself unfit for the society of an unmarried young woman who meant to
+keep her name unblemished before the world. Clara would not attempt any
+further unravelling of the case, even in her own mind but on that point
+she could not allow herself to have a doubt. Without condemning the
+unhappy victim, she understood well that she would owe it to all those
+who held her dear, if not to herself, to eschew any close intimacy with
+one in such a position. The rules of the world were too plainly written
+to allow her to guide herself by any special judgment of her own in
+such a matter. But if this friend of hers having been thus unfortunate
+had since redeemed, or in part redeemed, her position by a second
+marriage, would it be then imperative upon her to remember the past for
+ever, and to declare that the stain was indelible? Clara felt that with
+a previous knowledge of such a story she would probably have avoided
+any intimacy with Mrs Askerton. She would then have been justified in
+choosing whether such intimacy should or should not exist, and would so
+have chosen out of deference to the world's opinion. But now it was too
+late for that. Mrs Askerton had for years been her friend; and Clara
+had to ask herself this question: was it now needful did her own
+feminine purity demand that she should throw her friend over because in
+past years her life had been tainted by misconduct.
+
+It was clear enough at any rate that this was expected from her nay,
+imperatively demanded by him who was to be her lord by him to whom her
+future obedience would be due. Whatever might be her immediate
+decision, he would have a right to call upon her to be guided by his
+judgment as soon as she would become his wife. And indeed, she felt
+that he had such right now unless she should decide that no such right
+should be his, now or ever. It was still within her power to say that
+she could not submit herself to such a rule as his but having received
+his commands she must do that or obey them. Then she declared to
+herself, not following the matter out logically, but urged to her
+decision by sudden impulse, that at any rate she would not obey Lady
+Aylmer. She would have nothing to do, in any such matter, with Lady
+Aylmer. Lady Aylmer should be no god to her. That question about the
+house at Perivale had been very painful to her. She felt that she could
+have endured the dreary solitude at Perivale without complaint, if,
+after her marriage, her husband's circumstances had made such a mode of
+living expedient. But to have been asked to pledge her consent to such
+a life before her marriage, to feel that he was bargaining for the
+privilege of being rid of her, to know that the Aylmer people were
+arranging that he, if he would marry her, should be as little troubled
+with his wife as possible all this had been very grievous to her. She
+had tried to console herself by the conviction that Lady Aylmer not
+Frederic had been the sinner; but even in that consolation there had
+been the terrible flaw that the words had come to her written by
+Frederic's hand. Could Will Belton have written such a letter to his
+future wife?
+
+In her present emergency she must be guided by her own judgment or her
+own instincts not by any edicts from Aylmer Park! If in what she might
+do she should encounter the condemnation of Captain Aylmer, she would
+answer him she would be driven to answer him by counter-condemnation of
+him and his mother. Let it be so. Anything would be better than a mean,
+truckling subservience to the imperious mistress of Aylmer Park.
+
+But what should she do as regarded Mrs Askerton? That the story was
+true she was beginning to believe. That there was some such history was
+made certain to her by the promise which Mrs Askerton had given her.
+
+'If you want to ask any questions, and will ask them of me, I will
+answer them.' Such a promise would not have been volunteered unless
+there was something special to be told. It would be best, perhaps, to
+demand from Mrs Askerton the fulfilment of this promise. But then in
+doing so she must own from whence her information had come. Mrs
+Askerton had told her that the 'communication' would be made by her
+Cousin Will. Her Cousin Will had gone away without a word of Mrs
+Askerton, and now the 'communication' had come from Captain Aylmer!
+
+The Monday and Tuesday were rainy days, and the rain was some excuse
+for her not going to the cottage. On the Wednesday her father was ill,
+and his illness made a further excuse for her remaining at home. But on
+the Wednesday evening there came a note to her from Mrs Askerton. 'You
+naughty girl, why do you not come to me? Colonel Askerton has been away
+since yesterday morning, and I am forgetting the sound of my own voice.
+I did not trouble you when your divine cousin was here for reasons; but
+unless you come to me now I shall think that his divinity has
+prevailed. Colonel Askerton is in Ireland, about some property, and
+will not be back till next week.'
+
+Clara sent back a promise by the messenger, and on the following
+morning she put on her hat and shawl, and started on her dreaded task.
+When she left the house she had not even yet quite made up her mind
+what she would do. At first she put her lover's letter into her pocket,
+so that she might have it for reference; but, on second thoughts, she
+replaced it in her desk, dreading lest she might be persuaded into
+showing or reading some part of it. There had come a sharp frost after
+the rain, and the ground was hard and dry. In order that she might gain
+some further last moment for thinking, she walked round, up among the
+rocks, instead of going straight to the cottage; and for a moment
+though the air was sharp with frost she sat upon the stone where she
+had been seated when her Cousin Will blurted out the misfortune of his
+heart. She sat there on purpose that she might think of him, and recall
+his figure, and the tones of his voice, and the look of his eyes, and
+the gesture of his face. What a man he was so tender, yet so strong; so
+thoughtful of others, and yet so self- sufficient! She had,
+unconsciously, imputed to him one fault, that he had loved and then
+forgotten his love unconsciously, for she had tried to think that this
+was a virtue rather than a fault but now with a full knowledge of what
+she was doing, but without any intention of doing it she acquitted him
+of that one fault. Now that she could acquit him, she owned that it
+would have been a fault. To have loved, and so soon to have forgotten
+it! No; he had loved her truly, and alas! he was one who could not be
+made to forget it. Then she went on to the cottage, exercising her
+thoughts rather on the contrast between the two men than on the subject
+to which she should have applied them.
+
+'So you have come at last!' said Mrs Askerton. 'Till I got your message
+I thought there was to be some dreadful misfortune.'
+
+'What misfortune?'
+
+'Something dreadful! One often anticipates something very bad without
+exactly knowing what. At least, I do. I am always expecting a
+catastrophe when I am alone that is and then I am so often alone.'
+
+'That simply means low spirits, I suppose?'
+
+'It's more than that, my dear.'
+
+'Not much more, I take it.'
+
+'Once when we were in India we lived close to the powder magazine, and
+we were always expecting to be blown up. You never lived near a powder
+magazine.'
+
+'No, never unless there's one at Belton. But I should have thought that
+was exciting.'
+
+'And then there was the gentleman who always had the sword hanging over
+him by the horse's hair.'
+
+'What do you mean, Mrs Askerton?'
+
+'Don't look so innocent, Clara. You know what I mean. What were the
+results at last of your cousin's diligence as a detective officer?'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, you wrong my cousin greatly. He never once mentioned
+your name while he was with us. He did not make a single allusion to
+you, or to Colonel Askerton, or to the cottage.'
+
+'He did not?'
+
+'Never once.'
+
+'Then I beg his pardon. But not the less has he been busy making
+inquiries.'
+
+'But why should you say that there is a powder magazine, or a sword
+hanging over your head?'
+
+'Ah, why?'
+
+Here was the subject ready opened to her hand, and yet Clara did not
+know how to go on with it. It seemed to her now that it would have been
+easier for her to commence it, if Mrs Askerton had made no commencement
+herself. As it was, she knew not how to introduce the subject of
+Captain Aylmer's letter, and was almost inclined to wait, thinking that
+Mrs Askerton might tell her own story without any such introduction.
+But nothing of the kind was forthcoming. Mrs Askerton began to talk of
+the frost, and then went on to abuse Ireland, complaining of the
+hardship her husband endured in being forced to go thither in winter to
+look after his tenants.
+
+'What did you mean', said Clara, at last, 'by the sword hanging over
+your head?'
+
+'I think I told you what I meant pretty plainly. If you did not
+understand me I cannot tell you more plainly.'
+
+'It is odd that you should say so much, and not wish to say more.'
+
+'Ah! you are making your inquiries now.'
+
+'In my place would not you do so too? How can I help it when you talked
+of a sword? Of course you make me ask what the sword is.'
+
+'And am I bound to satisfy your curiosity?'
+
+'You told me, just before my cousin came here, that if I asked any
+question you would answer me.'
+
+'And I am to understand that you are asking such a question now?'
+
+'Yes if it will not offend you.'
+
+'But what if it will offend me offend me greatly? Who likes to be
+inquired into?'
+
+'But you courted such inquiry from me.'
+
+'No, Clara, I did not do that. I'll tell you what I did. I gave you to
+understand that if it was needful that you should hear about me and my
+antecedents certain matters as to which Mr Belton had been inquiring
+into in a manner that I thought to be most unjustifiable I would tell
+you that story.'
+
+'And do so without being angry with me for asking.'
+
+'I meant, of course, that I would not make it a ground for quarrelling
+with you. If I wished to tell you, I could do so without any inquiry.'
+
+'I have sometimes thought that you did wish to tell me.'
+
+'Sometimes I have almost.'
+
+'But you have no such wish now?'
+
+'Can't you understand? It may well be that one so much alone as I am
+living here without a female friend, or even acquaintance, except
+yourself should often feel a longing for that comfort which full
+confidence between us would give me.'
+
+'Then why not'
+
+'Stop a moment. Can't you understand that I may feel this, and yet
+entertain the greatest horror against inquiry? We all like to tell our
+own sorrows, but who likes to be inquired into? Many a woman burns to
+make a full confession, who would be as mute as death before a
+policeman.'
+
+'I am no policeman.'
+
+'But you are determined to ask a policeman's questions?'
+
+To this Clara made no immediate reply. She felt that she was acting
+almost falsely in going on with such questions, while she was in fact
+aware of all the circumstances which Mrs Askerton could tell but she
+did not know how to declare her knowledge and to explain it. She
+sincerely wished that Mrs Askerton should be made acquainted with the
+truth; but she had fallen into a line of conversation which did not
+make her own task easy. But the idea of her own hypocrisy was
+distressing to her, and she rushed at the difficulty with hurried,
+eager words, resolving that, at any rate, there should be no longer any
+doubt between them.
+
+'Mrs Askerton,' she said, 'I know it all. There is nothing for you to
+tell. I know what the sword is.'
+
+'What is it that you know?'
+
+'That you were married long ago to Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'Then Mr Belton did do me the honour of talking about me when he was
+here?' As she said this she rose from her chair, and stood before Clara
+with flashing eyes.
+
+'Not a word. He never mentioned your name, or the name of any one
+belonging to you. I have heard it from another.'
+
+'From what other?'
+
+'I do not know that that signifies but I have learned it.'
+
+'Well and what next?'
+
+'I do not know what next. As so much has been told me, and as you had
+said that I might ask you, I have come to you, yourself. I shall
+believe your own story more thoroughly from yourself than from any
+other teller.'
+
+'And suppose I refuse to answer you?'
+
+'Then I can say nothing further.'
+
+'And what will you do?'
+
+'Ah that I do not know. But you are harsh to me, while I am longing to
+be kind to you. Can you not see that this has been all forced upon me
+partly by yourself?'
+
+'And the other part who has forced that upon you? Who is your
+informant? If you mean to be generous, be generous altogether. Is it a
+man or a woman that has taken the trouble to rip up old sorrows that my
+name may be blackened? But what matters? There I was married to Captain
+Berdmore. I left him, and went away with my present husband. For three
+years I was a man's mistress, and not his wife. When that poor creature
+died we were married, and then came here. Now you know it all all all
+though doubtless your informant has made a better story of it. After
+that, perhaps, I have been very wicked to sully the air you breathe by
+my presence.'
+
+'Why do you say that to me?'
+
+'But no you do not know it all. No one can ever know it all. No one can
+ever know how I suffered before I was driven to escape, or how good to
+me has been he who who who ' Then she turned her back upon Clara, and,
+walking off to the window, stood there, hiding the tears which clouded
+her eyes, and concealing the sobs which choked her utterance.
+
+For some moments for a space which seemed long to both of them Clara
+kept her seat in silence. She hardly dared to speak; and though she
+longed to show her sympathy, she knew not what to say. At last she too
+rose and followed the other to the window. She uttered no words,
+however, but gently putting her arm around Mrs Askerton's waist, stood
+there close to her, looking out upon the cold wintry flower-beds not
+venturing to turn her eyes upon her companion. The motion of her arm
+was at first very gentle, but after a while she pressed it closer, and
+thus by degrees drew her friend to her with an eager, warm, and
+enduring pressure. Mrs Askerton made some little effort towards
+repelling her, some faint motion of resistance; but as the embrace
+became warmer the poor woman yielded herself to it, and allowed her
+face to fall upon Clara's shoulder. So they stood, speaking no word,
+making no attempt to rid themselves of the tears which were blinding
+their eyes, but gazing out through the moisture on the bleak wintry
+scene before them. Clara's mind was the more active at the moment, for
+she was resolving that in this episode of her life she would accept no
+lesson whatever from Lady Aylmer's teaching no, nor any lesson whatever
+from the teaching of any Aylmer in existence. And as for the world's
+rules, she would fit herself to them as best she could; but no such
+fitting should drive her to the unwomanly cruelty of deserting this
+woman whom she had known and loved and whom she now loved with a
+fervour which she had never before felt towards her.
+
+'You have heard it all now,' said Mrs Askerton at last.
+
+'And is it not better so?'
+
+'Ah I do not know. How should I know?'
+
+'Do you not know?' And as she spoke, Clara pressed her arm still
+closer. 'Do you not know yet?' Then, turning herself half round, she
+clasped the other woman full in her arms, and kissed her forehead and
+her lips.
+
+'Do you not know yet?'
+
+'But you will go away, and people will tell you that you are wrong.'
+
+'What people?' said Clara, thinking as she spoke of the whole family at
+Aylmer Park.
+
+'Your husband will tell you so.'
+
+'I have no husband as yet to order me what to think or what not to
+think.'
+
+'No not quite as yet. But you will tell him all this.'
+
+'He knows it. It was he who told me.
+
+'What! Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes; Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'And what did he say?'
+
+'Never mind. Captain Aylmer is not my husband not as yet. If he takes
+me, he must take me as I am, not as he might possibly have wished me to
+be. Lady Aylmer'
+
+'And does Lady Aylmer know it?'
+
+'Yes. Lady Aylmer is one of those hard, severe women who never forgive.'
+
+'Ah, I see it all now. I understand it all. Clara, you must forget me,
+and come here no more. You shall not be ruined because you are
+generous.'
+
+'Ruined! If Lady Aylmer's displeasure can ruin me, I must put up with
+ruin. I will not accept her for my guide. I am too old, and have had my
+own way too long. Do not let that thought trouble you. In this matter I
+shall judge for myself. I have judged for myself already.'
+
+'And your father?'
+
+'Papa knows nothing of it.'
+
+'But you will tell him?'
+
+'I do not know. Poor papa is very ill. If he were well I would tell
+him, and he would think as I do.'
+
+'And your cousin?'
+
+'You say that he has heard it all.'
+
+'I think so. Do you know that I remembered him the first moment that I
+saw him? But what could I do? When you mentioned to me my old name, my
+real name, how could I be honest? I have been driven to do that which
+has made honesty to me impossible. My life has been a lie; and yet how
+could I help it? I must live somewhere and how could I live anywhere
+without deceit?'
+
+'And yet that is so sad.'
+
+'Sad indeed! But what could I do? Of course I was wrong in the
+beginning. Though how am I to regret it, when it has given me such a
+husband as I have? Ah if you could know it all, I think I think you
+would forgive me.'
+
+Then by degrees she told it all, and Clara was there for hours
+listening to her story. The reader will not care to hear more of it
+than he has heard. Nor would Clara have desired any closer revelation;
+but as it is often difficult to obtain a confidence, so is it
+impossible to stop it in the midst of its effusion. Mrs Askerton told
+the history of her life of her first foolish engagement, her belief,
+her half-belief, in the man's reformation, of the miseries which
+resulted from his vices, of her escape and shame, of her welcome
+widowhood, and of her second marriage. And as she told it, she paused
+at every point to insist on the goodness of him who was now her
+husband. 'I shall tell him this,' she said at last. 'as I do
+everything; and then he will know that I have in truth got a friend.'
+
+She asked again and again about Mr Belton, but Clara could only tell
+her that she knew nothing of her cousin's knowledge. Will might have
+heard it all, but if so he had kept his information to himself.
+
+'And now what shall you do?' Mrs Askerton asked of Clara, at length
+prepared to go.
+
+'Do? in what way? I shall do nothing.'
+
+'But you will write to Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes I shall write to him.'
+
+'And about this?'
+
+'Yes I suppose I must write to him.'
+
+'And what will you say?'
+
+'That I cannot tell. I wish I knew what to say. If it were to his
+mother I could write my letter easily enough.'
+
+'And what would you say to her?'
+
+'I would tell her that I was responsible for my own friends. But I must
+go now. Papa will complain that I am so long away.' Then there was
+another embrace, and at last Clara found her way out of the house and
+was alone again in the park.
+
+She clearly acknowledged to herself that she had a great difficulty
+before her. She had committed herself altogether to Mrs Askerton, and
+could no longer entertain any thought of obeying the very plainly
+expressed commands which Captain Aylmer had given her. The story as
+told by Captain Aylmer had been true throughout; but, in the teeth of
+that truth, she intended to maintain her acquaintance with Mrs
+Askerton. From that there was now no escape. She had been carried away
+by impulse in what she had done and said at the cottage, but she could
+not bring herself to regret it. She could not believe that it was her
+duty to throw over and abandon a woman whom she loved, because that
+woman had once, in her dire extremity, fallen away from the path of
+virtue. But how was she to write the letter?
+
+When she reached her father he complained of her absence, and almost
+scolded her for having been so long at the cottage. 'I cannot see',
+said he, 'what you find in that woman to make so much of her.'
+
+'She is the only neighbour I have, papa.'
+
+'And better none than her, if all that people say of her is true.'
+
+'All that people say is never true, papa.'
+
+'There is no smoke without fire. I am not at all sure that it's good
+for you to be so much with her.'
+
+'Oh, papa don't treat me like a child.'
+
+'And I'm sure it's not good for me that you should be so much away. For
+anything I have seen of you all day you might have been at Perivale.
+But you are going soon, altogether, so I suppose I may as well make up
+my mind to it.'
+
+'I'm not going for a long time yet, papa.'
+
+'What do you mean by that?'
+
+'I mean that there's nothing to take me away from here at present.'
+
+'You are engaged to be married.'
+
+'But it will be a long engagement. It is one of those engagements in
+which neither party is very anxious for an immediate change.' There was
+something bitter in Clara's tone as she said this, which the old man
+perceived, but could only half understand. Clara remained with him then
+for the rest of the day, going down-stairs for five minutes to her
+dinner, and then returning to him and reading aloud while he dozed. Her
+winter evenings at Belton Castle were not very bright, but she was used
+to them and made no complaint.
+
+When she left her father for the night she got out her desk and
+prepared herself for her letter to her lover. She was determined that
+it should be finished that night before she went to bed. And it was so
+finished; though the writing of it gave her much labour, and occupied
+her till the late hours had come upon her. When completed it was as
+follows:
+
+'Belton Castle,
+
+Thursday Night.
+
+Dear Frederic I received your letter last Sunday, but I could not
+answer it sooner, as it required much consideration, and also some
+information which I have only obtained today. About the plan of living
+at Perivale I will not say much now, as my mind is so full of other
+things. I think, however, I may promise that I will never make any
+needless difficulty as to your plans. My cousin Will left us on Monday,
+so your mother need not have any further anxiety on that head. It does
+papa good to have him here, and for that reason I am sorry that he has
+gone. I can assure you that I don't think what you said about him meant
+anything at all particular. Will is my nearest cousin, and of course
+you would be glad that I should like him which I do, very much.
+
+And now about the other subject, which I own has distressed me, as you
+supposed it would I mean about Mrs Askerton. I find it very difficult
+in your letter to divide what comes from your mother and what from
+yourself. Of course I want to make the division, as every word from you
+has great weight with me. At present I don't know Lady Aylmer
+personally, and I cannot think of her as I do of you. Indeed, were I to
+know her ever so well, I could not have the same deference for her that
+I have for the man who is to be my husband. I only say this, as I fear
+that Lady Aylmer and I may not perhaps agree about Mrs Askerton.
+
+I find that your story about Mrs Askerton is in the main true. But the
+person who told it you does not seem to have known any of the
+provocations which she received. She was very badly treated by Captain
+Berdmore, who, I am afraid, was a terrible drunkard; and at last she
+found it impossible to stay with him. So she went away. I cannot tell
+you how horrid it all was, but I am sure that if I could make you
+understand it, it would go a long way in inducing you to excuse her.
+She was married to Colonel Askerton as soon as Captain Berdmore died,
+and this took place before she came to Belton. I hope you will remember
+that. It all occurred out in India, and I really hardly know what
+business we have to inquire about it now.
+
+At any rate, as I have been acquainted with her a long time, and very
+intimately, and as I am sure that she has repented of anything that has
+been wrong, I do not think that I ought to quarrel with her now. Indeed
+I have promised her that I will not. I think I owe it you to tell you
+the whole truth, and that is the truth.
+
+Pray give my regards to your mother, and tell her that I am sure she
+would judge differently if she were in my place. This poor woman has no
+other friend here; and who am I, that I should take upon myself to
+condemn her? I cannot do it. Dear Frederic, pray do not be angry with
+me for asserting my own will in this matter. I think you would wish me
+to have an opinion of my own. In my present position I am bound to have
+one, as I am, as yet, responsible for what I do myself. I shall be
+very, very sorry, if I find that you differ from me; but still I cannot
+be made to think that I am wrong. I wish you were here, that we might
+talk it over together, as I think that in that case you would agree
+with me.
+
+If you can manage to come to us at Easter, or any other time when
+Parliament does not keep you in London, we shall be so delighted to see
+you.
+
+Dear Frederic,
+
+Yours very affectionately,
+
+Clara Amedroz.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MISS AMEDROZ HAS ANOTHER CHANCE
+
+It was on a Sunday morning that Clara's letter reached Aylmer Park,
+and Frederic Aylmer found it on his plate as he took his place at the
+breakfast-table. Domestic habits at Aylmer Park had grown with the
+growth of years till they had become adamantine, and domestic habits
+required prayers every morning at a quarter before nine o'clock. At
+twenty minutes before nine Lady Aylmer would always be in the
+dining-room to make the tea and open the post-bag, and as she was
+always there alone, she knew more about other people's letters than
+other people ever knew about hers. When these operations were over she
+rang the bell, and the servants of the family, who by that time had
+already formed themselves into line in the hail, would march in, and
+settle themselves on benches prepared for them near the sideboard which
+benches were afterwards carried away by the retiring procession. Lady
+Aylmer herself always read prayers, as Sir Anthony never appeared till
+the middle of breakfast. Belinda would usually come down in a scurry as
+she heard her mother's bell, in such a way as to put the army in the
+hail to some confusion; but Frederic Aylmer, when he was at home,
+rarely entered the room till after the service was over. At Perivale no
+doubt he was more strict in his conduct; but then at Perivale he had
+special interests and influences which were wanting to him at Aylmer
+Park. During those five minutes Lady Aylmer would deal round the
+letters to the several plates of the inmates of her house not without
+looking at the post-office marks upon them; and on this occasion she
+had dealt a letter from Clara to her son.
+
+The arrival of the letter was announced to Frederic Aylmer before he
+took his seat.
+
+'Frederic,' said her ladyship, in her most portentous voice, 'I am glad
+to say that at last there is a letter from Belton.'
+
+He made no immediate reply, but making his way slowly to his place,
+took up the little packet, turned it over in his hand, and then put it
+into his pocket. Having done this, he began very slowly with his tea
+and egg. For three minutes his mother was contented to make, or to
+pretend to make, some effort in the same direction. Then her impatience
+became too much for her, and she began to question him.
+
+'Will you not read it, Frederic?'
+
+'Of course I shall, ma'am.'
+
+'But why not do so now, when you know how anxious we are?'
+
+'There are letters which one would sooner read in private.'
+
+'But when a matter is of so much importance ,' said Belinda.
+
+'The importance, Bel, is to me, and not to you,' said her brother.
+
+'All we want to know is,' continued the sister, 'that she promises to
+be guided by you in this matter; and of course we feel quite sure that
+she will.'
+
+'If you are quite sure that must be sufficient for you.'
+
+'I really think you need not quarrel with your sister,' said Lady
+Aylmer, 'because she is anxious as to the the respectability, I must
+say, for there is no other word, of a young lady whom you propose to
+make your wife. I can assure you that I am very anxious myself very
+anxious indeed.'
+
+Captain Aylmer made no answer to this, but he did not take the letter
+from his pocket. He drank his tea in silence, and in silence sent up
+his cup to be refilled. In silence also was it returned to him. He ate
+his two eggs and his three bits of toast, according to his custom, and
+when he had finished, sat out his three or four minutes as was usual.
+Then be got up to retire to his room, with the envelope still unbroken
+in his pocket.
+
+'You will go to church with us, I suppose?' said Lady Aylmer.
+
+'I won't promise, ma'am; but if I do, I'll walk across the park so that
+you need not wait for me.'
+
+Then both the mother and sister knew that the Member for Perivale did
+not intend to go to church on that occasion. To morning service Sir
+Anthony always went, the habits of Aylmer Park having in them more of
+adamant in reference to him than they had as regarded his son.
+
+When the father, mother, and daughter returned, Captain Aylmer had read
+his letter, and bad, after doing so, received further tidings from
+Belton Castle further tidings which for the moment prevented the
+necessity of any reference to the letter, and almost drove it from his
+own thoughts. When his mother entered the library he was standing
+before the fire with a scrap of paper in his hand.
+
+'Since you have been at church there has come a telegraphic message,'
+he said.
+
+'What is it, Frederic? Do not frighten me if you can avoid it!'
+
+'You need not be frightened, ma'am, for you did not know him. Mr
+Amedroz is dead.'
+
+'No!' said Lady Aylmer, seating herself.
+
+'Dead!' said Belinda, holding up her hands.
+
+'God bless my soul!' said the baronet, who had now followed the ladies
+into the room. 'Dead! Why, Fred, he was five years younger than I am!'
+
+Then Captain Aylmer read the words of the message ' Mr Amedroz died
+this morning at five o'clock. I have sent word to the lawyer and to Mr
+Belton.'
+
+'Who does it come from?' asked Lady Aylmer.
+
+'From Colonel Askerton.'
+
+Lady Aylmer paused, and shook her head, and moved her foot uneasily
+upon the carpet. The tidings, as far as they went, might be
+unexceptionable, but the source from whence they had come had evidently
+polluted them in her ladyship's judgment. Then she uttered a series of
+inter-ejaculations, expressions of mingled sorrow and anger.
+
+'There was no one else near her,' said Captain Aylmer apologetically.
+
+'Is there no clergyman in the parish?'
+
+'He lives a long way off. The message had to be sent at once.'
+
+'Are there no servants in the house? It looks it looks . But I am the
+last person in the world to form a harsh judgment of a young woman at
+such a moment as this. What did she say in her letter, Fred?'
+
+Captain Aylmer had devoted two hours of consideration to the letter
+before the telegram had come to relieve his mind by a fresh subject,
+and in those two hours he had not been able to extract much of comfort
+out of the document. It was, as he felt, a stubborn, stiff-necked,
+disobedient, almost rebellious letter. It contained a manifest defiance
+of his mother, and exhibited doctrines of most questionable morality.
+It had become to him a matter of doubt whether he could possibly marry
+a woman who could entertain such ideas and write such a letter. If the
+doubt was to be decided in his own mind against Clara, he had better
+show the letter at once to his mother, and allow her ladyship to fight
+the battle for him a task which, as he well knew, her ladyship would
+not be slow to undertake. But he had not succeeded in answering the
+question satisfactorily to himself when the telegram arrived and
+diverted all his thoughts. Now that Mr Amedroz was dead, the whole
+thing might be different. Clara would come away from Belton and Mrs
+Askerton, and begin life, as it were, afresh It seemed as though in
+such an emergency she ought to have another chance; and therefore he
+did not hasten to pronounce his judgment. Lady Aylmer also felt
+something of this, and forbore to press her question when it was not
+answered.
+
+'She will have to leave Belton now, I suppose?' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'The property will belong to a distant cousin a Mr William Belton.'
+
+'And where will she go?' said Lady Aylmer. 'I suppose she has no place
+that she can call her home?'
+
+'Would it not be a good thing to ask her here?' said Belinda. Such a
+question as that was very rash on the part of Miss Aylmer. In the first
+place, the selection of guests for Aylmer Park was rarely left to her;
+and in this special case she should have understood that such a
+proposal should have been fully considered by Lady Aylmer before it
+reached Frederic's ears.
+
+'I think it would be a very good plan,' said Captain Aylmer, generously.
+
+Lady Aylmer shook her head. 'I should like much to know what she has
+said about that unfortunate connexion before I offer to take her by the
+hand myself. I'm sure Fred will feel that I ought to do so.'
+
+But Fred retreated from the room without showing the letter. He
+retreated from the room and betook himself to solitude, that he might
+again endeavour to make up his mind as to what he would do. He put on
+his hat and his great-coat and gloves, and went off without his
+luncheon that he might consider it all. Clara Amedroz had now no home
+and, indeed, very little means of providing one. If he intended that
+she should be his wife, he must furnish her with a home at once. It
+seemed to him that three houses might possibly be open to her of which
+one, the only one which under such circumstances would be proper, was
+Aylmer Park. The other two were Plaistow Hall and Mrs Askerton's
+cottage at Belton. As to the latter should she ever take shelter there,
+everything must be over between him and her. On that point there could
+be no doubt. He could not bring himself to marry a wife out of Mrs
+Askerton's drawing-room, nor could he expect his mother to receive a
+young woman brought into the family under such circumstances. And
+Plaistow Hall was almost as bad. It was as bad to him, though it would,
+perhaps, be less objectionable in the eyes of Lady Aylmer. Should Clara
+go to Plaistow Hall there must be an end to everything. Of that also he
+taught himself to be quite certain. Then he took out Clara's letter and
+read it again. She acknowledged the story about the woman to be true
+such a story as it was too and yet refused to quarrel with the woman
+had absolutely promised the woman not to quarrel with her! Then he read
+and re-read the passage in which Clara claimed the right of forming her
+own opinion in such matters. Nothing could be more indelicate nothing
+more unfit for his wife. He began to think that he had better show the
+letter to his mother, and acknowledge that the match must be broken
+off. That softening of his heart which had followed upon the receipt of
+the telegraphic message departed from him as he dwelt upon the
+stubborn, stiff-necked, unfeminine obstinacy of the letter. Then he
+remembered that nothing had as yet been done towards putting his aunt's
+fifteen hundred pounds absolutely into Clara's hands; and he remembered
+also that she might at the present moment be in great want. William
+Belton might, not improbably, assist her in her want, and this idea was
+wormwood to him in spite of his almost formed resolution to give up his
+own claims. He calculated that the income arising from fifteen hundred
+pounds would be very small, and he wished that he had counselled his
+aunt to double the legacy. He thought very much about the amount of the
+money and the way in which it might be beat expended, and was, after
+his cold fashion, really solicitous as to Clara's welfare. If he could
+have fashioned her future life, and his own too, in accordance with his
+own now existing wishes, I think he would have arranged that neither of
+them should marry at all, and that to him should be assigned the duty
+and care of being Clara's protector with full permission to tell her
+his mind as often as he pleased on the subject of Mrs Askerton. Then he
+went in and wrote a note to Mr Green, the lawyer, desiring that the
+interest of the fifteen hundred pounds for one year might be at once
+remitted to Miss Amedroz. He knew that he ought to write to her himself
+immediately, without loss of a post; but how was he to write while
+things were in their present position? Were he now to condole with her
+on her father's death, without any reference to the great Askerton
+iniquity, he would thereby be condoning all that was past, and
+acknowledging the truth and propriety of her arguments. And he would be
+doing even worse than that. He would be cutting the ground absolutely
+from beneath his own feet as regarded that escape from his engagement
+which he was contemplating.
+
+What a cold-hearted, ungenerous wretch he must have been! That will be
+the verdict against him. But the verdict will be untrue. Cold-hearted
+and ungenerous he was; but he was no wretch as men and women are
+now-a-days called wretches. He was chilly hearted, but yet quite
+capable of enough love to make him a good son, a good husband, and a
+good father too. And though he was ungenerous from the nature of his
+temperament, he was not close-fisted or over covetous. And he was a
+just man, desirous of obtaining nothing that was not fairly his own.
+But, in truth, the artists have been so much in the habit of painting
+for us our friends' faces without any of those flaws and blotches with
+which work and high living are apt to disfigure us, that we turn in
+disgust from a portrait in which the roughnesses and pimples are made
+apparent.
+
+But it was essential that he should now do something, and before he sat
+down to dinner he did show Clara's letter to his mother. 'Mother,' he
+said, as he sat himself down in her little room upstairs and she knew
+well by the tone of his voice, and by the mode of his address, that
+there was to be a solemn occasion, and a serious deliberative council
+on the present existing family difficulty 'mother, of course I have
+intended to let you know what is the nature of Clara's answer to my
+letter.'
+
+'I am glad there is to be no secret between us, Frederic. You know how
+I dislike secrets in families.' As she said this she took the letter
+out of her son's hands with an eagerness that was almost greedy. As she
+read it, he stood over her, watching her eyes, as they made their way
+down the first page and on to the second, and across to the third, and
+so, gradually on, till the whole reading was accomplished. What Clara
+had written about her Cousin Will, Lady Aylmer did not quite
+understand; and on this point now she was so little anxious that she
+passed over that portion of the letter readily. But when she came to
+Mrs Askerton and the allusions to herself, she took care to comprehend
+the meaning and weight of every word. 'Divide your words and mine! Why
+should we want to divide them? Not agree with me about Mrs Askerton!
+How is it possible that any decent young woman should not agree with
+me! It is a matter in which there is no room for a doubt. True the
+story true! Of course it is true. Does she not know that it would not
+have reached her from Aylmer Park if it were not true? Provocation!
+Badly treated! Went away! Married to Colonel Askerton as soon as
+Captain Berdmore died! Why, Frederic, she cannot have been taught to
+understand the first principle of morals in life! And she that was so
+much with my poor sister! Well, well!' The reader should understand
+that the late Mrs Winterfield and Lady Aylmer had never been able to
+agree with each other on religious subjects. 'Remember that they are
+married. Why should we remember anything of the kind? It does not make
+an atom of difference to the woman's character. Repented! How can Clara
+say whether she has repented or not? But that has nothing to do with
+it. Not quarrel with her as she calls it! Not give her up! Then,
+Frederic, of course it must be all over, as far as you are concerned.'
+When she had finished her reading, she returned the letter, still open,
+to her son, shaking her head almost triumphantly. As far as I am a
+judge of a young woman's character, I can only give you one counsel,'
+said Lady Aylmer solemnly.
+
+'I think that she should have another chance,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'What other chance can you give her? It seems to me that she is
+obstinately bent on her own destruction.'
+
+'You might ask her to come here, as Belinda suggested.'
+
+'Belinda was very foolish to suggest anything of the kind without more
+consideration.'
+
+'I suppose that my future wife would be made welcome here?
+
+'Yes, Frederic, certainly. I do not know who could be more welcome. But
+is she to be your wife?'
+
+'We are engaged.'
+
+'But does not that letter break any engagement? Is there not enough in
+that to make such a marriage quite out of the question? What do you
+think about it yourself, Frederic?'
+
+'I think that she should have another chance.'
+
+What would Clara have thought of all this herself if she could have
+heard the conversation between Lady Aylmer and her betrothed husband,
+and have known that her lover was proposing to give her 'another
+chance?' But it is lucky for us that we seldom know what our best
+friends say on our behalf, when they discuss us and our faults behind
+our backs.
+
+'What chance, Frederic, can she have? She knows all about this horrid
+woman, and yet refuses to give her up! What chance can she have after
+that?'
+
+'I think that you might have her here and talk to her.' Lady Aylmer, in
+answer to this, simply shook her head. And I think she was right in
+supposing that such shaking of her head was a sufficient reply to her
+son's proposition. What talking could possibly be of service to such a
+one as this Miss Amedroz? Why should she throw her pearls before swine?
+'We must either ask her to come here, or else I must go to her,' said
+Captain Aylmer.
+
+'I don't see that at all, Frederic.'
+
+'I think it must be so. As she is situated at present she has got no
+home; and I think it would be very horrid that she should be driven
+into that woman's house, simply because she has no other shelter for
+her head.'
+
+'I suppose she can remain where she is for the present?
+
+'She is all alone, you know; and it must be very gloomy and her cousin
+can turn her out at a moment's notice.'
+
+'But that would not entitle her to come here, unless'
+
+'No I quite understand that. But you cannot wonder that I should feel
+the hardship of her position.'
+
+'Who is to be blamed if it be hard? You see, Frederic, I take my
+standing upon that letter her own letter. How am I to ask a young woman
+into my house who declares openly that my opinion on such a matter goes
+for nothing with her? How am I to do it? That's what I ask you. How am
+I to do it? It's all very well for Belinda to suggest this and that.
+But how am I to do it? That's what I want to know.'
+
+But at last Lady Aylmer managed to answer the question for herself, and
+did do it. But this was not done on that Sunday afternoon, nor on the
+Monday, nor on the Tuesday. The question was closely debated, and at
+last the anxious mother perceived that the giving of the invitation
+would be more safe than withholding it. Captain Aylmer at last
+expressed his determination to go to Belton unless the invitation were
+given; and then, should he do that, there might be danger that he would
+never be again seen at Aylmer Park till he brought Clara Amedroz with
+him as his wife. The position was one of great difficulty, but the
+interests at stake were so immense that something must be risked. It
+might be that Clara would not come when invited, and in that case her
+obstinacy would be a great point gained. And if she came ! Well; Lady
+Aylmer admitted to herself that the game would be difficult difficult
+and very troublesome; but yet it might be played, and perhaps won. Lady
+Aylmer was a woman who had great confidence in herself. Not so utterly
+had victory in such contests deserted her hands, that she need fear to
+break a lance with Miss Amedroz beneath her own roof, when the occasion
+was so pressing.
+
+The invitation was therefore sent in a note written by herself, and was
+enclosed in a letter from her son. After much consultation and many
+doubts on the subject, it was at last agreed that nothing further
+should now be urged about Mrs Askerton. 'She shall have her chance,'
+said Lady Aylmer over and over again, repeating her son's words. 'She
+shall have her chance.' Lady Aylmer, therefore, in her note, confined
+herself strictly to the giving of the invitation, and to a suggestion
+that, as Clara had now no settled home of her own, a temporary sojourn
+at Aylmer Park might be expedient. And Captain Aylmer in his letter
+hardly said much more. He knew, as he wrote the words, that they were
+cold and comfortless, and that he ought on such an occasion to have
+written words that should have been warm at any rate, even though they
+might not have contained comfort. But, to have written with affection,
+he should have written at once, and he had postponed his letter from
+the Sunday till the Wednesday. It had been absolutely necessary that
+that important question as to the invitation should be answered before
+he could write at all.
+
+When all this was settled he went up to London; and there was an
+understanding between him and his mother that he should return to
+Aylmer Park with Clara, in the event of her acceptance of the
+invitation.
+
+'You won't go down to Belton for her?' said the mother.
+
+'No I do not think that will be necessary,' said the son.
+
+'I should think not,' said the mother.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+WILLIAM BELTON DOES NOT GO OUT HUNTING
+
+WE will now follow the other message which was sent down into Norfolk,
+and which did not get into Belton's hands till the Monday morning. He
+was sitting with his sister at breakfast, and was prepared for hunting,
+when the paper was brought into the room. Telegraphic messages were not
+very common at Plaistow Hall, and on the arrival of any that had as yet
+reached that house, something of that awe had been felt with which such
+missives were always accompanied in their earliest days. 'A telegruff
+message, mum, for Mr William,' said the maid, looking at her mistress
+with eyes opened wide, as she handed the important bit of paper to her
+master. Will opened it rapidly, laying down the knife and fork with
+which he was about to operate upon a ham before him. He was dressed in
+boots and breeches, and a scarlet coat in which garb he was, in his
+sister's eyes, the most handsome man in Norfolk.
+
+'Oh, Mary!' he exclaimed.
+
+'What is it, Will?'
+
+'Mr Amedroz is dead.'
+
+Miss Belton put out her hand for the paper before she spoke again, as
+though she could better appreciate the truth of what she heard when
+reading it herself on the telegraph slip than she had done from her
+brother's words. 'How sudden! how terribly sudden!' she said.
+
+'Sudden indeed. When I left him he was not well, certainly, but I
+should have said that he might have lived for twenty years. Poor old
+man! I can hardly say why it was so, but I had taken a liking to him.'
+
+'You take a liking to everybody, Will.'
+
+'No I don't. I know people I don't like.' Will Belton as he said this
+was thinking of Captain Aylmer, and he pressed the heel of his boot
+hard against the floor.
+
+'And Mr Amedroz is dead! It seems to be so terribly sudden. What will
+she do, Will?'
+
+'That's what I'm thinking about.'
+
+'Of course you are, my dear. I can see that. I wish I wish'
+
+'It's no good wishing anything, Mary. I don't think wishing ever did
+any good yet. If I might have my wish, I shouldn't know how to have it.'
+
+'I was wishing that you didn't think so much about it.'
+
+'You need not be troubled about me. I shall do very well. But what is
+to become of her now at once? Might she not come here? You are now the
+nearest female relation that she has.'
+
+Mary looked at him with her anxious, painful eyes, and he knew by her
+look that she did not approve of his plan. 'I could go away,' he
+continued. 'She could come to you without being troubled by seeing me.'
+
+'And where would you go, Will?'
+
+'What does it matter? To the devil, I suppose.'
+
+'Oh, Will, Will!'
+
+'You know what I mean. I'd go anywhere. Where is she to find a home
+till till she is married?' He had paused at the word; but was
+determined not to shrink from it, and bolted it out in a loud, sharp
+tone so that both he and she recognized all the meaning of the word all
+that was conveyed in the idea. He hated himself when he endeavoured to
+conceal from his own mind any of the misery that was coming upon him.
+He loved her. He could not get over it. The passion was on him like a
+palsy, for the shaking off of which no sufficient physical energy was
+left to him. It clung to him in his goings out and comings in with a
+painful, wearing tenacity, against which he would now and again
+struggle, swearing that it should be so no longer but against which he
+always struggled in vain. It was with him when he was hunting. He was
+ever thinking of it when the bird rose before his gun. As he watched
+the furrow, as his men and horses would drive it straight and deep
+through the ground, he was thinking of her and not of the straightness
+and depth of the furrow, as had been his wont in former years. Then he
+would turn away his f toe, and stand alone in his field, blinded by the
+salt drops in his eyes, weeping at his own weakness. And when he was
+quite alone, he would stamp his foot on the ground, and throw abroad
+his arms, and curse himself. What Nessus's shirt was this that had
+fallen upon him, and unmanned him from the sole of his foot to the top
+of his head? He went through the occupations of the week. He hunted,
+and shot, and gave his orders, and paid his men their wages but he did
+it all with a palsy of love upon him as he did it. He wanted her, and
+he could not overcome the want. He could not bear to confess to himself
+that the thing by which he had set so much store could never belong to
+him. His sister understood it all, and sometimes he was almost angry
+with her because of her understanding it. She sympathized with him in
+all his moods, and sometimes he would shake away her sympathy as though
+it scalded him. 'Where is she to find a home till till she is married?'
+he said.
+
+Not a word had as yet been said between them about the property which
+was now his estate. He was now Belton of Belton, and it must be
+supposed that both he and she had remembered that it was so. But
+hitherto not a word had been said between them on that point. Now she
+was compelled to allude to it. 'Cannot she live at the Castle for the
+present?
+
+'What all alone?'
+
+'Of course she is remaining there now.'
+
+'Yes,' said he, 'of course she is there now. Now! Why, remember what
+these telegraphic messages are. He died only on yesterday morning. Of
+course she is there, but I do not think it can be good that she should
+remain there. There is no one near her where she is but that Mrs
+Askerton. It can hardly be good for her to have no other female friend
+at such a time as this.'
+
+'I do not think that Mrs Askerton will hurt her.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton will not hurt her at all and as long as Clara does not
+know the story, Mrs Askerton may serve as well as another. But yet'
+
+'Can I go to her, Will?'
+
+'No, dearest. The journey would kill you in winter. And he would not
+like it. We are bound to think of that for her sake cold-hearted,
+thankless, meagre-minded creature as I know he is.'
+
+'I do not know why he should be so bad.'
+
+'No, nor I. But I know that he is. Never mind. Why should we talk about
+him? I suppose she'll have to go there to Aylmer Park. I suppose they
+will send for her, and keep her there till it's all finished. I'll tell
+you what, Mary I shall give her the place.'
+
+'What Belton Castle?'
+
+'Why not? Will it ever be of any good to you or me? Do you want to go
+and live there?'
+
+'No, indeed not for myself.'
+
+'And do you think that I could live there? Besides why should she be
+turned out of her father's house?
+
+'He would not be mean enough to take it.'
+
+'He would be mean enough for anything. Besides, I should take very good
+care that it should be settled upon her.'
+
+'That's nonsense, Will it is indeed. You are now William Belton of
+Belton, and you must remain so.'
+
+'Mary I would sooner be Will Belton with Clara Amedroz by my side to
+get through the world with me, and not the interest of an acre either
+at Belton Castle or at Plaistow Hall! And I believe I should be the
+richer man at the end if there were any good in that.' Then he went out
+of the room, and she heard him go through the kitchen, and knew that he
+passed out into the farm-yard, towards the stable, by the back-door. He
+intended, it seemed, to go on with his hunting in spite of this death
+which had occurred. She was sorry for it, but she could not venture to
+stop him. And she was sorry also that nothing had been settled as to
+the writing of any letter to Clara. She, however, would take upon
+herself to write while he was gone.
+
+He went straight out towards the stables, hardly conscious of what he
+was doing or where he was going, and found his hack ready saddled for
+him in the stall. Then he remembered that he must either go or come to
+some decision that he would not go. The horse that he intended to ride
+had been sent on to the meet, and if he were not to be used, some
+message must be dispatched as to the animal's return. But Will was half
+inclined to go, although he knew that the world would judge him to be
+heartless if he were to go hunting immediately on the receipt of the
+tidings which had reached him that morning. He thought that he would
+like to set the world at defiance in this matter. Let Frederic Aylmer
+go into mourning for the old man who was dead. Let Frederic Aylmer be
+solicitous for the daughter who was left lonely in the old house. No
+doubt. he, Will Belton, had inherited the dead man's estate, and
+should, therefore, in accordance with all the ordinary rules of the
+world on such matters, submit himself at any rate to the decency of
+funereal reserve. An heir should not be seen out hunting on the day on
+which such tidings as to his heritage had reached him. But he did not
+wish, in his present mood, to be recognized as the heir. He did not
+want the property. He would have preferred to rid himself altogether of
+any of the obligations which the ownership of the estate entailed upon
+him. It was not permitted to him to have the custody of the old
+squire's daughter, and therefore he was unwilling to meddle with any of
+the old squire's concerns.
+
+Belton had gone into the stable, and had himself loosed the animal,
+leading him out into the yard as though he were about to mount him.
+Then he had given the reins to a stable boy, and had walked away among
+the farm buildings, not thinking of what he was doing. The lad stood
+staring at him with open mouth, not at all understanding his master's
+hesitation. The meet, as the boy knew, was fourteen miles off, and
+Belton had not allowed himself above an hour and a half for the
+journey. It was his practice to jump into the saddle and bustle out of
+the place, as though seconds were important to him. He would look at
+his watch with accuracy, and measure his pace from spot to spot, as
+though minutes were too valuable to be lost. But now he wandered away
+like one distraught, and the stable boy knew that something was wrong.
+'I thout he was a thinken of the white cow as choked 'erself with the
+tunnup that was skipped in the chopping,' said the boy, as he spoke of
+his master afterwards to the old groom. At last, however, a thought
+seemed to strike Belton. 'Do you get on Brag,' he said to the boy, 'and
+ride off to Goldingham Corner, and tell Daniel to bring the horse home
+again. I shan't hunt today. And I think I shall go away from home. If
+so, tell him to be sure the horses are out every morning and tell him
+to stop their beans. I mightn't hunt again for the next month.' Then he
+returned into the house, and went to the parlour in which his sister
+was sitting. 'I shan't go out today,' he said.
+
+'I thought you would not, Will,' she answered.
+
+'Not that I see any harm in it.'
+
+'I don't say that there is any harm, but it is as well on such
+occasions to do as others do.'
+
+'That's humbug, Mary.'
+
+'No, Will; I do not think that. When any practice has become the fixed
+rule of the society in which we live, it is always wise to adhere to
+that rule, unless it call upon us to do something that is actually
+wrong. One should not offend the prejudices of the world, even if one
+is quite sure that they are prejudices.'
+
+'It hasn't been that that has brought me back, Mary. I'll tell you
+what. I think I'll go down to Belton after all.'
+
+His sister did not know what to say in answer to this. Her chief
+anxiety was, of course, on behalf of her brother. That he should be
+made to forget Clara Amedroz, if that were only possible, was her great
+desire; and his journey at such a time as this down to Belton was not
+the way to accomplish such forgetting. And then she felt that Clara
+might very possibly not wish to see him. Had Will simply been her
+cousin, such a visit might be very well; but he had attempted to be
+more than her cousin, and therefore it would probably not be well.
+Captain Aylmer might not like it; and Mary felt herself bound to
+consider even Captain Aylmer's likings in such a matter. And yet she
+could not bear to oppose him in anything. 'It would be a very long
+journey,' she said.
+
+'What does that signify?'
+
+'And then it might so probably be for nothing.'
+
+'Why should it be for nothing?'
+
+'Because '
+
+'Because what? Why don't you speak out? You need not be afraid of
+hurting me. Nothing that you can say can make it at all worse than it
+is.'
+
+'Dear Will, I wish I could make it better.'
+
+'But you can't. Nobody can make it either better or worse. I promised
+her once before that I would go to her when she might be in trouble,
+and I will be as good as my word. I said I would be a brother to her
+and so I will. So help me God, I will!' Then he rushed out of the room,
+striding through the door as though he would knock it down, and hurried
+up. stairs to his own chamber. When there he stripped himself of his
+hunting things, and dressed himself again with all the expedition in
+his power; and then he threw a heap of clothes into a large
+portmanteau, and set himself to work packing as though everything in
+the world were to depend upon his catching a certain train. And he went
+to a locked drawer, and taking out a cheque-book, folded it up and put
+it into his pocket. Then he rang the bell violently; and as he was
+locking the portmanteau, pressing down the lid with all his weight and
+all his strength, he ordered that a certain mare should be put into a
+certain dog-cart and that somebody might be ready to drive over with
+him to the Downham Station. Within twenty minutes of the time of his
+rushing upstairs he appeared again before his sister with a greatcoat
+on, and a railway rug hanging over his arm. 'Do you mean that you are
+going today?' said she.
+
+'Yes. I'll catch the 11.40 up-train at Downham. What's the good of
+going unless I go at once? If I can be of any use it will be at the
+first. It may be that she will have nobody there to do anything for
+her.'
+
+'There is the clergyman, and Colonel Askerton even if Captain Aylmer
+has not gone down.'
+
+'The clergyman and Colonel Askerton are nothing to her. And if that man
+is there I can come back again.'
+
+'You will not quarrel with him?'
+
+'Why should I quarrel with him? What is there to quarrel about? I'm not
+such a fool as to quarrel with a man because I hate him. If he is there
+I shall see her for a minute or two, and then I shall come back.'
+
+'I know it is no good my trying to dissuade you.'
+
+'None on earth. If you knew it all you would not try to dissuade me.
+Before I thought of asking her to be my wife and yet I thought of that
+very soon but before I ever thought of that, I told her that when she
+wanted a brother's help I would give it her. Of course I was thinking
+of the property that she shouldn't be turned out of her father's house
+like a beggar. I hadn't any settled plan then how could I? But I meant
+her to understand that when her father died I would be the same to her
+that I am to you. If you were alone, in distress, would I not go to
+you?'
+
+'But I have no one else, Will,' said she, stretching out her hand to
+him where he stood.
+
+'That makes no difference,' he replied, almost roughly. A promise is a
+promise, and I resolved from the first that my promise should hold good
+in spite of my disappointment. Dear, dear it seems but the other day
+when I made it and now, already, everything is changed.' As he was
+speaking the servant entered the room, and told him that the horse and
+gig were ready for him. 'I shall just do it nicely,' said he, looking
+at his watch. 'I have over an hour. God bless you, Mary. I shan't be
+away long. You may be sure of that.'
+
+'I don't suppose you can tell as yet, Will.'
+
+'What should keep me long? I shall see Green as I go by, and that is
+half of my errand. I dare say I shan't stay above a night down in
+Somersetshire.'
+
+'You'll have to give some orders about the estate.'
+
+'I shall not say a word on the subject to anybody; that is, not to
+anybody there. I am going to look after her, and not the estate.' Then
+he stooped down and kissed his sister, and in another minute was
+turning the corner out of the farm-yard on to the road at a quick pace,
+not losing a foot of ground in the turn, in that fashion of rapidity
+which the horses at Plaistow Hall soon learned from their master. The
+horse is a closely sympathetic beast, and will make his turns, and do
+his trottings, and comport himself generally in strict unison with the
+pulsation of his master's heart. When a horse won't jump it is
+generally the case that the inner man is declining to jump also, let
+the outer man seem ever so anxious to accomplish the feat.
+
+Belton, who was generally very communicative with his servants, always
+talking to any man he might have beside him in his dog-cart about the
+fields and cattle and tillage around him, said not a word to the boy
+who accompanied him on this occasion. He had a good many things to
+settle in his mind before he got to London, and he began upon the work
+as soon as he had turned the corner out of the farm-yard. As regarded
+this Belton estate, which was now altogether his own, he had always bad
+doubts and qualms qualms of feeling rather than of conscience; and he
+had, also, always entertained a strong family ambition. His people,
+ever so far back, had been Beltons of Belton. They told him that his
+family could be traced back to very early days before the Plantagenets,
+as he believed, though on this point of the subject he was very hazy in
+his information and he liked the idea of being the man by whom the
+family should be reconstructed in its glory. Worldly circumstances had
+been so kind to him, that he could take up the Belton estate with more
+of the prestige of wealth than had belonged to any of the owners of the
+place for many years past. Should it come to pass that living there
+would be desirable, he could rebuild the old house, and make new
+gardens, and fit himself out with all the pleasant braveries of a
+well-to-do English squire. There need be no pinching and scraping, no
+question whether a carriage would be possible, no doubt as to the
+prudence of preserving game. All this had given much that was
+delightful to his prospects. And he had, too, been instigated by a
+somewhat weak desire to emerge from that farmer's rank into which he
+knew that many connected with him had supposed him to have sunk. It was
+true that he farmed land that was half his own and that, even at
+Plaistow, he was a wealthy man; but Plaistow Hall, with all its
+comforts, was a farm-house; and the ambition to be more than a farmer
+had been strong upon him.
+
+But then there had been the feeling that in taking the Belton estate he
+would be robbing his Cousin Clara of all that should have been hers. It
+must be remembered that he had not been brought up in the belief that
+he would ever become the owner of Belton. All his high ambition in that
+matter had originated with the wretched death of Clara's brother. Could
+he bring himself to take it all with pleasure, seeing that it came to
+him by so sad a chance by a catastrophe so deplorable? When he would
+think of this, his mind would revolt from its own desires, and he would
+declare to himself that his inheritance would come to him with a stain
+of blood upon it. He, indeed, would have been guiltless; but how could
+he take his pleasure in the shades of Belton without thinking of the
+tragedy which had given him the property? Such had been the thoughts
+and desires, mixed in their nature and militating against each other,
+which had induced him to offer his first visit to his cousin's house.
+We know what was the effect of that visit, and by what pleasant scheme
+he had endeavoured to overcome all his difficulties, and so to become
+master of Belton that Clara Amedroz should also be its mistress. There
+had been a way which, after two days' intimacy with Clara, seemed to
+promise him comfort and happiness on all sides. But he had come too
+late, and that way was closed against him! Now the estate was his, and
+what was he to do with it? Clara belonged to his rival, and in what way
+would it become him to treat her? He was still thinking simply of the
+cruelty of the circumstances which had thrown Captain Aylmer between
+him and his cousin, when he drove himself up to the railway station at
+Downham.
+
+'Take her back steady, Jem,' he said to the boy.
+
+'I'll be sure to take her wery steady,' Jem answered, 'and tell Compton
+to have the samples of barley ready for me. I may be back any day, and
+we shall be sowing early this spring.'
+
+Then he left his cart, followed the porter who had taken his luggage
+eagerly, knowing that Mr Belton was always good for sixpence, and in
+five minutes' time he was again in motion.
+
+On his arrival in London he drove at once to the chambers of his
+friend, Mr Green, and luckily found the lawyer there. Had he missed
+doing this, it was his intention to go out to his friend's house; and
+in that case he could not have gone down to Taunton till the next
+morning; but now he would be able to say what he wished to say, and
+hear what he wished to hear, and would travel down by the night- mail
+train. He was anxious that Clara should feel that he had hurried to her
+without a moment's delay. It would do no good. He knew that. Nothing
+that he could do would alter her, or be of any service to him. She had
+accepted this man, and had herself no power of making a change, even if
+she should wish it. But still there was to him something of
+gratification in the idea that she should be made to feel that he,
+Belton, was more instant in his affection, more urgent in his good
+offices, more anxious to befriend her in her difficulties, than the man
+whom she had consented to take for her husband. Aylmer would probably
+go down to Belton, but Will was very anxious to be the first on the
+ground very anxious though his doing so could be of no use. All this
+was wrong on his part. He knew that it was wrong, and he abused himself
+for his own selfishness. But such self-abuse gave him no aid in
+escaping from his own wickedness. He would, if possible, be at Belton
+before Captain Aylmer; and he would, if possible, make Clara feel that,
+though he was not a Member of Parliament, though he was not much given
+to books, though he was only a farmer, yet he had at any rate as much
+heart and spirit as the fine gentleman whom she preferred to him.
+
+'I thought I should see you,' said the lawyer; 'but I hardly expected
+you so soon as this.'
+
+'I ought to have been a day sooner, only we don't get our telegraphic
+messages on a Sunday.'
+
+He still kept his greatcoat on; and it seemed by his manner that he had
+no intention of staying where he was above a minute or two.
+
+'You'll come out and dine with me today?' said Mr Green.
+
+'I can't do that, for I shall go down by the mail train.'
+
+'I never saw such a fellow in my life. What good will that do? It is
+quite right that you should be there in time for the funeral; but I
+don't suppose he will he buried before this day week.'
+
+But Belton had never thought about the funeral. When he had spoken to
+his sister of saying but a few words to Clara and then returning, he
+had forgotten that there would be any such ceremony, or that he would
+be delayed by any such necessity.
+
+'I was not thinking about the funeral,' said Belton. 'You'll only find
+yourself uncomfortable there.'
+
+'Of course I shall be uncomfortable.'
+
+'You can't do anything about the property, you know.'
+
+'What do you mean by doing anything?' said Belton, in an angry tone.
+
+'You can't very well take possession of the place, at any rate, till
+after the funeral. It would not be considered the proper thing to do.'
+
+'You think, then, that I'm a bird of prey, smelling the feast from afar
+off, and hurrying at the dead man's carcase as soon as the breath is
+out of his body?'
+
+'I don't think anything of the kind, my dear fellow.'
+
+'Yes, you do, or you wouldn't talk to me about doing the proper thing!
+I don't care a straw about the proper thing! If I find that there's
+anything to be done tomorrow that can be of any use, I shall do it,
+though all Somersetshire should think it improper! But I'm not going to
+look after my own interests!'
+
+'Take off your coat and sit down, Will, and don't look angry at me. I
+know that you're not greedy, well enough. Tell me what you are going to
+do, and let me see if I can help you.'
+
+Belton did as he was told; he pulled off his coat and sat himself down
+by the fire. 'I don't know that you can do anything to help me at
+least, not as yet. But I must go and see after her. Perhaps she may be
+all alone.'
+
+'I suppose she is all alone.'
+
+'He hasn't gone down, then?'
+
+'Who Captain Aylmer? No he hasn't gone down, certainly. He is in
+Yorkshire.'
+
+'I'm glad of that!'
+
+'He won't hurry himself. He never does, I fancy. I had a letter from
+him this morning about Miss Amedroz.'
+
+'And what did he say?'
+
+'He desired me to send her seventy-five pounds the interest of her
+aunt's money.'
+
+'Seventy-five pounds!' said Will Belton, contemptuously.
+
+'He thought she might want money at once; and I sent her the cheque
+today. It will go down by the same train that carries you.'
+
+'Seventy-five pounds! And you are sure that he has not gone himself?'
+
+'It isn't likely that he should have written to me, and passed through
+London himself, at the same time but it is possible, no doubt. I don't
+think he even knew the old squire; and there is no reason why he should
+go to the funeral.'
+
+'No reason at all,' said Belton who felt that Captain Aylmer's presence
+at the Castle would be an insult to himself. 'I don't know what on
+earth he should do there except that I think him just the fellow to
+intrude where he is not wanted.' And yet Will was in his heart
+despising Captain Aylmer because he had not already hurried down to the
+assistance of the girl whom he professed to love.
+
+'He is engaged to her, you know,' said the lawyer, in a low voice.
+
+'What difference does that make with such a fellow as he is a
+cold-blooded fish of a man, who thinks of nothing in the world but
+being respectable? Engaged to her! Oh, damn him!'
+
+'I've not the slightest objection. I don't think, however, that you'll
+find him at Belton before you. No doubt she will have heard from him;
+and it strikes me as very possible that she may go to Aylmer Park.'
+
+'What should she go there for?'
+
+'Would it not be the best place for her?'
+
+'No. My house would be the best place for her. I am her nearest
+relative. Why should she not come to us?'
+
+Mr Green turned round his chair and poked the fire, and fidgeted about
+for some moments before he answered. 'My dear fellow, you must know
+that that wouldn't do.' He then said, 'You ought to feel that it
+wouldn't do you ought indeed.'
+
+'Why shouldn't my sister receive Miss Amedroz as well as that old woman
+down in Yorkshire?'
+
+'If I may tell you, I will.'
+
+'Of course you may tell me.'
+
+'Because Miss Amedroz is engaged to be married to that old woman's son,
+and is not engaged to be married to your sister's brother. The thing is
+done, and what is the good of interfering? As far as she is concerned,
+a great burden is off your hands.'
+
+'What do you mean by a burden?'
+
+'I mean that her engagement to Captain Aylmer makes it unnecessary for
+you to suppose that she is in want of any pecuniary assistance. You
+told me once before that you would feel yourself called upon to see
+that she wanted nothing.'
+
+'So I do now.'
+
+'But Captain Aylmer will look after that.'
+
+'I tell you what it is, Joe; I mean to settle the Belton property in
+such a way that she shall have it, and that he shan't be able to touch
+it. And it shall go to some one who shall have my name William Belton.
+That's what I want you to arrange for me.'
+
+'After you are dead, you mean.'
+
+'I mean now, at once. I won't take the estate from her. I hate the
+place and everything belonging to it. I don't mean her. There is no
+reason for hating her.'
+
+'My dear Will, you are talking nonsense.'
+
+'Why is it nonsense? I may give what belongs to me to whom I please.'
+
+'You can do nothing of the kind at any rate, not by my assistance. You
+talk as though the world were all over with you as though you were
+never to be married or have any children of your own.'
+
+'I shall never marry.'
+
+'Nonsense, Will. Don't make such an ass of yourself as to suppose that
+you'll not get over such a thing as this. You'll be married and have a
+dozen children yet to provide for. Let the eldest have Belton Castle,
+and everything will go on then in the proper way.'
+
+Belton had now got the poker into his hands, and sat silent for some
+time, knocking the coals about. Then he got up, and took his hat, and
+put on his coat. Of course I can't make you understand me,' he said; at
+any rate not all at once. I'm not such a fool as to want to give up my
+property just because a girl is going to be married to a man I don't
+like. I'm not such an ass as to give him my estate for such a reason as
+that for it will be giving it to him, let me tie it up as I may. But
+I've a feeling about it which makes it impossible for me to take it.
+How would you like to get a thing by another fellow having destroyed
+himself
+
+'You can't help that. It's yours by law.'
+
+'Of course it is. I know that. And as it's mine I can do what I like
+with it. Well good-bye. When I've got anything to say, I'll write.'
+Then he went down to his cab and had himself driven to the Great
+Western Railway Hotel.
+
+Captain Aylmer had sent to his betrothed seventy. five pounds; the
+exact interest at five per cent, for one year of the sum which his aunt
+had left her. This was the first subject of which Belton thought when
+he found himself again in the railway carriage, and he continued
+thinking of it half the way down to Taunton. Seventy-five pounds! As
+though this favoured lover were prepared to give her exactly her due,
+and nothing more than her due! Had he been so placed, he, Will Belton,
+what would he have done? Seventy-five pounds might have been more money
+than she would have wanted, for he would have taken her to his own
+house to his own bosom as soon as she would have permitted, and would
+have so laboured on her behalf, taking from her shoulders all money
+troubles, that there would have been no question as to principal or
+interest between them. At any rate be would not have confined himself
+to sending to her the exact sum which was her due. But then Aylmer was
+a cold-blooded man more like a fish than a man. Belton told himself
+over and over again that he had discovered that at the single glance
+which he had had when he saw Captain Aylmer in Green's chambers.
+Seventy-five pounds indeed! He himself was prepared to give his whole
+estate to her, if she would take it even though she would not marry
+him, even though she was going to throw herself away upon that fish!
+Then he felt somewhat as Hamlet did when he jumped upon Laertes at the
+grave of Ophelia. Send her seventy-five pounds indeed, while he was
+ready to drink up Esil for her, or to make over to her the whole Belton
+estate, and thus abandon the idea for ever of being Belton of Belton!
+
+He reached Taunton in the middle of the night during the small hours of
+the morning in a winter night; but yet he could not bring himself to go
+to bed. So he knocked up an ostler at the nearest inn, and ordered out
+a gig. He would go down to the village of Redicote, on the Minehead
+road, and put up at the public-house there. He could not now have
+himself driven at once to Belton Castle, as he would have done had the
+old squire been alive. He fancied that his presence would be a nuisance
+if he did so. So he went to the little inn at Redicote, reaching that
+place between four and five o'clock in the morning; and very
+uncomfortable he was when he got there. But in his present frame of
+mind he preferred discomfort. He liked being tired and cold, and felt,
+when he was put into a chill room, without fire, and with a sanded
+floor, that things with him were as they ought to be.
+
+Yes he could have a fly over to Belton Castle after breakfast. Having
+learned so much, and ordered a dish of eggs and bacon for his morning's
+breakfast, be went upstairs to a miserable little bedroom, to dress
+himself after his night's journey.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+MRS ASKERTON'S GENEROSITY
+
+The death of the old man at Belton Castle had been very sudden. At
+three o'clock in the morning Clara had been called into his room, and
+at five o'clock she was alone in the world having neither father,
+mother, nor brother; without a home, without a shilling that she could
+call her own with no hope as to her future life, if as she had so much
+reason to suppose Captain Aylmer should have chosen to accept her last
+letter as a ground for permanent separation. But at this moment, on
+this saddest morning, she did not care much for that chance. It seemed
+to be almost indifferent to her, that question of Lady Aylmer and her
+anger. The more that she was absolutely in need of external friendship,
+the more disposed was she to reject it, and to declare to herself that
+she was prepared to stand alone in the world.
+
+For the last week she had understood from the doctor that her father
+was in truth sinking, and that she might hardly hope ever to see him
+again convalescent. She had therefore in some sort prepared herself for
+her loneliness, and anticipated the misery of her position. As soon as
+it was known to the women in the room that life had left the old man,
+one of them had taken her by the hand and led her back to her own
+chamber. 'Now, Miss Clara, you had better lie down on the bed again you
+had indeed; you can do nothing sitting up.' She took the old woman's
+advice, and allowed them to do with her as they would. It was true that
+there was no longer any work by which she could make herself useful in
+that house in that house, or, as far as she could see, in any other.
+Yes; she would go to bed, and lying there would feel how convenient it
+would be for many persons if she also could be taken away to her long
+rest, as her father, and aunt, and brother had been taken before her.
+
+Her name and family had been unfortunate, and it would be well that
+there should be no Amedroz left to trouble those more fortunate persons
+who were to come after them. In her sorrow and bitterness she included
+both her Cousin Will and Captain Aylmer among those more fortunate ones
+for whose sake it might be well that she should be made to vanish from
+off the earth. She had read Captain Aylmer's letter over and over again
+since she had answered it, and had read nearly as often the copy of her
+own reply and had told herself, as she read them, that of course he
+would not forgive her. He might perhaps pardon her, if she would submit
+to him in everything; but that she would not submit to his commands
+respecting Mrs Askerton she was fully resolved and, therefore, there
+could be no hope. Then, when she remembered how lately her dear
+father's spirit had fled, she hated herself for having allowed her mind
+to dwell on any. thing beyond her loss of him.
+
+She was still in her bedroom, having fallen into that half-waking
+slumber which the numbness of sorrow so often produces, when word was
+brought to her that Mrs Askerton was in the house. It was the first
+time that Mrs Askerton had ever crossed the door, and the remembrance
+that it was so came upon her at once. During her father's lifetime it
+had seemed to be understood that their neighbour should have no
+admittance there but now now that her father was gone the barrier was
+to be overthrown. And why not? Why should not Mrs Askerton come to her?
+Why, if Mrs Askerton chose to be kind to her, should she not altogether
+throw herself into her friend's arms? Of course her doing so would give
+mortal offence to everybody at Aylmer Park; but why need she stop to
+think of that? She had already made up her mind that she would not obey
+orders from Aylmer Park on this subject.
+
+She had not seen Mrs Askerton since that interview between them which
+was described some few chapters back. Then everything had been told
+between them, so that there was no longer any mystery either on the one
+side or on the other. Then Clara had assured her friend of her loving
+friendship in spite of any edicts to the contrary which might come from
+Aylmer Park; and after that what could be more natural than that Mrs
+Askerton should come to her in her sorrow? 'She says she'll come up to
+you if you'll let her,' said the servant. But Clara declined this
+proposition, and in a few minutes went down to the small parlour in
+which she had lately lived, and where she found her visitor.
+
+'My poor dear, this has been very sudden,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Very sudden very sudden. And yet, now that he has gone, I know that I
+expected it.'
+
+'Of course I came to you as soon as I heard of it, because I knew you
+were all alone. If there had been any one else I should not have come.'
+
+'It is very good of you.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton thought that perhaps he had better come. I told him
+of all that which we said to each other the other day. He thought at
+first that it would be better that I should not see you.'
+
+'It was very good of you to come,' said Clara again, and as she spoke
+she put out her hand and took Mrs Askerton's continuing to hold it for
+awhile; 'very good indeed.'
+
+'I told him that I could not but go down to you that I thought you
+would not understand it if I stayed away.'
+
+'At any rate it was good of you to come to me.'
+
+'I don't believe,' said Mrs Askerton, 'that what people call
+consolation is ever of any use. It is a terrible thing to lose a
+father.'
+
+'Very terrible. Ah, dear, I have hardly yet found out how sad it is. As
+yet I have only been thinking of myself, and wishing that I could be
+with him.'
+
+'Nay, Clara.'
+
+'How can I help it? What am I to do? Or where am I to go? Of what use
+is life to such a one as me? And for him who would dare to wish him
+back again? When people have fallen and gone down in the world, it is
+bad for them to go on living. Everything is a trouble, and there is
+nothing but vexation.'
+
+'Think what I have suffered, dear.'
+
+'But you have had somebody to care for you somebody whom you could
+trust.'
+
+'And have not you?'
+
+'No; no one.'
+
+'What do you mean, Clara?'
+
+'I mean what I say. I have no one. It is no use asking questions not
+now, at such a time as this. And I did not mean to complain.
+Complaining is weak and foolish. I have often told myself that I could
+bear anything, and so I will. When I can bring myself to think of what
+I have lost in my father I shall be better, even though I shall be more
+sorrowful. As it is, I hate myself for being so selfish.'
+
+'You will let me come and stay with you today, will you not?'
+
+'No, dear; not today.'
+
+'Why not today, Clara?'
+
+'I shall be better alone. I have so many things to think of.'
+
+'I know well that it would be better that you should not be alone much
+better. But I will not press it. I cannot insist with you as another
+woman would.'
+
+'You are wrong there; quite wrong. I would be led by you sooner than by
+any woman living. What other woman is there to whom I would listen for
+a moment?' As she said this, even in the depth of her sorrow she
+thought of Lady Aylmer, and strengthened herself in her resolution to
+rebel against her lover's mother. Then she continued, 'I wish I knew my
+Cousin Mary Mary Bolton; but I have never seen her.'
+
+'Is she nice?
+
+'So Will tells me; and I know that what he says must be true even about
+his sister.'
+
+'Will, Will! You are always thinking of your Cousin Will. If he be
+really so good he will show it now.'
+
+'How can he show it? What can he do?'
+
+'Does he not inherit all the property?'
+
+'Of course he does. And what of that? When I say that I have no friend
+I am not thinking of my poverty.'
+
+'If he has that regard for you which he pretends, he can do much to
+assist you. Why should he not come here at once?'
+
+'God forbid.'
+
+'Why? Why do you say so? He is your nearest relative.'
+
+'If you do not understand I cannot explain.'
+
+'Has he been told what has happened?' Mrs Askerton asked.
+
+'Colonel Askerton sent a message to him, I believe.'
+
+'And to Captain Aylmer also?'
+
+'Yes; and to Captain Aylmer. It was Colonel Askerton who sent it.'
+
+'Then he will come, of course.'
+
+'I think not. Why should he come? He did not even know poor papa.'
+
+'But, my dear Clara, has he not known you?'
+
+'You will see that he will not come. And I tell you beforehand that he
+will be right to stay away. Indeed, I do not know how he could come and
+I do not want him here.'
+
+'I cannot understand you, Clara.'
+
+'I suppose not. I cannot very well understand myself.'
+
+'I should not be at all surprised if Lady Aylmer were to come herself.'
+
+'Oh, heavens! How little you can know of Lady Aylmer's position and
+character!'
+
+'But if she is to be your mother-in-law?'
+
+'And even if she were! The idea of Lady Aylmer coming away from Aylmer
+Park all the way from Yorkshire, to such a house as this! If they told
+me that the Queen was coming it would hardly disconcert me more. But,
+dear, there is no danger of that at least.'
+
+'I do not know what may have passed between you and him; but unless
+there has been some quarrel he will come. That is, he will do so if he
+is at all like any men whom I have known.'
+
+'He will not come.'
+
+Then Mrs Askerton made some half-whispered offers of services to be
+rendered by Colonel Askerton, and soon afterwards took her leave,
+having first asked permission to come again in the afternoon, and when
+that was declined, having promised to return on the following morning.
+As she walked back to the cottage she could not but think more of
+Clara's engagement to Captain Aylmer than she did of the squire's
+death. As regarded herself, of course she could not grieve for Mr
+Amedroz; and as regarded Clara, Clara's father had for some time past
+been apparently so insignificant, even in his own house, that it was
+difficult to acknowledge the fact that the death of such a one as he
+might leave a great blank in the world. But what had Clara meant by
+declaring so emphatically that Captain Aylmer would not visit Belton,
+and by speaking of herself as one who had neither position nor friends
+in the world? If there had been a quarrel, indeed, then it was
+sufficiently intelligible and if there was any such quarrel, from what
+source must it have arisen? Mrs Askerton felt the blood rise to her
+cheeks as she thought of this, and told herself that there could be but
+one such source. Mrs Askerton knew that Clara had received orders from
+Aylmer Castle to discontinue all acquaintance with herself, and,
+therefore, there could be no doubt as to the cause of the quarrel. It
+had come to this then, that Clara was to lose her husband because she
+was true to her friend; or rather because she would not consent to cast
+an additional stone at one who for some years past had become a mark
+for many stones.
+
+I am not prepared to say that Mrs Askerton was a high-minded woman.
+Misfortunes had come upon her in life of a sort which are too apt to
+quench high nobility of mind in woman. There are calamities which, by
+their natural tendencies, elevate the character of women and add
+strength to the growth of feminine virtues but then, again, there are
+other calamities which few women can bear without some degradation,
+without some injury to that delicacy and tenderness which is
+essentially necessary to make a woman charming as a woman. In this, I
+think, the world is harder to women than to men; that a woman often
+loses much by the chance of adverse circumstances which a man only
+loses by his own misconduct. That there are women whom no calamity can
+degrade is true enough and so it is true that there are some men who
+are heroes; but such are exceptions both among men and women. Not such
+a one had Mrs Askerton been. Calamity had come upon her partly, indeed,
+by her own fault, though that might have been pardoned but the weight
+of her misfortunes had been too great for her strength, and she had
+become in some degree hardened by what she had endured; if not
+unfeminine, still she was feminine in an inferior degree, with womanly
+feelings of a lower order. And she had learned to intrigue, not being
+desirous of gaining aught by dishonest intriguing, but believing that
+she could only hold her own by carrying on her battle after that
+fashion. In all this I am speaking of the general character of the
+woman, and am not alluding to the one sin which she had committed.
+Thus, when she had first become acquainted with Miss Amedroz, her
+conscience had not rebuked her in that she was deceiving her new
+friend. When asked casually in conversation as to her maiden name, she
+had not blushed as she answered the question with a falsehood. When,
+unfortunately, the name of her first husband had in some way made
+itself known to Clara, she had been ready again with some prepared fib.
+And when she had recognized William Belton, she had thought that the
+danger to herself of having any one near her who might know her quite
+justified her in endeavouring to create ill-will between Clara and her
+cousin. 'Self-preservation is the first law of nature,' she would have
+said; and would have failed to remember, as she did always fail to
+remember that nature does not require by any of its laws that
+self-preservation should be aided by falsehood.
+
+But though she was not high-minded, so also was she not ungenerous; and
+now, as she began to understand that Clara was sacrificing herself
+because of that promise which had been given when they two had stood
+together at the window in the cottage drawing-room, she was capable of
+feeling more for her friend than for herself. She was capable even of
+telling herself that it was cruel on her part even to wish for any
+continuance of Clara's acquaintance. 'I have made my bed, and I must
+lie upon it,' she said to herself; and then she resolved that, instead
+of going up to the house on the following day, she would write to
+Clara, and put an end to the intimacy which existed between them. 'The
+world is hard, and harsh, and unjust,' she said, still speaking to
+herself. 'But that is not her fault; I will not injure her because I
+have been injured myself.'
+
+Colonel Askerton was up at the house on the same day, but he did not
+ask for Miss Amedroz, nor did she see him. Nobody else came to the
+house then, or on the following morning, or on that afternoon, though
+Clara did not fail to tell herself that Captain Aylmer might have been
+there if he had chosen to take the journey and to leave home as soon as
+he had received the message; and she made the same calculation as to
+her Cousin Will though in that calculation, as we know, she was wrong.
+These two days had been very desolate with her, and she had begun to
+look forward to Mrs Askerton's coming when instead of that there came a
+messenger with a letter from the cottage.
+
+'You can do as you like, my dear,' Colonel Askerton had said on the
+previous evening to his wife. He had listened to all she had been
+saying without taking his eyes from off his newspaper, though she had
+spoken with much eagerness.
+
+'But that is not enough. You should say more to me than that.'
+
+'Now I think you are unreasonable. For myself, I do not care how this
+matter goes; nor do I care one straw what any tongues may say. They
+cannot reach me, excepting so far as they may reach me through you.'
+
+'But you should advise me.'
+
+'I always do copiously, when I think that I know better than you; but
+in this matter I feel so sure that you know better than I, that I don't
+wish to suggest anything.' Then he went on with his newspaper, and she
+sat for a while looking at him, as though she expected that something
+more would be said. But nothing more was said, and she was left
+entirely to her own guidance.
+
+Since the days in which her troubles had come upon Mrs Askerton, Clara
+Amedroz was the first female friend who had come near her to comfort
+her, and she was very loth to abandon such comfort. There had, too,
+been something more than comfort, something almost approaching to
+triumph, when she found that Clara had clung to her with affection
+after hearing the whole story of her life. Though her conscience had
+not pricked her while she was exercising all her little planned
+deceits, she had not taken much pleasure in them. How should any one
+take pleasure in such work? Many of us daily deceive our friends, and
+are so far gone in deceit that the deceit alone is hardly painful to
+us. But the need of deceiving a friend is always painful. The treachery
+is easy; but to be treacherous to those we love is never easy never
+easy, even though it be so common. There had been a double delight to
+this poor woman in the near neighbourhood of Clara Amedroz since there
+had ceased to be a necessity for falsehood on her part. But now, almost
+before her joy had commenced, almost before she had realized the
+sweetness of her triumph, had come upon her this task of doing that
+herself which Clara in her generosity had refused to do. 'I have made
+my bed and I must lie upon it,' she said. And then, instead of going
+down to the house as she had promised, she wrote the following letter
+to Miss Amedroz:
+
+
+
+'The Cottage, Monday.
+
+Dearest Clara
+
+I need not tell you that I write as I do now with a bleeding heart. A
+few days since I should have laughed at any woman who used such a
+phrase of herself, and declared her to be an affected fool; but now I
+know how true such a word may be. My heart is bleeding, and I feel
+myself to be overcome by my disgrace. You told me that I did not
+understand you yesterday. Of course I understood you. Of course I know
+how it all is, and why you spoke as you did of Captain Aylmer. He has
+chosen to think that you could not know me without pollution, and has
+determined that you must give up either me or him. Though he has judged
+me, I am not going to judge him. The world is on his side; and,
+perhaps, he is right. He knows nothing of my trials and difficulties
+and why should he? I do not blame him for demanding that his future
+wife shall not be intimate with a woman who is supposed to have lost
+her fitness for the society of women.
+
+At any rate, dearest, you must obey him and we will see each other no
+more. I am quite sure that I should be very wicked were I to allow you
+to injure your position in life on my account. You at any rate love
+him, and would be happy with him, and as you are engaged to him, you
+have no just ground for resenting his interference.
+
+You will understand me now as well as though I were to fill sheets and
+sheets of paper with what I could say on the subject. The simple fact
+is, that you and I must forget each other, or simply remember one
+another as past friends. You will know in a day or two what your plans
+are. If you remain here, we will go away. If you go away, we will
+remain here that is, if your cousin will keep us as tenants. I do not,
+of course, know what you may have written to Captain Aylmer since our
+interview up here, but I beg that you will write to him now, and make
+him understand that he need have no fears in respect of me. You may
+send him this letter if you will. Oh, dear! If you could know what I
+suffer as I write this.
+
+I feel that I owe you an apology for harassing you on such a subject at
+such a time; but I know that I ought not to lose a day in tolling you
+that you are to see nothing more of the friend who has loved you.
+
+MARY ASKERTON.'
+
+Clara's first impulse on receiving this letter was to go off at once
+to the cottage, and insist on her privilege of choosing her own
+friends. If she preferred Mrs Askerton to Captain Aylmer, that was no
+one's business but her own. And she would have done so had she not been
+afraid of meeting with Colonel Askerton. To him she would not have
+known how to speak on such a subject nor would she have known how to
+conduct herself at the cottage without speaking of it. And then, after
+a while, she felt that were she to do so should she now deliberately
+determine to throw herself into Mrs Askerton's arms she must at the
+same time give up all ideas of becoming Captain Aylmer's wife. As she
+thought of this she asked herself various questions concerning him,
+which she did not find it easy to answer. Did she wish to be his wife?
+Could she assure herself that if they were married they would make each
+other happy? Did she love him? She was still able to declare to herself
+that the answer to the last question should be an affirmative; but,
+nevertheless, she thought that she could give him up without great
+unhappiness. And when she began to think of Lady Aylmer, and to
+remember that Frederic Aylmer's imperative demands upon her obedience
+had, in all probability, been dictated by his mother, she was again
+anxious to go at once to the cottage, and declare that she would not
+submit to any interference with her own judgment.
+
+On the next morning the postman brought to her a letter which was of
+much moment to her but he brought to her also tidings which moved her
+more even than the letter. The letter was from the lawyer, and enclosed
+a cheque for seventy-five pounds, which he had been instructed to pay
+to her, as the interest of the money left to her by her aunt. What
+should be her answer to that letter she knew very well, and she
+instantly wrote it, sending back the cheque to Mr Green. The postman's
+news, more important than the letter, told her that William Belton was
+at the inn at Redicote.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+PASSIONATE PLEADING
+
+Clara wrote her letter to the lawyer, returning the cheque, before she
+would allow herself a moment to dwell upon the news of her cousin's
+arrival. She felt that it was necessary to do that before she should
+even see her cousin thus providing against any difficulty which might
+arise from adverse advice on his part; and as soon as the letter was
+written she sent it to the post-office in the village. She would do
+almost any. thing that Will might tell her to do, but Captain Aylmer's
+money she would not take, even though Will might so direct her. They
+would tell her, no doubt, among them, that the money was her own that
+she might take it without owing any thanks for it to Captain Aylmer.
+But she knew better than that as she told herself over and over again.
+Her aunt had left her nothing, and nothing would she have from Captain
+Aylmer unless she had all that Captain Aylmer had to give, after the
+fashion in which women best love to take such gifts.
+
+Then, when she had done that, she was able to think of her cousin's
+visit. 'I knew he would come,' she said to herself, as she sat herself
+in one of the old chairs in the hall, with a large shawl wrapped round
+her shoulders. She had just been to the front door, with the nominal
+purpose of dispatching her messenger thence to the post-office; but she
+had stood for a minute or two under the portico, looking in the
+direction by which Belton would come from Redicote, expecting, or
+rather hoping, that she might see his figure or hear the sound of his
+gig. But she saw nothing and heard nothing, and so returned into the
+hall, slowly shutting the door. 'I knew that he would come,' she said,
+repeating to herself the same words over and over again. Yet when Mrs
+Askerton had told her that he would do this thing which he had now
+done, she had expressed herself as almost frightened by the idea. 'God
+forbid,' she had said. Nevertheless now that he was there at Redicote,
+she assured herself that his coming was a thing of which she had been
+certain; and she took a joy in the knowledge of his nearness to her
+which she did not attempt to define to herself. Had he not said that he
+would be a brother to her, and was it not a brother's part to go to a
+sister in affliction? 'I knew that he would come. I was sure of it. He
+is so true.' As to Captain Aylmer's not coming she said nothing, even
+to herself; but she felt that she had been equally sure on that
+subject. Of course, Captain Aylmer would not come! He had sent her
+seventy-five pounds in lieu of coming, and in doing so was true to his
+character. Both men were doing exactly that which was to have been
+expected of them. So at least Clara Amedroz now assured herself. She
+did not ask herself how it was that she had come to love the thinner
+and the meaner of the two men, but she knew well that such had been her
+fate.
+
+On a sudden she rose from her chair, as though remembering a duty to be
+performed, and went to the kitchen and directed that breakfast might be
+got ready for Mr Belton. He would have travelled all night and would be
+in want of food. Since the old squire's death there had been no regular
+meal served in the house, and Clara had taken such scraps of food and
+cups of tea as the old servant of the house had brought to her. But now
+the cloth must be spread again, and as she did this with her own hands
+she remembered the dinners which had been prepared for Captain Aylmer
+at Perivale after his aunt's death. It seemed to her that she was used
+to be in the house with death, and that the sadness and solemn
+ceremonies of woe were. becoming things familiar to her. There grew
+upon her a feeling that it must be so with her always. The
+circumstances of her life would ever be sad. What right had she to
+expect any other fate after such a catastrophe as that which her
+brother had brought upon the family? It was clear to her that she had
+done wrong in supposing that she could marry and live with a prosperous
+man of the world like Captain Aylmer. Their natures were different, and
+no such union could lead to any good. So she told herself, with much
+misery of spirit, as she was preparing the breakfast-table for William
+Belton.
+
+But William Belton did not come to eat the breakfast. He got what he
+wanted in that way at the inn at Redicote, and even then hesitated,
+loitering at the bar, before he would go over. What was he to say, and
+how would he be received? After all, had he not done amiss in coming to
+a house at which he probably might not be wanted? Would it not be
+thought that his journey had been made solely with a view to his own
+property? He would be regarded as the heir pouncing upon the
+inheritance before as yet the old owner was under the ground. At any
+rate it would be too early for him to make his visit yet awhile; and,
+to kill time, he went over to a carpenter who had been employed by him
+about the place at Belton. The carpenter spoke to him as though
+everything were his own, and was very intent upon future improvements.
+This made Will more disgusted with himself than ever, and before he
+could get out of the carpenter's yard he thoroughly wished himself back
+at Plaistow. But having come so far, he could hardly return without
+seeing his cousin, and at last he had himself driven over, reaching the
+house between eleven and twelve o'clock in the day.
+
+Clara met him in the hall, and at once led him into the room which she
+had prepared for him. He had given her his hand in the hall, but did
+not speak to her till she had spoken to him after the closing of the
+room door behind them. 'I thought that you would come' she said, still
+holding him by the hand.
+
+'I did not know what to do,' he answered. 'I couldn't say which was
+best. Now I am here I shall only be in your way.' He did not dare to
+press her hand, nor could he bring himself to take his away from her.
+
+'In my way yes; as an angel, to tell me what to do in my trouble. I
+knew you would come, because you are so good. But you will have
+breakfast see, I have got it ready for you.'
+
+'Oh no; I breakfasted at Redicote. I would not trouble you.'
+
+'Trouble me, Will! Oh, Will, if you knew!' Then there came tears in her
+eyes, and at the sight of them both his own were filled. How was he to
+stand it? To take her to his bosom and hold her there for always; to
+wipe away her tears so that she should weep no more; to devote himself
+and all his energy and all that was his comfort to her this he could
+have done; but he knew not how to do anything short of this. Every word
+that she spoke to him was an encouragement to this, and yet he knew
+that it could not be so. To say a word of his love, or even to look it,
+would now be an unmanly insult. And yet, how was he not to look it not
+to speak of it? 'It is such a comfort that you should be here with me,'
+she said.
+
+'Then I am glad I am here, though I do not know what I can do. Did he
+suffer much, Clara?'
+
+'No, I think not; very little. He sank at last quicker than I expected,
+but just as I thought he would go. He used to speak of you so often,
+and. always with regard and esteem!'
+
+' Dear old man!'
+
+'Yes, Will; he was, in spite of his little faults. No father ever loved
+his daughter better than he loved me.'
+
+After a while the servant brought in the tea, explaining to Belton that
+Miss Clara had neither eaten nor drank that morning. 'She wouldn't take
+anything till you came, sir.' Then Will added his entreaties, and Clara
+was persuaded, and by degrees there grew between them more ease of
+manner and capability for talking than had been within their reach when
+they first met. And during the morning many things were explained, as
+to which Clara would a few hours previously have thought it to be
+almost impossible that she should speak to her cousin. She had told him
+of her aunt's money, and the way in which she had on that very morning
+sent back the cheque to the lawyer; and she had said something also as
+to Lady Aylmer's views, and her own views as to Lady Aylmer. With Will
+this subject was one most difficult of discussion; and he blushed and
+fidgeted in his chair, and walked about the room, and found himself
+unable to look Clara in the face as she spoke to him. But she went on,
+goading him with the name, which of all names was the most distasteful
+to him; and mentioning that name almost in terms of reproach of
+reproach which he felt it would be ungenerous to reciprocate, but which
+he would have exaggerated to unmeasured abuse if he had given his
+tongue licence to speak his mind.
+
+'I was right to send back the money wasn't I, Will? Say that I was
+right. Pray tell me that you think so!'
+
+'I don't understand it at present, you see; I am no lawyer.'
+
+'But it doesn't want a lawyer to know that I couldn't take the money
+from him. I am sure you feel that.'
+
+'If a man owes money of course he ought to pay it.'
+
+'But he doesn't owe it, Will. It is intended for generosity.'
+
+'You don't want anybody's generosity, certainly.' Then he reflected
+that Clara must, after all, depend entirely on the generosity of some
+one till she was married; and he wanted to explain to her that
+everything he had in the world was at her service was indeed her own.
+Or he would have explained, if he knew how, that he did not intend to
+take advantage of the entail that the Belton estate should belong to
+her as the natural heir of her father. But he conceived that the moment
+for explaining this had hardly as yet arrived, and that he bad better
+confine himself to some attempt at teaching her that no extraneous
+assistance would be necessary to her, 'In money matters,' said he, 'of
+course you are to look to me. That is a matter of course. I'll see
+Green about the other affairs. Green and I are friends. We'll settle
+it.'
+
+'That's not what I meant, Will.'
+
+'But it's what I mean. This is one of those things in which a man has
+to act on his own judgment. Your father and I understood each other.'
+
+'He did not understand that I was to accept your bounty.'
+
+'Bounty is a nasty word, and I hate it. You accepted me as your
+brother, and as such I mean to act.' The word almost stuck in his
+throat, but be brought it out at last in a fierce tone, of which she
+understood accurately the cause and meaning. 'All money matters about
+the place must be settled by me. Indeed, that's why I came down.'
+
+'Not only for that, Will?'
+
+'Just to be useful in that way, I mean.'
+
+'You came to see me because you knew I should want you.' Surely this
+was malice prepense! Knowing what was his want, how could she
+exasperate it by talking thus of her own? 'As for money, I have no
+claim on any one. No creature was ever more forlorn. But I will not
+talk of that.'
+
+'Did you not say that you would treat me as a brother?'
+
+'I did not mean that I was to be a burden on you.'
+
+'I know what I meant, and that is sufficient.' Belton had been at the
+house some hours before he made any signs of leaving her, and when he
+did so he had to explain something of his plans. He would remain, he
+said, for about a week in the neighbourhood.
+
+She of course was obliged to ask him to stay at the house at the house
+which was in fact his own; but he declined to do this, blurting out his
+reason at last very plainly. 'Captain Aylmer would not like it, and I
+suppose you are bound to think of what he likes and dislikes.' 'I don't
+know what right Captain Aylmer would have to dislike any such thing,'
+said Clara. But, nevertheless, she allowed the reason to pass as
+current, and did not press her invitation. Will declared that he would
+stay at the inn at Redicote,, striving to explain in some very
+unintelligible manner that such an arrangement would be very
+convenient. He would remain at Redicote, and would come over to Belton
+every day during his sojourn in the country. Then he asked one question
+in a low whisper as to the last sad ceremony, and, having received an
+answer, started off with the declared intention of calling on Colonel
+Askerton.
+
+The next two or three days passed uncomfortably enough with Will
+Belton. He made his head- quarters at the little inn of Redicote, and
+drove himself backwards and forwards between that place and the estate
+which was now his own. On each of these days he saw Colonel Askerton,
+whom he found to be a civil pleasant man, willing enough to rid himself
+of the unpleasant task he had undertaken, but at the same time, willing
+also to continue his services if any further services were required of
+him. But of Mrs Askerton on these occasions Will saw nothing, nor had
+he ever spoken to her since the time of his first visit to the Castle.
+Then came the day of the funeral, and after that rite was over he
+returned with his cousin to the house. There was no will to be read.
+The old squire had left no will, nor was there anything belonging to
+him at the time of his death that he could bequeath. The furniture in
+the house, the worn-out carpets and old-fashioned chairs, belonged to
+Clara; but, beyond that, property had she none, nor had it been in her
+father's power to endow her with anything. She was alone in the world,
+penniless, with a conviction on her own mind that her engagement with
+Frederic Aylmer must of necessity come to an end, and with a feeling
+about her cousin which she could hardly analyse, but which told her
+that she could not go to his house in Norfolk, nor live with him at
+Belton Castle, nor trust herself in his hands as she would into those
+of a real brother.
+
+On the afternoon of the day on which her father had been buried, she
+brought to him a letter, asking him to read it, and tell her what she
+should do. The letter was from Lady Aylmer, and contained an invitation
+to Aylmer Castle. It had been accompanied, as the reader may possibly
+remember, by a letter from Captain Aylmer himself. Of this she of
+course informed her cousin; but she did not find it to be necessary to
+show the letter of one rival to the other. Lady Aylmer's letter was
+cold in its expression of welcome, but very dictatorial in pointing out
+the absolute necessity that Clara should accept the invitation so
+given. 'I think you will not fail to agree with me, dear Miss Amedroz,'
+the letter said, 'that under these strange and perplexing
+circumstances, this is the only roof which can, with any propriety,
+afford you a shelter.' 'And why not the poor-house?' she said, aloud to
+her cousin, when she perceived that his eye had descended so far on the
+page. He shook his head angrily, but said nothing; and when he had
+finished the letter he folded it and gave it back still in silence.
+'And what am I to do?' she said. 'You tell me that I am to come to you
+for advice in everything.'
+
+'You must decide for yourself here.'
+
+'And you won't advise me.. You won't tell me whether she is right?
+
+'I suppose she is right.'
+
+'Then I had better go?'
+
+'If you mean to marry Captain Aylmer, you had better go.'
+
+'I am engaged to him.'
+
+'Then you had better go.'
+
+'But I will not submit myself to her tyranny.'
+
+'Let the marriage take place at once, and you will have to submit only
+to his. I suppose you are prepared for that?'
+
+'I do not know. I do not like tyranny.'
+
+Again he stood silent for awhile, looking at her, and then he answered:
+' I should not tyrannize over you, Clara.'
+
+'Oh, Will, Will, do not speak like that. Do not destroy everything.'
+
+'What am I to say?'
+
+'What would you say if your sister, your real sister, asked advice in
+such a strait? If you had a sister, who came to you, and told you all
+her difficulty, you would advise her. You would not say words to make
+things worse for her.'
+
+'It would be very different.'
+
+'But you said you would be my brother.'
+
+'How am I to know what you feel for this man? It seems to me that you
+half hate him, half fear him, and sometimes despise him.'
+
+'Hate him! No I never hate him.'
+
+'Go to him, then, and ask him what you had better do. Don't ask me.'
+Then he hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind him. But
+before he had half gone down the stairs he remembered the ceremony at
+which he had just been present, and how desolate she was in the world,
+and he returned to her. 'I beg your pardon, Clara,' he said, 'I am
+passionate; but I must be a beast to show my passion to you on such a
+day as this. If I were you I should accept Lady Aylmer's invitation
+merely thanking her for it in the ordinary way. I should then go and
+see how the land lay. That is the advice I should give my sister.'
+
+'And I will if it is only because you tell me.'
+
+'But as for a home tell her you have one of your own at Belton Castle,
+from which no  one can turn you out, and where no one can intrude on
+you. This house belongs to you.' Then, before she could answer him, he
+had left the room and she listened to his heavy quick footsteps as he
+went across the hall and out of the front door.
+
+He walked across the park and entered the little gate of Colonel
+Askerton's garden, as though it were his habit to go to the cottage
+when he was at Belton. There had been various matters on which the two
+men had been brought into contact concerning the old squire's death and
+the tenancy of the cottage, so that they had become almost intimate.
+Belton had nothing new that he specially desired to say to Colonel
+Askerton, whom, indeed, he had seen only a short time before at the
+funeral; but he wanted the relief of speaking to some one before he
+returned to the solitude of the inn at Redicote. On this occasion,
+however, the colonel was out, and the maid asked him if he would see
+Mrs Askerton. When he said something about not troubling her, the girl
+told him that her mistress wished to speak to him, and then he had no
+alternative but to allow himself to be shown into the drawing-room.
+
+'I want to see you a minute,' said Mrs Askerton, bowing to him without
+putting out her hand, 'that I might ask you how you find your cousin.'
+
+'She is pretty well, I think'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has seen more of her than I have since her father's
+death, and he says that she does not bear it well. He thinks that she
+is ill.'
+
+'I do not think her ill. Of course she is not in good spirits.'
+
+'No; exactly. How should she be? But he thinks she seems so worn. I
+hope you will excuse me, Mr Belton, but I love her so well that I
+cannot bear to be quite in the dark as to her future. Is anything
+settled yet?'
+
+'She is going to Aylmer Castle.'
+
+'To Aylmer Castle! Is she indeed? At once?'
+
+'Very soon. Lady Aylmer has asked her.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer! Then I suppose'
+
+'You suppose what?' Will Belton asked.
+
+'I did not think she would have gone to Aylmer Castle though I dare say
+it is the best thing she could do She seemed to me to dislike the
+Aylmers that is, Lady Aylmer so much! But I suppose she is right?'
+
+'She is right to go if she likes it.'
+
+'She is circumstanced so cruelly! Is she not? Where else could she go?
+I do so feel for her. I believe I need hardly tell you, Mr Belton,
+that, she would be as welcome here as flowers in May but that I do not
+dare to ask her to come to us.' She said this in a low voice, turning
+her eyes away from him, looking first upon the ground, and then again
+up at the window but still not daring to meet his eye.
+
+'I don't exactly know about that,' said Belton awkwardly.
+
+'You know, I hope, that I love her dearly.'
+
+'Everybody does that,' said Will.
+
+'You do, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Yes I do; just as though she were my sister.'
+
+'And as your sister would you let her come here to us?' He sat silent
+for awhile, thinking, and she waited patiently for his answer. Bat she
+spoke again before he answered her. 'I am well aware that you know all
+my history, Mr Belton.'
+
+'I shouldn't tell it her, if you mean that, though she were my sister.
+If she were my wife I should tell her.'
+
+'And why your wife?'
+
+'Because then I should be sure it would do no harm.'
+
+'Then I find that you can be generous, Mr Belton. But she knows it all
+as well as you do.'
+
+'I did not tell her.'
+
+'Nor did I but I should have done so had not Captain Aylmer been before
+me. And now tell me whether I could ask her to come here.'
+
+'It would be useless, as she is going to Aylmer Castle'.
+
+'But she is going there simply to find a home having no other.'
+
+'That is not so, Mrs Askerton. She has a home as perfectly her own as
+any woman in the land. Belton Castle is hers, to do what she may please
+with it. She can live here if she likes it, and nobody can say a word
+to her. She need not go to Aylmer Castle to look for a home.'
+
+'You mean you would lend her the house?'
+
+'It is hers.'
+
+'I do not understand you, Mr Belton.'
+
+'It does not signify we will say no more about it.'
+
+'And you think she likes going to Lady Aylmer's?'
+
+'How should I say what she likes?'
+
+Then there was another pause before Mrs Askerton spoke again. 'I can
+tell you one thing,' she said: 'she does not like him.'
+
+'That is her affair.'
+
+'But she should be taught to know her own mind before she throws
+herself away altogether. You would not wish your cousin to marry a man
+whom she does not love because at one time she had come to think that
+she loved him. That is the truth of it, Mr Belton. If she goes to
+Aylmer Castle she will marry him and she will be an unhappy woman
+always afterwards. If you would sanction her coming here for a few
+days, I think all that would be cured. She would come in a moment, if
+you advised her.'
+
+Then he went away, allowing himself to make no further answer at the
+moment, and discussed the matter with himself as he walked back to
+Redicote, meditating on it with all his mind, and all his heart, and
+all his strength. And, as he meditated, it came on to rain bitterly a
+cold piercing February rain and the darkness of night came upon him,
+and he floundered on through the thick mud of the Somersetshire lanes,
+unconscious of the weather and of the darkness. There was a way open to
+him by which he might even yet get what he wanted. He thought he saw
+that there was a way open to him through the policy of this woman, whom
+he perceived to have become friendly to him. He saw, or thought that he
+saw, it all. No day had absolutely been fixed for this journey to
+Yorkshire; and if Clara were induced to go first to the cottage, and
+stay there with Mrs Askerton, no such journey might ever be taken. He
+could well understand that such a visit on her part would give a mortal
+offence to all the Aylmers. That tyranny of which Clara spoke with so
+much dread would be exhibited then without reserve, and so there would
+be an end altogether of the Aylmer alliance. But were she once to start
+for Aylmer Park, then there would be no hope for him. Then her fate
+would be decided -and his. As far as he could see, too as far as he
+could see then, there would be no dishonesty in this plan. Why should
+Clara not go to Mrs Askerton's house? What could be more natural than
+such a visit at such a time? If she were in truth his sister he would
+not interfere to prevent it if she wished it. He had told himself that
+the woman should be forgiven her offence, and had thought that that
+forgiveness should be complete. If the Aylmers were so unreasonable as
+to quarrel with her on this ground, let them quarrel with her. Mrs
+Askerton had told him that Clara did not really like Captain Aylmer.
+Perhaps it was so; and if so, what greater kindness could he do her
+than give her an opportunity for escaping such a union?
+
+The whole of the next day he remained at Redicote, thinking, doubting,
+striving to reconcile his wishes and his honesty. It rained all day,
+and as he sat alone, smoking in the comfortless inn, he told himself
+that the rain was keeping him but in truth it was not the rain. Had he
+resolved to do his best to prevent this visit to Yorkshire, or had he
+resolved to further it, I think he would have gone to Belton without
+much fear of the rain. On the second day after the funeral he did go,
+and he had then made up his mind. Clara, if she would listen to him,
+should show her independence of Lady Aylmer by staying a few days with
+the Askertons before she went to Yorkshire, and by telling Lady Aylmer
+that such was her intention. 'If she really loves the man,' he said to
+himself, 'she will go at once, in spite of anything that I can say. If
+she does not, I shall be saving her.'
+
+'How cruel of you not to come yesterday! ' Clara said, as soon as she
+saw him.,
+
+'It rained hard,' he answered.
+
+' But men like you care so little for rain; but that is when you have
+business to take you out or pleasure.'
+
+'You need not be so severe. The truth is I had things to trouble me.'
+
+'What troubled you, Will. I thought all the trouble was mine.'
+
+'I suppose everybody thinks that his own shoe pinches the hardest.'
+
+'Your shoe can't pinch you very bad, I should think. Sometimes when I
+think of you it seems that you are an embodiment of prosperity and
+happiness.'
+
+'I don't see it myself that's all. Did you write to Lady Aylmer, Clara?'
+
+'I wrote; but I didn't send it. I would not send any letter till I had
+shown it to you, as you are my confessor and adviser. There; read it.
+Nothing, I think, could be more courteous or less humble.' He took the
+letter and read it. Clara had simply expressed herself willing to
+accept Lady Aylmer's invitation, and asked her ladyship to fix a day.
+There was no mention of Captain Aylmer's name in the note.
+
+'And you think this is best?' he said. His voice was hardly like his
+own as he spoke. There was wanting to it that tone of self-assurance
+which his voice almost always possessed, even when self- assurance was
+lacking to his words.
+
+'I thought it was your own advice,' she said.
+
+'Well yes; that is, I don't quite know. You couldn't go for a week or
+so yet, I suppose.'
+
+'Perhaps in about a week.'
+
+'And what will you do till then.?'
+
+'What will I do!'
+
+'Yes where do you mean to stay?'
+
+'I thought, Will, that perhaps you would let me remain here.'
+
+'Let you! Oh, heavens! Look here, Clara.'
+
+'Before heaven I want what may be the best for you without thinking of
+you, if I could only help it.'
+
+'I have never doubted you. I never will doubt you. I believe in you
+next to my God. I do, Will; I do.' He walked up and down the room
+half-a-dozen times before he spoke again, while she stood by the table
+watching him. 'I wish,' she said, 'I knew what it is that troubles
+you.' To this he made no answer, but went on walking till she came up
+to him, and putting both her hands upon his arm said, 'It will be
+better, Will, that I should go will it not? Speak to me, and say so. I
+feel that it will be better.' Then he stopped in his walk and looked
+down upon her, as her hands still rested upon his shoulder. He gazed
+upon her for some few seconds, remaining quite motionless, and then,
+opening his arms, he surrounded her with his embrace, and pressing her
+with all his strength close to his bosom, kissed her forehead, and her
+cheeks, and her lips, and her eyes. His will was so masterful, his
+strength so great, and his motion so quick, that she was powerless to
+escape from him till he relaxed his hold. Indeed she hardly struggled,
+so much was she surprised and so soon released. But the moment that he
+left her he saw that her face was burning red, and that the tears were
+streaming from her eyes. She stood for a moment trembling, with her
+hands clenched, and with a look of scorn upon her lips and brow that he
+had never seen before; and then she threw herself on a sofa, and,
+burying her face, sobbed aloud; while her whole body was shaken as with
+convulsions. He leaned over her repentant, not knowing what to do, not
+knowing how to speak. All ideas of his scheme had gone from him now. He
+had offended her for ever past redemption. What could be the use now of
+any scheme? And as he stood there he hated himself because of his
+scheme. The utter misery and disgrace of the present moment had come
+upon him because he had thought more of himself than of her. It was but
+a few moments since she had told him that she trusted him next to her
+God; and yet in those few moments, he had shown himself utterly
+unworthy of that trust, and had destroyed all her confidence. But he
+could not leave, her without speaking to her. 'Clara!' he said 'Clara.'
+But she did not answer him. 'Clara; will you not speak to me? Will you
+not let me ask you to forgive me?' But still she only sobbed. For her,
+at that moment, we may say that sobbing was easier than speech. How was
+she to pardon so great an offence? How was she to resent such
+passionate love?
+
+But he could not continue to stand there motionless, all but
+speechless, while she lay with her face turned away from him. He must
+at any rate in some manner take himself away out of the room; and this
+he could not do, even in his present condition of unlimited disgrace,
+without a word of farewell. 'Perhaps I had better go and leave you,' he
+said.
+
+Then at last there came a voice, 'Oh, Will, why have you done this?
+Why have you treated me so badly?' When he had last seen her face her
+mouth had been full of scorn, but, there was, no scorn now in her
+voice. 'Why why why?'
+
+Why indeed except that it was needful for him that she should know the
+depth of his passion. 'If you will forgive me, Clara, I will not offend
+you so again,' he said.
+
+'You have offended me. What am I to say? What am I to do? I have no
+other friend.'
+
+'I am a wretch. I know that I am a wretch.'
+
+'I did not suspect that you would be so cruel. Oh, Will!'
+
+But before he went she told him that she had forgiven him, and she had
+preached to him a solemn, sweet sermon on the wickedness of yielding,
+to momentary impulses. Her low, grave words sank into his ears as
+though they were divine; and when she said a word to him, blushing as
+she spoke, of the sin of his passion and of what her sin would be, if
+she were to permit it, he sat by her weeping like an infant, tears
+which were certainly tears of innocence. She had been very angry with
+him; but I think she loved him better when, her sermon was finished
+than she had ever loved him before.
+
+There was no further question as to her going to Aylmer Castle, nor was
+any mention made of Mrs Askerton's invitation to the cottage. The
+letter for Lady Aylmer was sent, and it was agreed between them that
+Will should remain at Redicote till the answer from Yorkshire should
+come, and should then convey Clara as far as London on her journey. And
+when he took leave of her that afternoon, she was able to give him her
+hand in her old hearty, loving way, and to call him Will with the old
+hearty, loving tone. And he he was able to accept these tokens of her
+graciousness, as though they were signs of a pardon which she had been
+good to give, but which he certainly had not deserved.
+
+As he went back to Redicote, he swore to himself that he would never
+love any woman but her even though she must be the wife of Captain
+Aylmer.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE LAST DAY AT BELTON
+
+In course of post there came an answer from Lady Aylmer, naming a day
+for Clara's journey to Yorkshire, and also a letter from Captain
+Aylmer, in, which he stated that he would meet her in London and convey
+her down to Aylmer Park. 'The House is sitting,' he said, 'and
+therefore I shall be a little troubled about my time; but I cannot
+allow that your first meeting with my mother should take place in my
+absence.' This was all very well, but at the end of the letter there
+was a word of caution that was not so well. 'I am sure, my dear Clara,
+that you will remember how much is due to my mother's age, and
+character, and position. Nothing will be wanted to the happiness of our
+marriage, if you can succeed in gaining her affection, and therefore I
+make it my first request to you, that you should endeavour to win her
+good opinion.' There was nothing perhaps really amiss, certainly
+nothing unreasonable, in such words from a future husband to his future
+wife; but Clara, as she read them, shook her head and pressed her foot
+against the ground in anger. It would not do. Sorrow would come and
+trouble and disappointment. She did not say so, even to herself in
+words; but the words, though not spoken, were audible enough to
+herself. She could not, would not, bend to Lady Aylmer, and she knew
+that trouble would come of this visit.
+
+I fear that many ladies will condemn Miss Amedroz when I tell them that
+she showed this letter to her Cousin Will. It does not promise well for
+any of the parties concerned when a young woman with two lovers can
+bring herself to show the love-letters of him to whom she is engaged to
+the other lover whom she has refused! But I have two excuses to put
+forward in Clara's defence. In the first place, Captain Aylmer's
+love-letters were not in truth love-letters, but were letters of
+business; and in the next place, Clara was teaching herself to regard
+Will Belton as her brother, and to forget that he had ever assumed the
+part of a lover.
+
+She was so teaching herself, but I cannot say that the lesson was one
+easily learned; nor had the outrage upon her of which Will had been
+guilty, and which was described in the last chapter, made the teaching
+easier. But she had determined, nevertheless, that it should be so.
+When she thought of Will her heart would become very soft towards him;
+and sometimes, when she thought of Captain Aylmer, her heart would
+become anything but soft towards him. Unloving feelings would be very
+strong within her bosom as she re-read his letters, and remembered that
+he had not come to her, but had sent her seventy-five pounds to comfort
+her in her trouble! Nevertheless, he was to be her husband, and she
+would do her duty. What might have happened had Will Belton come to
+Belton Castle before she had known Frederic Aylmer of that she stoutly
+resolved that she would never think at all; and consequently the
+thought was always intruding upon her.
+
+'You will sleep one night in town, of course?' said Will.
+
+'I suppose so. You know all about it. I shall do as I'm told.'
+
+'You can't go down to Yorkshire from here in one day. Where would you
+like to stay in London?'
+
+'How on earth should I know? Ladies do sleep at hotels in London
+sometimes, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh yes. I can write and have rooms ready for you.'
+
+'Then that difficulty is over,' said Clara.
+
+But in Belton's estimation the difficulty was not exactly over. Captain
+Aylmer would, of course, be in London that night, and it was a question
+with Will whether or no Clara was not bound in honour to tell the
+accursed beast, I am afraid Mr Belton called him in his soliloquies
+where she would lodge on the occasion. Or would it suffice that he,
+Will, should hand her over to the enemy at the station of the Great
+Northern Railway on the following morning? All the little intricacies
+of the question presented themselves to Will's imagination. How careful
+he would be with her, that the inn accommodation should suffice for her
+comfort! With what pleasure would he order a little dinner for them
+two, making something of a gentle fˆte of the occasion! How sedulously
+would he wait upon her with those little attentions, amounting almost
+to worship, with which such men as Will Belton are prone to treat all
+women in exceptionable circumstances, when the ordinary routine of life
+has been disturbed! If she had simply been his cousin, and if he had
+never regarded her otherwise, how happily could he have done all this!
+As things now were, if it was left to him to do, he should do it, with
+what patience and grace might be within his power; he would do it,
+though he would be mindful every moment of the bitterness of the
+transfer which he would so soon be obliged to make; but he doubted
+whether it would not be better for Clara's sake that the transfer
+should be made overnight. He would take her up to London, because in
+that way he could be useful; and then he would go away and hide
+himself. 'Has Captain Aylmer said where he would meet you?' he asked
+after a pause.
+
+'Of course I must write and tell him.'
+
+'And is he to come to you when you reach London?'
+
+'He has said nothing about that. 'He will probably be at the House of
+Commons, or too busy somewhere to come to me then. But why do you ask?
+Do you wish to hurry through town?'
+
+'Oh dear, no.'
+
+'Or perhaps you have friends you want to see. Pray don't let me be in
+your way. I shall do very well, you know.'
+
+Belton rebuked her by a look before he answered her. 'I was only
+thinking,' he said, 'of what would be most convenient for yourself. I
+have nobody to see, and nothing to do, and nowhere to go to.' Then
+Clara understood it all, and said that she would write to Captain
+Aylmer and ask him, to join them at the hotel.
+
+She determined that she would see Mrs Askerton before she went; and as
+that lady did not come to the Castle, Clara called upon her at the
+cottage. This she did the day before she left, and she took her cousin
+with her. Belton had been at the cottage once or twice since the day on
+which Mrs Askerton had explained to him how the Aylmer alliance might
+be extinguished, but Colonel Askerton had always been there, and no
+reference had been made to the former conversation. Colonel Askerton
+was not there now, and Belton was almost afraid that words would be
+spoken to which he would hardly know how to listen.
+
+'And so you are really going?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Yes; we start tomorrow,' said Clara.
+
+'I am not thinking of the journey to London,' said Mrs Askerton, 'but
+of the danger and privations of your subsequent progress to the North.'
+
+'I shall do very well. I am not afraid that any one will eat me.'
+
+'There are so many different ways of eating people! Are there not, Mr
+Belton?'
+
+'I don't know about eating, but there are a great many ways of boring
+people,' said he.
+
+'And I should think they will be great at that kind of thing at Aylmer
+Castle. One never hears of Sir Anthony, but I can fancy Lady Aylmer to
+be a terrible woman.'
+
+'I shall manage to hold my own, I dare say,' said Clara.
+
+'I hope you will; I do hope you will,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I don't know
+whether you will be powerful to do so, or whether you will fail; my
+heart is not absolute; but I do know what will be the result if you are
+successful.'
+
+'It is much more then than I know myself.'
+
+'That I can believe too. Do you travel down to Yorkshire alone?'
+
+'No; Captain Aylmer will meet me in town.'
+
+Then Mrs Askerton looked at Mr Belton, but made no immediate reply; nor
+did she say anything further about Clara's journey. She looked at Mr
+Belton, and Will caught her eye, and understood that he was being
+rebuked for not having carried out that little scheme which, had been
+prepared for him. But he had come to hate the scheme, and almost hated
+Mrs Askerton for proposing it. He had declared to himself that her
+welfare, Clara's welfare, was the one thing which the should regard;
+and he had told himself that he was not strong enough, either in
+purpose or in wit, to devise schemes for her welfare. She was better
+able to manage things for herself than he was to manage them for her.
+If she loved this 'accursed beast,' let her marry him; only for that
+was now his one difficulty only he could not bring himself to think it
+possible that she should love him.
+
+'I suppose you will never see this place again?' said Mrs Askerton
+after a long pause.
+
+'I hope I shall, very often,' said Clara. 'Why should I not see it
+again? It is not going out of the family.'
+
+'No not exactly out of the family. That is, it will belong to your
+cousin.'
+
+'And cousins may be as far apart as strangers, you mean; but Will and I
+are not like that; are we, Will?'
+
+'I hardly know what we are like,' said he.
+
+'You do not mean to say that you will throw me over? But the truth is,
+Mrs Askerton, that I do not mean to be thrown over. I look upon him as
+my brother, and I intend to cling to him as sisters do cling.'
+
+'You will hardly come back here before you are married,' said Mrs
+Askerton. It was a terrible speech for her to make, and could only be
+excused on the ground that the speaker was in truth desirous of doing
+that which she thought would benefit both of those whom she addressed.
+
+'Of course you are going to your wedding now?'
+
+'I am doing nothing of the kind,' said Clara. 'How can you speak in
+that way to me so soon after my father's death? It is a rebuke to me
+for being here at all.'
+
+'I intend no rebuke, as you well know. What I mean is this; if you do
+not stay in Yorkshire till you are married, let the time be when it
+may, where do you intend to go in the meantime?'
+
+'My plans are not settled yet.'
+
+'She will have this house if she pleases,' said Will. 'There will be no
+one else here. It will be her own, to do as she likes with it.'
+
+'She will hardly come here to be alone.'
+
+'I will not be inquired into, my dear,' said Clara, speaking with
+restored good-humour. 'Of course I am an unprotected female, and
+subject to disadvantages. Perhaps I have no plans for the future; and
+if I have plans, perhaps I do not mean to divulge them.'
+
+'I had better come to the point at once,' said Mrs Askerton. 'If if if
+it should ever suit you, pray come here to us. Flowers shall not be
+more welcome in May. It is difficult to speak of it all, though you
+both understand everything as well as I do. I cannot press my
+invitation as another woman might.'
+
+'Yes, you can,' said Clara with energy. 'Of course you can.'
+
+'Can I? Then I do. Dear Clara, do come to us.' And then as she spoke
+Mrs Askerton knelt on the ground at her visitor's knees. 'Mr Belton, do
+tell her that when she is tired with the grandeur of Aylmer Park she
+may come to us here.'
+
+'I don't know anything about the grandeur of Aylmer Park,' said Will,
+suddenly.
+
+'But she may come here may she not?'
+
+'She will not ask my leave,' said he.
+
+'She says that you are her brother. Whose leave should she ask?'
+
+'He knows that I should ask his rather than that of any living person,'
+said Clara.
+
+'There, Mr Belton. Now you must say that she may come or that she may
+not.'
+
+'I will say nothing. She knows what to do much better than I can tell
+her.'
+
+Mrs Askerton was still kneeling, and again appealed to Clara. 'You hear
+what he says. What do you say yourself? Will you come to us? that is,
+if such a visit will suit you in point of convenience?'
+
+'I will make no promise; but I know no reason why I should not.'
+
+'And I must be content with that? Well: I will be content.' Then she
+got up. 'For such a one as I am, that is a great deal. And, Mr Belton,
+let me tell you this I can be grateful to you, though you cannot be
+gracious to me.'
+
+'I hope I have not been ungracious,' said he.
+
+'Upon my word, I cannot compliment you. But there is something so much
+better than grace, that I can forgive you. You know, at any rate, how
+thoroughly I wish you well.'
+
+Upon this Clara got up to take her leave, and the demonstrative
+affection of an embrace between the two women afforded a remedy for the
+awkwardness of the previous conversation.
+
+'God bless you, dearest,' said Mrs Askerton. 'May I write to you?'
+
+'Certainly,' said Clara.
+
+'And you will answer my letters?'
+
+'Of course I will. You must tell me everything about the place and
+especially as to Bessy. Bessy is never to be sold is she, Will? Bessy
+was the cow which Belton had given her.
+
+'Not if you choose to keep her.'
+
+'I will go down and see to her myself,' said Mrs Askerton, and will
+utter little prayers of my own over her horns that certain events that
+I desire may come to pass. Good-bye, Mr Belton. You may be as
+ungracious as you please, but it will not make any difference.'
+
+When Clara and her cousin left the cottage they did not return to the
+house immediately, but took a last walk round the park, and through the
+shrubbery, and up to the rocks on which a remarkable scene bad once
+taken place between them. Few words were spoken as they were walking,
+and there had been no agreement as to the path they would take. Each
+seemed to understand that there was much of melancholy in their present
+mood, and that silence was more fitting than speech. But when they
+reached the rocks Belton sat himself down, asking Clara's leave to stop
+there for a moment. 'I don't suppose I shall ever come to this place
+again,' said he.
+
+'You are as bad as Mrs Askerton,' said Clara.
+
+'I do not think I shall ever come to this place again,' said he,
+repeating his words very solemnly. At any rate, I will never do so
+willingly, unless'
+
+'Unless what?'
+
+'Unless you are either my wife, or have promised to become so.'
+
+'Oh, Will; you know that that is impossible.'
+
+'Then it is impossible that I should come here again.'
+
+'You know that I am engaged to another man.'
+
+'Of course I do. I am not asking you to break your engagement. I am
+simply telling you that in spite of that engagement I love you as well
+as I did love you before you had made it. I have a right to let you
+know the truth.' As if she had not known it without his telling it to
+her now! 'It was here that I told you that I loved you. I now repeat it
+here; and will never come here again unless I may say the same thing
+over and over and over. That is all. We might as well go on now.' But
+when he got up she sat down, as though unwilling to leave the spot. It
+was still winter, and the rock was damp with cold drippings from the
+trees, and the moss around was wet, and little pools of water had
+formed themselves in the shallow holes upon the surface. She did not
+speak as she seated herself; but he was of course obliged to wait till
+she should be ready to accompany him. 'It is too cold for you to sit
+there,' he said. 'Come, Clara; I will not have you loiter here. It is
+cold and wet.'
+
+'It is not colder for me than for you.'
+
+'You are not used to that sort of thing as I am.'
+
+'Will,' she said, ' you must never speak to me again as you spoke just
+now. Promise me that you will not.'
+
+'Promises will do no good in such a matter.'
+
+'It is almost a repetition of what you did before though of course it
+is not so bad as that.'
+
+'Everything I do is bad.'
+
+'No, Will dear Will! Almost everything you do is good. But of what use
+can it be to either of us for you to be thinking of that which can
+never be? Cannot you think of me as your sister and only as your sister?
+
+'No; I cannot.'
+
+'Then it is not right that we should be together.'
+
+'I know nothing of right. You ask me a question, and I suppose you
+don't wish that I should tell you a lie.'
+
+'Of course I do not wish that.'
+
+'Therefore I tell you the truth. I love you as any other man loves the
+girl that he does love; and, as far as I know myself now, I never can
+be happy unless you are my own.'
+
+'Oh, Will, how can that be when I am engaged to marry another man?'
+
+'As to your engagement I should care nothing. Does he love you as I
+love you? If he loves you, why is he not here? If he loves you, why
+does he let his mother ill-use you, and treat you with scorn? If he
+loves you as I love you, how could he write to you as he does write?
+Would I write to you such a letter as that? Would I let you be here
+without coming to you to be looked after by any one else? If you had
+said that you would be my wife, would I leave you in solitude and
+sorrow, and then send you seventy-five pounds to console you? If you
+think he loves you, Clara'
+
+'He thought he was doing right when he sent me the money.'
+
+'But he shouldn't have thought it right. Never mind. I don't want to
+accuse him; but this I know and you know; he does not love you as I
+love you.'
+
+'What can I say to answer you?'
+
+'Say that you will wait till you have seen him. Say that I may have a
+hope a chance; that if he is cold, and hard, and and and, just what we
+know he is, then I may have a chance.'
+
+'How can I say that when I am engaged to him? Cannot you understand
+that I am wrong to let you speak of him as you do?'
+
+'How else am I to speak of him? Tell me this. Do you love him?' 'Yes I
+do.'
+
+'I don't believe it!'
+
+'Will!'
+
+'I don't believe it. Nothing on earth shall make me believe it. It is
+impossible impossible!'
+
+'Do you mean to insult me, Will?'
+
+'No; I do not mean to insult you, but I mean to tell you the truth. I
+do not think you love that man as you ought to love the man whom you
+are going to marry. I should tell you just the same thing if I were
+really your brother. Of course it isn't that I suppose you love any one
+else me for instance. I'm not such a fool as that. But I don't think
+you love him; and I'm quite sure he doesn't love you. That's just what
+I believe; and if I do believe it, how am I to help telling you?'
+
+'You've no right to have such beliefs.'
+
+'How am I to help it? Well never mind. I won't let you sit there any
+longer. At any rate you'll be able to understand now that I shall never
+come to this place any more.' Clara, as she got up to obey him, felt
+that she also ought never to see it again unless, indeed unless
+
+They passed that evening together without any reference to the scene on
+the rock, or any allusion to their own peculiar troubles. Clara, though
+she would not admit to Mrs Askerton that she was going away from the
+place for ever, was not the less aware that such might very probably be
+the case. She had no longer any rights of ownership at Belton Castle,
+and all that had taken place between her and her cousin tended to make
+her feel that under no circumstances could she again reside there. Nor
+was it probable that she would be able to make to Mrs Askerton the
+visit of which they had been talking. If Lady Aylmer were wise so Clara
+thought there would be no mention of Mrs Askerton at Aylmer Park; and,
+if so, of course she would not outrage her future husband by proposing
+to go to a house of which she knew that he disapproved. If Lady Aylmer
+were not wise if she should take upon herself the task of rebuking
+Clara for her friendship then, in such circumstances as those, Clara
+believed that the visit to Mrs Askerton might be possible.
+
+But she determined that she would leave the home in which she had been
+born, and had passed so many happy and so many unhappy days, as though
+she were never to see it again. All her packing had been done, down to
+the last fragment of an old letter that was stuffed into her
+writing-desk; but, nevertheless, she went about the house with a candle
+in her hand, as though she were still looking that nothing had been
+omitted, while she was in truth saying farewell in her heart to every
+corner which she knew so well. When at last she came down to pour out
+for her desolate cousin his cup of tea, she declared that everything
+was done. 'You may go to work now, Will,' she said, and do what you
+please with the old place. My jurisdiction is over.'
+
+'Not altogether,' said he. He no longer spoke like a despairing lover.
+Indeed there was a smile round his mouth, and his voice was cheery.
+
+'Yes altogether. I give over my sovereignty from this moment and a
+dirty dilapidated sovereignty it is.'
+
+'That's all very well to say.'
+
+'And also very well to do. What best pleases me in going to Aylmer
+Castle just now is the power it gives me of doing at once that which
+otherwise I might have put off till the doing of it had become much
+more unpleasant. Mr Belton, there is the key of the cellar which I
+believe gentlemen always regard as the real sign of possession. I don't
+advise you to trust much to the contents.' He took the key from her,
+and without saying a word chucked it across the room on to an old sofa.
+'If you won't take it, you had better, at any rate, have it tied up
+with the others,' she said.
+
+'I dare say you'll know where to find it when you want it,' he answered.
+
+'I shall never want it.'
+
+'Then it's as well there as anywhere else.'
+
+'But you won't remember, Will.'
+
+'I don't suppose I shall have occasion for remembering.' Then he paused
+a moment before he went on. 'I have told you before that I do not
+intend to take possession of the place. I do not regard it as mine at
+all.'
+
+'And whose is it, then?'
+
+'Yours.'
+
+'No, dear Will; it is not mine. You know that.'
+
+'I intend that it shall be so, and therefore you might as well put the
+keys where you will know how to find them.'
+
+Alter he had gone she did take up the key, and tied it with sundry
+others, which she intended to give to the old servant who was to be
+left in charge of the house. But after a few moments' consideration she
+took the cellar key again off the bunch, and put it back upon the sofa
+in the place to which he had thrown it.
+
+On the following morning they started on their journey. The old fly
+from Redicote was not used on this occasion, as Belton had ordered a
+pair of post-horses and a comfortable carriage from Taunton. 'I think
+it such a shame,' said Clara, 'going away for the last time without
+having Jerry and the grey horse.' Jerry was the man who had once driven
+her to Taunton when the old horse fell with her on the road. 'But Jerry
+and the grey horse could not have taken you and me too, and all our
+luggage,' said Will. 'Poor Jerry! I suppose not,' said Clara; 'but
+still there is an injury done in going without him.'
+
+There were four or five old dependents of the family standing round the
+door to bid her adieu, to all of whom she gave her hand with a cordial
+pressure. They, at least, seemed to regard her departure as final. And
+of course it was final. She had assured herself of that during the
+night. And just as they were about to start, both Colonel and Mrs
+Askerton walked up to the door. 'He wouldn't let you go without bidding
+you farewell,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I am so glad to shake hands with
+him,' Clara answered. Then the colonel spoke a word to her, and, as he
+did so, his wife contrived to draw Will Belton for a moment behind the
+carriage. 'Never give it up, Mr Belton,' said she eagerly. 'If you
+persevere she'll be yours yet.' 'I fear not,' he said. 'Stick to her
+like a man,' said she, pressing his hand in her vehemence. 'If you do,
+you'll live to thank me for having told you so.' Will had not a word to
+say for himself, but he thought that he would stick to her. Indeed, he
+thought that he had stuck to her pretty well.
+
+At last they were off, and the village of Belton was behind them; Will,
+glancing into his cousin's face, saw that her eyes were laden with
+tears, and refrained from speaking. As they passed the ugly red-brick
+rectory. house, Clara for a moment put her face to the window, and then
+withdrew it. 'There is nobody there,' she said, 'who will care to see
+me. Considering that I have lived here all my life, is it not odd that
+there should be so few to bid me good-bye?'
+
+'People do not like to put themselves forward on such occasions,' said
+Will.
+
+'People there are no people. No one ever had so few to care for them as
+I have. And now But never mind; I mean to do very well, and I shall do
+very well.' Belton would not take advantage of her in her sadness, and
+they reached the station at Taunton almost without another word.
+
+Of course they had to wait there for half an hour, and of course the
+waiting was very tedious. To Will it was very tedious indeed, as he was
+not by nature good at waiting. To Clara, who on this occasion sat
+perfectly still in the waiting-room, with her toes on the fender before
+the fire, the evil of the occasion was not so severe. 'The man would
+take two hours for the journey, though I told him an hour and a half
+would be enough,' said Will, querulously.
+
+'But we might have had an accident.'
+
+'An accident! What accident? People don't have accidents every day.'
+
+At last the train came and they started. Clara, though she had with her
+her best friend I may almost say the friend whom in the world she loved
+the best did not have an agreeable journey. Belton would not talk; but
+as he made no attempt at reading, Clara did not like to have recourse
+to the book which she had in her travelling-bag. He sat opposite to
+her, opening the window and shutting it as he thought she might like
+it, but looking wretched and forlorn. At Swindon he brightened up for a
+moment under the excitement of getting her something to eat, but that
+relaxation lasted only for a few minutes. Alter that he relapsed again
+into silence till the train had passed Slough and he knew that in
+another half-hour they would be in London. Then he leant over her and
+spoke.
+
+'This will probably be the last opportunity I shall have of saying a
+few words to you alone.'
+
+'I don't know that at all, Will.'
+
+'It will be the last for a long time at any rate. And as I have got
+something to say, I might as well say it now. I have thought a great
+deal about the property the Belton estate, I mean; and I don't intend
+to take it as mine.'
+
+'That is sheer nonsense, Will. You must take it, as it is yours, and
+can't belong to any one else.'
+
+'I have thought it over, and I am quite sure that all the business of
+the entail was wrong radically wrong from first to last. You are to
+understand that my special regard for you has nothing whatever to do
+with it. I should do the same thing if I felt that I hated you.'
+
+'Don't hate me, Will!'
+
+'You know what I mean. I think the entail was all wrong, and I shan't
+take advantage of it. It's not common sense that I should have
+everything because of poor Charley's misfortune.'
+
+'But it seems to me that it does not depend upon you or upon me, or
+upon anybody. It is yours by law, you know.'
+
+'And therefore it won't be sufficient for me to give it up without
+making it yours by law also which I intend to do. I shall stay in town
+tomorrow and give instructions to Mr Green. I have thought it proper to
+tell you this now, in order that you may mention it to Captain Aylmer.'
+
+They were leaning over in the carriage one towards the other; her face
+had been slightly turned away from him; but now she slowly raised her
+eyes till they met his, and looking into the depth of them, and seeing
+there all his love and all his suffering, and the great nobility of his
+nature, her heart melted within her. Gradually, as her tears came would
+come, in spite of all her constraint, she again turned her face towards
+the window. 'I can't talk now,' she said, 'indeed I can't.'
+
+'There is no need for any more talking about it,' be replied. And there
+was no more talking between them, on that subject or on any other, till
+the tickets bad been taken and the train was again in motion. Then he
+referred to it again for a moment. 'You will tell Captain Aylmer, my
+dear.'
+
+'I will tell him what you say, that he may know your generosity. But of
+course he will agree with me that no such offer can be accepted. It is
+quite quite quite out of the question.'
+
+'You had better tell him and say nothing more; or you can ask him to
+see Mr Green after tomorrow. He, as a man who understands business,
+will know that this arrangement must he made, if I choose to make it.
+Come; here we are. Porter, a four-wheeled cab. Do you go with him, and
+I'll look after the luggage.'
+
+Clara, as she got into the cab, felt that she ought to have been more
+stout in her resistance to his offer. But it would be better, perhaps,
+that she should write to him from Aylmer Park, and get Frederic to
+write also.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY HOTEL
+
+At the door of the hotel of the Great Northern Railway Station they
+met Captain Aylmer. Rooms had been taken there because they were to
+start by an early train on that line in the morning, and Captain Aylmer
+had undertaken to order dinner. There was nothing particular in the
+meeting to make it unpleasant to our friend Will. The fortunate rival
+could do no more in the hall of the inn than give his hand to his
+affianced bride, as he might do to any other lady, and then suggest to
+her that she should go upstairs and see her room. When he had done
+this, he also offered his hand to Belton; and Will, though he would
+almost sooner have out off his own, was obliged to take it. In a few
+minutes the two men were standing alone together in the sitting-room.
+
+'I suppose you found it cold coming up?' said the captain.
+
+'Not particularly,' said Will.
+
+'It's rather a long journey from Belton.'
+
+'Not very long,' said Will.
+
+'Not for you, perhaps; but Miss Amedroz must be tired.'
+
+Belton was angry at having his cousin called Miss Amedroz feeling that
+the reserve of the name was intended to keep him at a distance. But he
+would have been equally angry had Aylmer called her Clara.
+
+'My cousin,' said Will, stoutly, 'is able to bear slight fatigue of
+that kind without suffering.'
+
+'I didn't suppose she suffered; but journeys are always tedious,
+especially where there is so much roadwork. I believe you are twenty
+miles from the station?'
+
+'Belton Castle is something over twenty miles from Taunton.'
+
+'We are seven from our station at Aylmer Park, and we think that a
+great deal.'
+
+'I'm more than that at Plaistow,' said Will.
+
+'Oh, indeed. Plaistow is in Norfolk, I believe?'
+
+'Yes Plaistow is in Norfolk.'
+
+'I suppose you'll leave it now and go into Somersetshire,' suggested
+Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Certainly not. Why should I leave it?'
+
+'I thought, perhaps as Belton Castle is now your own'
+
+'Plaistow Hall is more my own than Belton Castle, if that signifies
+anything which it doesn't.' This he said in an angry tone, which, as he
+became conscious of it, he tried to rectify. 'I've a deal of stock and
+all that sort of thing at Plaistow, and couldn't very well leave it,
+even if I wished it,' he said.
+
+'You've pretty good shooting too, I suppose,' said Aylmer.
+
+'As far as partridges go I'll back it against most properties of the
+same extent in any county.'
+
+'I'm too busy a man myself,' said the captain, 'to do much at
+partridges. We think more of pheasants down with us.'
+
+'I dare say.'
+
+'But a Norfolk man like you is of course keen about birds.'
+
+'We are obliged to put up with what we've got, you know not but what I
+believe there is a better general head of game in Norfolk than in any
+other county in England.'
+
+'That's what makes your hunting rather poor.'
+
+'Our hunting poor! Why do you say it's poor?'
+
+'So many of you are against preserving foxes.'
+
+'I'll tell you what, Captain Aylmer; I don't know what pack you hunt
+with, but I'll bet you a five- pound note that we killed more foxes
+last year than you did that is, taking three days a week. Nine-
+and-twenty brace and a half in a short season I don't call poor at all.'
+
+Captain Aylmer saw that the man was waxing angry, and made no further
+allusion either to the glories or deficiencies of Norfolk. As he could
+think of no other subject on which to speak at the spur of the moment,
+he sat himself down and took up a paper; Belton took up another, and so
+they remained till Clara made her appearance. That Captain Aylmer read
+his paper is probable enough. He was not a man easily disconcerted, and
+there was nothing in his present position to disconcert him. But I feel
+sure that Will Belton did not read a word. He was angry with this
+rival, whom he hated, and was angry with himself for showing his anger.
+He would have wished to appear to the best advantage before this man,
+or rather before Clara in this man's presence; and he knew that in
+Clara's absence be was making such a fool of himself that he would be
+unable to recover his prestige. He had serious thoughts within his own
+breast whether it would not be as well for him to get up from his seat
+and give Captain Aylmer a thoroughly good thrashing: 'Drop into him and
+punch his head,' as he himself would have expressed it. For the moment
+such an exercise would give him immense gratification. The final
+results would, no doubt, be disastrous; but then, all future results,
+as far as he could see them, were laden with disaster. He was still
+thinking of this, eyeing the man from under the newspaper, and telling
+himself that the feat would probably be too easy to afford much
+enjoyment, when Clara re-entered the room. Then he got up, acting on
+the spur of the moment got up quickly and suddenly, and began to bid
+her adieu.
+
+'But you are going to dine here, Will?' she said.
+
+'No; I think not.'
+
+'You promised you would. You told me you had nothing to do to-night.'
+Then she turned to Captain Aylmer. 'You expect my cousin to dine with
+us today?'
+
+'I ordered dinner for three,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Oh, very well; it's all the same thing to me,' said Will.
+
+'And to me,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'It's not all the same thing to me,' said Clara. 'I don't know when I
+may see my cousin again. I should think it very bad of you, Will, if
+you went away this evening.'
+
+'I'll go out just for half an hour,' said he, 'and be back to dinner.'
+
+'We dine at seven,' said the captain. Then Belton took his hat and left
+the two lovers together.
+
+'Your cousin seems to be a rather surly sort of gentleman.' Those were
+the first words which Captain Aylmer spoke when he was alone with the
+lady of his love. Nor was he demonstrative of his affection by any of
+the usual signs of regard which are permitted to accepted lovers. He
+did not offer to kiss her, nor did he attempt to take her hand with a
+warmer pressure now that he was alone with her. He probably might have
+gone through some such ceremony had he first met Clara in a position
+propitious to such purposes; but, as it was, he had been a little
+ruffled by Will Belton's want of good breeding, and had probably
+forgotten that any such privileges might have been his. I wonder
+whether any remembrance flashed across Clara's mind at this moment of
+her Cousin Will's great iniquity in the sitting-room at Belton Castle.
+She thought of it very often, and may possibly have thought of it now.
+
+'I don't believe that he is surly, Frederic,' she said. 'He may,
+perhaps, be out of humour.'
+
+'And why should he be out of humour with me? I only suggested to him
+that it might suit him to live at Belton instead of at that farm of
+his, down in Norfolk.'
+
+'He is very fond of Plaistow, I fancy.'
+
+'But that's no reason why he should be cross with me. I don't envy him
+his taste, that's all. If he can't understand that he, with his name,
+ought to live on the family property which belongs to him, it isn't
+likely that anything that I can say will open his eyes upon the
+subject.'
+
+'The truth is, Frederic, he has some romantic notion about the Belton
+estate.'
+
+'What romantic notion?'
+
+'He thinks it should not be his at all.'
+
+'Whose then? Who does he think should have it?'
+
+'Of course there can be nothing in it, you know; of course, it's all
+nonsense.'
+
+'But what is his idea? Who does he think should be the owner?
+
+'He means that it should be mine. But of course, Frederic, it is all
+nonsense; we know that.'
+
+It did not seem to be quite clear at the moment that Frederic had
+altogether made up his mind upon the subject. As he heard those tidings
+from Clara there came across his face a puzzled, dubious look, as
+though he did not quite understand the proposition which had been
+suggested to him as though some consideration were wanted before he
+could take the idea home to himself and digest it, so as to enable
+himself to express an opinion upon it. There might be something in it
+some show of reason which did not make itself clear to Clara's feminine
+mind. 'I have never known what was the precise nature of your father's
+marriage settlement,' said he.
+
+Then Clara began to explain with exceeding eagerness that there was no
+question as to the accuracy of the settlement, or the legality of the
+entail that indeed there was no question as to anything. Her Cousin
+Will was romantic, and that was the end of it. Of course quite as a
+matter of course, this romance would lead to nothing; and she had only
+mentioned the subject now to show that her cousin's mind might possibly
+be disturbed when the question of his future residence was raised. 'I
+quite feel with you,' she said, 'that it will be much nicer that he
+should live at the old family place; but just at present I do not speak
+about it.'
+
+'If he is thinking of not claiming Belton, it is quite another thing,'
+said Aylmer.
+
+'It is his without any claiming,' said Clara.
+
+'Ah, well; it will all be settled before long,' said Aylmer.
+
+'It is settled already,' said Clara.
+
+At seven the three met again, and when the dinner was on the table
+there was some little trouble as to the helping of the fish. Which of
+the two men should take the lead on the occasion? But Clara decided the
+question by asking her cousin to make himself useful. There can be
+little doubt but that Captain Aylmer would have distributed the mutton
+chops with much more grace, and have carved the roast fowl with much
+more skill; but it suited Clara that Will should have the employment,
+and Will did the work. Captain Aylmer, throughout the dinner,
+endeavoured to be complaisant, and Clara exerted herself to talk as
+though all matters around them were easy. Will, too, made his effort,
+every now and then speaking a word, and restraining himself from
+snapping at his rival; but the restraint was in itself evident, and
+there were symptoms throughout the dinner that the untamed man was
+longing to fly at the throat of the man that was tamed.
+
+'Is it supposed that I ought to go away for a little while?' said
+Clara, as soon as she had drunk her own glass of wine.
+
+'Oh dear, no,' said the captain. 'We'll have a cup of coffee that is,
+if Mr Belton likes it.'
+
+'It's all the same to me,' said Will.
+
+'But won't you have some more wine?' Clara asked.
+
+'No more for me,' said Captain Aylmer.  'Perhaps Mr Belton'
+
+'Who; I? No; I don't want any more wine,' said Will; and then they were
+all silent.
+
+It was very hard upon Clara. After a while the coffee came, and even
+that was felt to be a comfort. Though there was no pouring out to be
+done, no actual employment enacted, still the manoeuvring of the cups
+created a diversion. 'If either of you like to smoke,' she said, 'I
+shan't mind it in the least.' But neither of them would smoke. 'At what
+hour shall we get to Aylmer Park tomorrow?' Clara asked.
+
+'At half-past four,' said the captain.
+
+'Oh, indeed so early as that.' What was she to say next? Will, who had
+not touched his coffee, and who was sitting stiffly at the table as
+though he were bound in duty not to move, was becoming more and more
+grim every moment. She almost repented that she had asked him to remain
+with them. Certainly there was no comfort in his company, either to
+them or to himself. 'How long shall you remain in town, Will, before
+you go down to Plaistow?' she asked.
+
+'One day,' he replied.
+
+'Give my kind love my very kindest love to Mary. I wish I knew her. I
+wish I could think that I might soon know her.'
+
+'You'll never know her,' said Belton. The tone of his voice was
+actually savage as he spoke so much so that Aylmer turned in his chair
+to look at him, and Clara did not dare to answer him. But now that he
+had been made to speak, it seemed that he was determined to persevere.
+'How should you ever know her? Nothing will ever bring you into
+Norfolk, and nothing will ever take her out of it.'
+
+'I don't quite see why either of those assertions should be made.'
+
+'Nevertheless they're both true. Had you ever meant to come to Norfolk
+you would have come now.' He had not even asked her to come, having
+arranged with his sister that in their existing circumstances any such
+asking would not be a kindness; and yet he rebuked her now for not
+coming!
+
+'My mother is very anxious that Miss Amedroz should pay her a visit at
+Aylmer Park,' said the captain.
+
+'And she's going to Aylmer Park, so your mother's anxiety need not
+disturb her any longer.'
+
+'Come, Will, don't be out of temper with us,' said Clara. 'It is our
+last night together. We, who are so dear to each other, ought not to
+quarrel.'
+
+'I'm not quarrelling with you, said he.
+
+'I can hardly suppose that Mr Belton wants to quarrel with me,' said
+Captain Aylmer, smiling.
+
+'I'm sure he does not,' said Clara. Belton sat silent, with his eyes
+fixed upon the table, and with a dark frown upon his brow. He did long
+to quarrel with Captain Aylmer; but was still anxious, if it might be
+possible, to save himself from what he knew would be a transgression.
+
+'To use a phrase common with us down in Yorkshire,' said Aylmer, 'I
+should say that Mr Belton had got out of bed the wrong side this
+morning.'
+
+'What the d  does it matter to you, sir, what side I got out of bed?'
+said Will, clenching both his fists. Oh if he might have only been
+allowed to have a round of five minutes with Aylmer, he would have been
+restored to good temper for that night, let the subsequent results have
+been what they might. He moved his feet impatiently on the floor, as
+though he were longing to kick something; and then he pushed his
+coffee-cup away from him, upsetting half the contents upon the table,
+and knocking down a wineglass, which was broken.
+
+'Will Will!' said Clara, looking at him with imploring eyes.
+
+'Then he shouldn't talk to me about getting out of bed on the wrong
+side; I didn't say anything to him.'
+
+'It is unkind of you, Will, to quarrel with Captain Aylmer because he
+is my friend.'
+
+'I don't want to quarrel with him; or, rather, as I won't quarrel with
+him because you don't wish it, I'll go away. I can't do more than that.
+I didn't want to dine with him here. There's my cousin Clara, Captain
+Aylmer; I love her better than all the world besides. Love her! It
+seems to me that there's nothing else in the world for me to love. I'd
+give my heart for her this minute. All that I have in the world is
+hers. Oh love her! I don't believe that it's in you to know what I mean
+when I say that I love her! She tells me that he's going to be your
+wife. You can't suppose that I can be very comfortable under those
+circumstances or that I can be very fond of you. I'm not very fond of
+you. Now I'll go away, and then I shan't trouble you any more. But look
+here if ever you should ill-treat her, whether you marry her or whether
+you don't, I'll crush every bone in your skin.' Having so spoken he
+went to the door, but stopped himself before he left the room.
+'Good-bye, Clara. I've got a word or two more to say to you, but I'll
+write you a line down-stairs. You can show it to him if you please.
+It'll only be about business. Good-night.'
+
+She had got up and followed him to the door, and he had taken her by
+the hand. 'You shouldn't let your passion get the better of you in this
+way,' she said; but the tone of her voice was very soft, and her eyes
+were full of love.
+
+'I suppose not,' said he.
+
+'I can forgive him,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'D  your forgiveness,' said Will Belton. Then Clara dropped the hand
+and started back, and the door was shut, and Will Belton was gone.
+
+'Your cousin seems to be a nice sort of young man,' said Aylmer.
+
+'Cannot you understand it all, Frederic, and pardon him?'
+
+'I can pardon him easily enough; but one doesn't like men who are given
+to threatening. He's not the sort of man that I took him to be.'
+
+'Upon my word I think he's as nearly perfect as a man can be.'
+
+'Then you like men to swear at you, and to swagger like Bobadils and to
+misbehave themselves, so that one has to blush for them if a servant
+chances to hear them. Do you really think that he has conducted himself
+today like a gentleman?'
+
+'I know that he is a gentleman,' said Clara.
+
+'I must confess I have no reason for supposing him to be so but your
+assurance.'
+
+'And I hope that is sufficient, Frederic.'
+
+Captain Aylmer did not answer her at once, but sat for awhile silent,
+considering what he would say. Clara, who understood his moods, knew
+that he did not mean to drop the subject, and resolved that she would
+defend her cousin, let Captain Aylmer attack him as he would.
+
+'Upon my word, I hardly know what to say about it,' said Aylmer.
+
+'Suppose then, that we say nothing more. Will not that be best?'
+
+'No, Clara. I cannot now let the matter pass by in that way. You have
+asked me whether I do not think Mr Belton to be a gentleman, and I must
+say that I doubt it. Pray hear me out before you answer me. I do not
+want to be harder upon him than I can help; and I would have borne, and
+I did bear from him, a great deal in silence. But he said that to me
+which I cannot allow to pass without notice. He had the bad taste to
+speak to me of his his regard for you.'
+
+'I cannot see what harm he did by that except to himself.'
+
+'I believe that it is understood among gentlemen that one man never
+speaks to another man about the lady the other man means to marry,
+unless they are very intimate friends indeed. What I mean is, that if
+Mr Belton had understood how gentlemen live together he would never
+have said anything to me about his affection for you. He should at any
+rate have supposed me to be ignorant of it. There is something in the
+very idea of his doing so that is in the highest degree in-delicate. I
+wonder, Clara, that you do not see this yourself.'
+
+'I think he was indiscreet.'
+
+'Indiscreet! Indiscreet is not the word for such conduct. I must say,
+that as far as my opinion goes, it was ungentlemanlike.'
+
+'I don't believe that there is a nobler-minded gentleman in all London
+than my Cousin Will.'
+
+'Perhaps it gratified you to hear from him the assurance of his love?'
+said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'If it is your wish to insult me, Frederic, I will leave you'.
+
+'It is my wish to make you understand that your judgment has been
+wrong.'
+
+'That is simply a matter of opinion, and as I do not wish to argue with
+you about it, I had better go. At any rate I am very tired. Goodnight,
+Frederic.' He then told her what arrangements he had made for the
+morrow, and what hour she would be called, and when she would have her
+breakfast. After that he let her go without making any further allusion
+to Will Belton.
+
+It must be admitted that the meeting between the lovers had not been
+auspicious; and it must be acknowledged, also, that Will Belton had
+behaved very badly. I am not aware of the existence of that special
+understanding among gentlemen in respect to the ladies they are going
+to marry which Captain Aylmer so eloquently described; but,
+nevertheless, I must confess that Belton would have done better had he
+kept his feelings to himself. And when he talked of crushing his
+rival's bones, he laid himself justly open to severe censure. But, for
+all that, he was no Bobadil. He was angry, sore, and miserable; and in
+his anger, soreness, and misery, he had allowed himself to be carried
+away. He felt very keenly his own folly, even as he was leaving the
+room, and as he made his way out of the hotel he hated himself for his
+own braggadocio. 'I wish some one would crush my bones,' he said to
+himself almost audibly. 'No one ever deserved to be crushed better than
+I do.'
+
+Clara, when she got to her own room, was very serious and very sad.
+What was to be the end of it all? This had been her first meeting after
+her father's death with the man whom she had promised to marry; indeed,
+it was the first meeting after her promise had been given; and they had
+only met to quarrel. There had been no word of love spoken between
+them. She had parted from him now almost in anger, without the
+slightest expression of confidence between them almost as those part
+who are constrained by circumstances to be together, but who yet hate
+each other and know that they hate each other. Was there in truth any
+love between him and her? And if there was none, could there be any
+advantage, any good either to him or to her, in this journey of hers to
+Aylmer Park? Would it not be better that she should send for him and
+tell him that they were not suited for each other, and that thus she
+should escape from all the terrors of Lady Aylmer? As she thought of
+this, she could not but think of Will Belton also. Not a gentleman! If
+Will Belton was not a gentleman, she desired to know nothing further of
+gentlemen. Women are so good and kind that those whom they love they
+love almost the more when they commit offences, because of the offences
+so committed. Will Belton had been guilty of great offences of offences
+for which Clara was pre. pared to lecture him in the gravest manner
+should opportunities for such lectures ever come but I think that they
+had increased her regard for him rather than diminished it. She could
+not, however, make up her mind to send for Captain Aylmer, and when she
+went to bed she had resolved that the visit to Yorkshire must be made.
+
+Before she left the room the following morning, a letter was brought to
+her from her cousin, which had been written that morning. She asked the
+maid to inquire for him, and sent down word to him that if he were in
+the house she specially wished to see him; but the tidings came from
+the hall porter that he had gone out very early, and had expressly said
+that he should not breakfast at the inn.
+
+The letter was as follows:
+
+
+
+'Dear Clara,
+
+I meant to have handed to you the enclosed in person, but I lost my
+temper last night like a fool as I am and so I couldn't do it. You need
+not have any scruple about the money which I send œ100 in ten ten-pound
+notes as it is your own. There is the rent due up to your father's
+death, which is more than what I now enclose, and there will be a great
+many other items, as to all of which you shall have a proper account.
+When you want more, you had better draw on me, till things are settled.
+It shall all be done as soon as possible. It would not be comfortable
+for you to go away without money of your own, and I suppose you would
+not wish that he should pay for your journeys and things before you are
+married.
+
+Of course I made a fool of myself yesterday. I believe that I usually
+do. It is not any good my begging your pardon, for I don't suppose I
+shall ever trouble you any more. Good-bye, and God bless you.
+
+Your affectionate Cousin,
+
+WILLIAM BELTON.
+
+It was a bad day for me when I made up my mind to go to Belton Castle
+last summer.'
+
+Clara, when she had read the letter, sat down and cried, holding the
+bundle of notes in her hand. What would she do with them? Should she
+send them back? Oh no she would do nothing to displease him, or to make
+him think that she was angry with him. Besides, she had none of that
+dislike to taking his money which she had felt as to receiving money
+from Captain Aylmer. He had said that she would be his sister, and she
+would take from him any assistance that a sister might properly take
+from a brother.
+
+She went down-stairs and met Captain Aylmer in the sitting-room. He
+stepped up to her as soon as the door was closed, and she could at once
+see that he had determined to forget the unpleasantness of the previous
+evening. He stepped up to her, and gracefully taking her by one hand,
+and passing the other behind her waist, saluted her in a becoming and
+appropriate manner. She did not like it. She especially disliked it,
+believing in her heart of hearts that she would never become the wife
+of this man whom she had professed to love and whom she really had once
+loved. But she could only bear it. And, to say the truth, there was not
+much suffering of that kind to be borne.
+
+Their journey down to Yorkshire was very prosperous. He maintained his
+good humour throughout the day, and never once said a word about Will
+Belton. Nor did he say a word about Mrs Askerton. 'Do your best to
+please my mother, Clara,' he said, as they were driving up from the
+park lodges to the house. This was fair enough, and she therefore
+promised him that she would do her best.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+MISS AMEDROZ HAS SOME HASHED CHICKEN
+
+Clara felt herself to be a coward as the Aylmer Park carriage, which
+had been sent to meet her at the station, was drawn up at Sir Anthony
+Aylmer's door. She had made up her mind that she would not bow down to
+Lady Aylmer, and yet she was afraid of the woman. As she got out of the
+carriage, she looked up, expecting to see her in the hall; but Lady
+Aylmer was too accurately acquainted with the weights and measures of
+society for any such movement as that. Had her son brought Lady Emily
+to the house as his future bride, Lady Aylmer would probably have been
+in the hall when the arrival took place; and had Clara possessed ten
+thousand pounds of her own, she would probably have been met at the
+drawing-room door; but as she had neither money nor title as she in
+fact brought with her no advantages of any sort Lady Aylmer was found
+stitching a bit of worsted, as though she had expected no one to come
+to her. And Belinda Aylmer was stitching also by special order from her
+mother. The reader will remember that Lady Aylmer was not without
+strong hope that the engagement might even yet be broken off. Snubbing,
+she thought, might probably be efficacious to this purpose, and so
+Clara was to be snubbed.
+
+Clara, who had just promised to do her best to gain Lady Aylmer's
+opinion, and who desired to be in some way true to her promise, though
+she thoroughly believed that her labour would be in vain, put on her
+pleasantest smile as she entered the room. Belinda, under the pressure
+of the circumstances, forgetting somewhat of her mother's injunctions,
+hurried to the door to welcome the stranger. Lady Aylmer kept her
+chair, and even maintained her stitch, till Clara was half across the
+room. Then she got up, and with great mastery over her voice, made her
+little speech.
+
+'We are delighted to see you, Miss Amedroz,' she said, putting out her
+hand of which Clara, however, felt no more than the finger.
+
+'Quite delighted,' said Belinda, yielding a fuller grasp. Then there
+were affectionate greetings between Frederic and his mother and
+Frederic and his sister, during which Clara stood by, ill at ease.
+Captain Aylmer said not a word as to the footing on which his future
+wife had come to his father's house. He did not ask his mother to
+receive her as another daughter, or his sister to take his Clara to her
+heart as a sister. There had been no word spoken of recognized
+intimacy. Clara knew that the Aylmers were cold people. She had learned
+as much as that from Captain Aylmer's words to herself, and from his
+own manner. But she had not expected to be so frozen by them as was the
+case with her now. In ten minutes she was sitting down with her bonnet
+still on, and Lady Aylmer was again at her stitches.
+
+'Shall I show you your room?' said Belinda.
+
+'Wait a moment, my dear,' said Lady Aylmer. 'Frederic has gone to see
+if Sir Anthony is in his study.'
+
+Sir Anthony was found in his study, and now made his appearance.
+
+'So this is Clara Amedroz,' he said. 'My dear, you are welcome to
+Aylmer Park.' This was so much better, that the kindness expressed
+though there was nothing special in it brought a tear into Clara's eye,
+and almost made her love Sir Anthony.
+
+'By the by, Sir Anthony, have you seen Darvel? Darvel was wanting to
+see you especially about Nuggins. Nuggins says that he'll take the
+bullocks now.' This was said by Lady Aylmer, and was skilfully arranged
+by her to put a stop to anything like enthusiasm on the part of Sir
+Anthony. Clara Amedroz had been invited to Aylmer Park, and was to be
+entertained there, but it would not be expedient that she should be
+made to think that anybody was particularly glad to see her, or that
+the family was at all proud of the proposed connexion. Within five
+minutes after this she was up in her room, and had received from
+Belinda tenders of assistance as to her lady's maid. Both the mother
+and daughter had been anxious to learn whether Clara would bring her
+own maid. Lady Aylmer, thinking that she would do so, had already
+blamed her for extravagance. 'Of course Fred will have to pay for the
+journey and all the rest of it,' she had said. But as soon as she had
+perceived that Clara had come without a servant, she had perceived that
+any young woman who travelled in that way must be unfit to be mated
+with her son. Clara, whose intelligence in such matters was sharp
+enough, assured Belinda that she wanted no assistance. 'I dare say you
+think it very odd,' she said, 'but I really can dress myself.' And when
+the maid did come to unpack the things, Clara would have sent her away
+at once had she been able. But the maid, who was not a young woman, was
+obdurate. 'Oh no, miss; my lady wouldn't be pleased. If you please,
+miss, I'll do it.' And so the things were unpacked.
+
+Clara was told that they dined at half-past seven, and she remained
+alone in her room till dinner- time, although it had not yet struck
+five when she had gone upstairs. The maid had brought her up a cup of
+tea, and she seated herself at her fire, turning over in her mind the
+different members of the household in which she found herself. It would
+never do. She told herself over and over again that it would never come
+to pass that that woman should be her mother-in-law, or that that other
+woman should be her sister. It was manifest to her that she was
+distasteful to them; and she had not lost a moment in assuring herself
+that they were distasteful to her. What purpose could it answer that
+she should strive not to like them, for no such strife was possible but
+to appear to like them? The whole place and everything about it was
+antipathetic to her. Would it not be simply honest to Captain Aylmer
+that she should tell him so at once, and go away? Then she remembered
+that Frederic had not spoken to her a single word since she had been
+under his father's roof. What sort of welcome would have been accorded
+to her had she chosen to go down to Plaistow Hall?
+
+At half-past seven she made her way by herself downstairs. In this
+there was some difficulty, as she remembered nothing of the rooms
+below, and she could not at first find a servant. But a man at last did
+come to her in the hall, and by him she was shown into the
+drawing-room. Here she was alone for a few minutes. As she looked about
+her, she thought that no room she had ever seen had less of the comfort
+of habitation. It was not here that she had met Lady Aylmer before
+dinner. There had, at any rate, been in that other room work things,
+and the look of life which life gives to a room. But here there was no
+life. The furniture was all in its place, and everything was cold and
+grand and comfortless. They were making company of her at Aylmer Park!
+
+Clara was intelligent in such matters, and understood it all thoroughly.
+
+Lady Aylmer was the first person to come to her. 'I hope my maid has
+been with you,' said she to which Clara muttered something intended for
+thanks. 'You'll find Richards a very clever woman, and quite a proper
+person.'
+
+'I don't at all doubt that.'
+
+'She has been here a good many years, and has perhaps little ways of
+her own but she means to be obliging.'
+
+'I shall give her very little trouble, Lady Aylmer. I am used to dress
+myself.' I am afraid this was not exactly true as to Clara's past
+habits; but she could dress herself, and intended to do so in future,
+and in this way justified the assertion to herself.
+
+'You had better let Richards come to you, my dear, while you are here,'
+said Lady Aylmer, with a slight smile on her countenance which outraged
+Clara more even than the words. 'We like to see young ladies nicely
+dressed here.' To be told that she was to be nicely dressed because she
+was at Aylmer Park! Her whole heart was already up in rebellion. Do her
+best to please Lady Aylmer! It would be utterly impossible to her to
+make any attempt whatever in that direction. There was something in her
+ladyship's eye a certain mixture of cunning, and power, and hardness in
+the slight smile that would gather round her mouth, by which Clara was
+revolted. She already understood much of Lady Aylmer, but in one thing
+she was mistaken. She thought that she saw simply the natural woman;
+but she did, in truth, see the woman specially armed with an intention
+of being disagreeable, made up to give offence, and prepared to create
+dislike and enmity. At the present moment nothing further was said, as
+Captain Aylmer entered the room, and his mother immediately began to
+talk to him in whispers.
+
+The first two days of Clara's sojourn at Aylmer Park passed by without
+the occurrence of anything that was remarkable. That which most
+surprised and annoyed her, as regarded her own position, was the
+coldness of all the people around her, as connected with the actual
+fact of her engagement. Sir Anthony was very courteous to her, but had
+never as yet once alluded to the fact that she was to become one of his
+family as his daughter-in-law. Lady Aylmer called her Miss Amedroz
+using the name with a peculiar emphasis, as though determined to show
+that Miss Amedroz was to be Miss Amedroz as far as any one at Aylmer
+Park was concerned and treated her almost as though her presence in the
+house was intrusive. Belinda was as cold as her mother in her mother's
+presence; but when alone with Clara would thaw a little. She, in her
+difficulty, studiously avoided calling the new-corner by any name at
+all. As to Captain Aylmer, it was manifest to Clara that he was
+suffering almost more than she suffered herself. His position was so
+painful that she absolutely pitied him for the misery to which he was
+subjected by his own mother. They still called each other Frederic and
+Clara, and that was the only sign of special friendship which
+manifested itself between them. And Clara, though she pitied him, could
+not but learn to despise him. She had hitherto given him credit at any
+rate for a will of his own. She had believed him to be a man able to
+act in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience. But now she
+perceived him to be so subject to his mother that he did not dare to
+call his heart his own. What was to be the end of it all? And if there
+could only be one end, would it not be well that that end should be
+reached at once, so that she might escape from her purgatory?
+
+But on the afternoon of the third day there seemed to have come a
+change over Lady Aylmer. At lunch she was especially civil civil to the
+extent of picking out herself for Clara, with her own fork, the breast
+of a hashed fowl from a dish that was before her. This she did with
+considerable care I may say, with a show of care; and then, though she
+did not absolutely call Clara by her Christian name, she did call her
+'my dear'. Clara saw it all, and felt that the usual placidity of the
+afternoon would be broken by some special event. At three o'clock, when
+the carriage as usual came to the door, Belinda was out of the way, and
+Clara was made to understand that she and Lady Aylmer were to be driven
+out without any other companion. 'Belinda is a little busy, my dear.
+So, if you don't mind, we'll go alone.' Clara of course assented, and
+got into the carriage with a conviction that now she would hear her
+fate. She was rather inclined to think that Lady Aylmer was about to
+tell her that she had failed in obtaining the approbation of Aylmer
+Park, and that she must be returned as goods of a description inferior
+to the order given. If such were the case, the breast of the chicken
+had no doubt been administered as consolation. Clara had endeavoured,
+since she had been at Aylmer Park, to investigate her own feelings in
+reference to Captain Aylmer; but had failed, and knew that she had
+failed. She wished to think that she loved him, as she could not endure
+the thought of having accepted a man whom she did not love. And she
+told herself that he bad done nothing to forfeit her love. A woman who
+really loves will hardly allow that her love should be forfeited by any
+fault. True love breeds forgiveness for all faults. And, after all, of
+what fault had Captain Aylmer been guilty? He had preached to her out
+of his mother's mouth. That had been all! She had first accepted him,
+and then rejected him, and then accepted him again; and now she would
+fain be firm, if firmness were only possible to her. Nevertheless, if
+she were told that she was to be returned as inferior, she would hold
+up her head under such disgrace as best she might, and would not let
+the tidings break her heart.
+
+'My dear,' said Lady Aylmer, as soon as the trotting horses and rolling
+wheels made noise enough to prevent her words from reaching the
+servants on the box. 'I want to say a few words to you and I think that
+this will be a good opportunity.'
+
+'A very good opportunity,' said Clara.
+
+'Of course, my dear, you are aware that I have heard of something going
+on between you and my son Frederic.' Now that Lady Aylmer had taught
+herself to call Clara 'my dear', it seemed that she could hardly call
+her so often enough.
+
+'Of course I know that Captain Aylmer has told you of our engagement.
+But for that, I should not be here.'
+
+'I don't know how that might be,' said Lady Aylmer; 'but at any rate,
+my dear, he has told me that since the day of my sister's death there
+has been in point of fact, a sort of engagement.'
+
+'I don't think Captain Aylmer has spoken of it in that way.'
+
+'In what way? Of course he has not said a word that was not nice and
+lover-like, and all that sort of thing. I believe he would have done
+anything in the world that his aunt had told him; and as to his'
+
+'Lady Aylmer!' said Clara, feeling that her voice was almost trembling
+with anger,' I am sure you cannot intend to be unkind to me?'
+
+'Certainly not.'
+
+'Or to insult me?'
+
+'Insult you, my dear! You should not use such strong words, my dear;
+indeed you should not. Nothing of the kind is near my thoughts.'
+
+'If you disapprove of my marrying your son, tell me so at once, and I
+shall know what to do.'
+
+'It depends, my dear it depends on circumstances, and that is just why
+I want to speak to you.'
+
+'Then tell me the circumstances though indeed I think it would have
+been better if they could have been told to me by Captain Aylmer
+himself.'
+
+'There, my dear, you must allow me to judge. As a mother, of course I
+am anxious for my son. Now Frederic is a poor man. Considering the kind
+of society in which he has to live, and the position which he must
+maintain as a Member of Parliament, he is a very poor man.'
+
+This was an argument which Clara certainly had not expected that any of
+the Aylmer family would condescend to use. She had always regarded
+Captain Aylmer as a rich man since he had inherited Mrs Winterfield's
+property, knowing that previously to that he had been able to live in
+London as rich men usually do live. 'Is he?' said she. 'It may seem odd
+to you, Lady Aylmer, but I do not think that a word has ever passed
+between me and your son as to the amount of his income.'
+
+'Not odd at all, my dear. Young ladies are always thoughtless about
+those things, and when they are looking to be married think that money
+will come out of the skies.'
+
+'If you mean that I have been looking to be married'
+
+'Well expecting. I suppose you have been expecting it.' Then she
+paused; but as Clara said nothing, she went on. 'Of course, Frederic
+has got my sister's moiety of the Perivale property about eight hundred
+a year, or something of that sort, when all deductions are made. He
+will have the moiety when I die, and if you and he can be satisfied to
+wait for that event which may not perhaps be very long '. Then there
+was another pause, indicative of the melancholy natural to such a
+suggestion, during which Clara looked at Lady Aylmer, and made up her
+mind that her ladyship would live for the next twenty-five years at
+least. 'If you can wait for that,' she continued, it may be all very
+well, and though you will be poor people, in Frederic's rank of life,
+you will be able to live.'
+
+'That will be so far fortunate,' said Clara.
+
+'But you'll have to wait,' said Lady Aylmer, turning upon her companion
+almost fiercely. 'That is, you certainly will have to do so if you are
+to depend upon Frederic's income alone.'
+
+'I have nothing of my own as he knows; absolutely nothing.'
+
+'That does not seem to be quite so clear,' said Lady Aylmer, speaking
+now very cautiously or rather with a purpose of great caution; 'I don't
+think that that is quite so clear. Frederic has been telling me that
+there seems to be some sort of a doubt about the settlement of the
+Belton estate.'
+
+'There is no sort of doubt whatsoever no shadow of a doubt. He is quite
+mistaken.'
+
+'Don't be in such a hurry, my dear. It is not likely that you yourself
+should be a very good lawyer.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer, I must be in a hurry lest there should be any mistake
+about this. There is no question here for lawyers. Frederic must have
+been misled by a word or two which I said to him with quite another
+purpose. Everybody concerned knows that the Belton estate goes to my
+cousin Will. My poor father was quite aware of it.'
+
+'That is all very well; and pray remember, my dear, that you need not
+attack me in this way. I am endeavouring, if possible, to arrange the
+accomplishment of your own wishes. It seems that Mr Belton himself does
+not claim the property.'
+
+'There is no question of claiming. Because he is a man more generous
+than any other person in the world romantic ally generous he has
+offered to give me the property which was my father's for his lifetime;
+but I do not suppose that you would wish, or that Captain Aylmer would
+wish, that I should accept such an offer as that.' There was a tone in
+her voice as she said this, and a glance in her eye as she turned her
+face full upon her companion, which almost prevailed against Lady
+Aylmer's force of character.
+
+'I really don't know, my dear,' said Lady Aylmer. 'You are so violent.'
+
+'I certainly am eager about this. No consideration on earth would
+induce me to take my cousin's property from him.'
+
+'It always seemed to me that that entail was a most unfair proceeding.'
+
+'What would it signify even if it were which it was not? Papa got
+certain advantages on those conditions. But what can all that matter?
+It belongs to Will Belton.'
+
+Then there was another pause, and Clara thought that that subject was
+over between them. But Lady Aylmer had not as yet completed her
+purpose. Shall I tell you, my dear, what I think you ought to do?'
+
+'Certainly, Lady Aylmer; if you wish it.'
+
+'I can at any rate tell you what it would become any young lady to do
+under such circumstances. I suppose you will give me credit for knowing
+as much as that. Any young lady placed as you are would be recommended
+by her friends if she had friends able and fit to give her advice to
+put the whole matter into the hands of her natural friends and her
+lawyer together. Hear me out, my dear, if you please. At least you can
+do that for me, as I am taking a great deal of trouble on your behalf.
+You should let Frederic see Mr Green. I understand that Mr Green was
+your father's lawyer. And then Mr Green can see Mr Belton. And so the
+matter can be arranged. It seems to me, from what I hear, that in this
+way, and in this way only; something can be done as to the proposed
+marriage. In no other way can anything be done.'
+
+Then Lady Aylmer had finished her argument, and throwing herself back
+into the carriage, seemed to intimate that she desired no reply. She
+had believed and did believe that her guest was so intent upon marrying
+her son, that no struggle would be regarded as too great for the
+achievement of that object. And such belief was natural on her part.
+Mothers always so think of girls engaged to their sons, and so think
+especially when the girls are penniless and the sons are well-to-do in
+the world. But such belief, though it is natural, is sometimes wrong
+and it was altogether wrong in this instance. 'Then,' said Clara,
+speaking very plainly,' nothing can be done.'
+
+'Very well, my dear.'
+
+After that there was not a word said between them till the carriage was
+once more within the park. Then Lady Aylmer spoke again. 'I presume you
+see, my dear, that under these circumstances any thought of marriage
+between you and my son must be quite out of the question at any rate
+for a great many years.'
+
+'I will speak to Captain Aylmer about it, Lady Aylmer.'
+
+'Very well, my dear. So do. Of course he is his own master. But he is
+my son as well, and I cannot see him sacrificed without an effort to
+save him.'
+
+When Clara came down to dinner on that day she was again Miss Amedroz,
+and she could perceive from Belinda's manner quite as plainly as from
+that of her ladyship that she was to have no more tit-bits of hashed
+chicken specially picked out for her by Lady Aylmer's own fork., That
+evening and the two next days passed, just as had passed the two first
+days, and everything was dull, cold, and uncomfortable. Twice she had
+walked out with Frederic, and on each occasion had thought that he
+would refer to what his mother had said; but he did not venture to
+touch upon the subject. Clara more than once thought that she would do
+so herself; but when the moment came she found that it was impossible.
+She could not bring herself to say anything that should have had the
+appearance of a desire on her part to hurry on a marriage. She could
+not say to him, 'If you are too poor to be married or even if you mean
+to put forward that pretence say so at once.' He still called her
+Clara, and still asked her to walk with him, and still talked, when
+they were alone together, in a distant cold way, of the events of their
+future combined life. Would they live at Perivale? Would it be
+necessary to refurnish the house? Should he keep any of the land on his
+own hands? These are all interesting subjects of discussion between an
+engaged man and the girl to whom he is engaged; but the man, if he wish
+to make them thoroughly pleasant to the lady, should throw something of
+the urgency of a determined and immediate purpose into the discussion.
+Something should be said as to the actual destination of the rooms. A
+day should be fixed for choosing the furnishing. Or the gentleman
+should declare that he will at once buy the cows for the farm. But with
+Frederic Aylmer all discussions seemed to point to some cold, distant
+future, to which Clara might look forward as she did to the joys of
+heaven. Will Belton would have bought the ring long since, and bespoken
+the priest, and arranged every detail of the honeymoon, tour and very
+probably would have stood looking into a cradle shop with longing eyes.
+
+At last there came an absolute necessity for some plain speaking.
+Captain Aylmer declared his intention of returning to London that he
+might resume his parliamentary duties. He had purposed to remain till
+after Easter, but it was found to be impossible. 'I find I must go up
+tomorrow,' he said at breakfast. 'They are going to make a stand about
+the poor-rates, and I must be in the House in the evening.' Clara felt
+herself to be very cold and uncomfortable. As things were at present
+arranged, she was to be left at Aylmer Park without a friend. And how
+long was she to remain there? No definite ending had been proposed for
+her visit. Something must be said and something settled before Captain
+Aylmer went away.
+
+'You will come down for Easter, of course,' said his mother.
+
+'Yes; I shall come down for Easter, I think or at any rate at
+Whitsuntide.'
+
+'You must come at Easter, Frederic,' said his mother.
+
+'I don't doubt but I shall,' said he.
+
+'Miss Amedroz should lay her commands upon him,' said Sir Anthony
+gallantly.
+
+'Nonsense, said Lady Aylmer.
+
+'I have commands to lay upon him all the same,' said Clara; 'and if he
+will give me half an hour this morning he shall have them.' To this
+Captain Aylmer, of course, assented as how could he escape from such
+assent and a regular appointment was made, Captain Aylmer and Miss
+Amedroz were to be closeted together in the little back drawing-room
+immediately after breakfast. Clara would willingly have avoided any
+such formality could she have done so compatibly with the exigencies of
+the occasion. She had been obliged to assert herself when Lady Aylmer
+had rebuked Sir Anthony, and then Lady Aylmer had determined that an
+air of business should be assumed. Clara, as she was marched off into
+the back drawing-room followed by her lover with more sheep-like gait
+even than her own, felt strongly the absurdity and the wretchedness of
+her position. But she was determined to go through with her purpose.
+
+'I am very sorry that I have to leave you so soon,' said Captain
+Aylmer, as soon as the door was shut and they were alone together.
+
+'Perhaps it may be better as it is, Frederic; as in this way we shall
+all come to understand each other, and something will be settled.'
+
+'Well, yes; perhaps that will be best.'
+
+'Your mother has told me that she disapproves of our marriage.'
+
+'No; not that, I think, I don't think she can have quite said that.'
+
+'She says that you cannot marry while she is alive that is, that you
+cannot marry me because your income would not be sufficient.'
+
+'I certainly was speaking to her about my income.'
+
+'Of course I have got nothing.' Here she paused. 'Not a penny-piece in
+the world that I can call my own.'
+
+'Oh yes, you have.'
+
+'Nothing. Nothing!'
+
+'You have your aunt's legacy?'
+
+'No; I have not. She left me no legacy. But as that is between you and
+me, if we think of marrying each other, that would make no difference.'
+
+'None at all, of course.'
+
+'But in truth I have got nothing. Your mother said something to me
+about the Belton estate; as though there was some idea that possibly it
+might come to me.'
+
+'Your cousin himself seemed to think so.'
+
+'Frederic, do not let us deceive ourselves. There can be nothing of the
+kind. I could not accept any portion of the property from my cousin
+even though our marriage were to depend upon it.'
+
+'Of course it does not.'
+
+'But if your means are not sufficient for your wants I am quite ready
+to accept that reason as being sufficient for breaking our engagement.'
+
+'There need be nothing of the kind.'
+
+'As for waiting for the death of another person for your mother's
+death, I should think it very wrong. Of course, if our engagement
+stands there need be no hurry; but some time should be fixed.' Clara as
+she said this felt that her face and forehead were suffused with a
+blush; but she was determined that it should be said, and the words
+were pronounced.
+
+'I quite think so too,' said he.
+
+'I am glad that we agree. Of course, I will leave it to you to fix the
+time.'
+
+'You do not mean at this very moment?' said Captain Aylmer, almost
+aghast.
+
+'No; I did not mean that.'
+
+'I'll tell you what. I'll make a point of coming down at Easter. I
+wasn't sure about it before, but now I will be. And then it shall be
+settled.'
+
+Such was the interview; and on the next morning Captain Aylmer started
+for London. Clara felt, aware that she had not done or said all that
+should have been done and said; but, nevertheless, a step in the right
+direction had been taken.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE AYLMER PARK HASHED CHICKEN COMES TO AN END
+
+Easter in this year fell about the middle of April, and it still
+wanted three weeks of that time when Captain Aylmer started for London.
+Clara was quite alive to the fact that the next three weeks would not
+be a happy time for her. She looked forward, indeed, to so much
+wretchedness during this period, that the days as they came were not
+quite so bad as she had expected them to be. At first Lady Aylmer said
+little or nothing to her. It seemed to be agreed between them that
+there was to be war, but that there was no necessity for any of the
+actual operations of war during the absence of Captain Aylmer. Clara
+had become Miss Amedroz again; and though an offer to be driven out in
+the carriage was made to her every day, she was in general able to
+escape the infliction so that at last it came to be understood that
+Miss Amedroz did not like carriage exercise. She has never been used to
+it,' said Lady Aylmer to her daughter. 'I suppose not,' said Belinda;
+'but if she wasn't so very cross she'd enjoy it just for that reason.'
+Clara sometimes walked about the grounds with Belinda, but on such
+occasions there was hardly anything that could be called conversation
+between them, and Frederic Aylmer's name was never mentioned.
+
+Captain Aylmer had not been gone many days before she received a letter
+from her cousin, in which he spoke with absolute certainty of his
+intention of giving up the estate. He had, he said, consulted Mr Green,
+and the thing was to be done. 'But it will be better, I think,' he went
+on to say, 'that I should manage it for you till after your marriage. I
+simply mean what I say. You are not to suppose that I shall interfere
+in any way afterwards. Of course there will be a settlement, as to
+which I hope you will allow me to see Mr Green on your behalf.' In the
+first draught of his letter he had inserted a sentence in which he
+expressed a wish that the property should be so settled that it might
+at last all come to some one bearing the name of Belton. But as he read
+this over, the condition for coming from him it would be a condition
+seemed to him to be ungenerous, and he expunged it. 'What does it
+matter who has it,' he said to himself bitterly, 'or what he is called?
+I will never set eyes upon his children, nor yet upon the place when he
+has become the master of it.' Clara wrote both to her cousin and to the
+lawyer, repeating her assurance with great violence, as Lady Aylmer
+would have said that she would have nothing to with the Belton estate.
+She told Mr Green that it would be useless for him to draw up any
+deeds. 'It can't be made mine unless I choose to have it,' she said,
+'and I don't choose to have it.' Then there came upon her a terrible
+fear. What if she should marry Captain Aylmer after all; and what if
+he, when he should be her husband, should take the property on her
+behalf! Something must be done before her marriage to prevent the
+possibility of such results something as to the efficacy of which for
+such prevention she could feel altogether certain.
+
+But could she marry Captain Aylmer at all in her present mood? During
+these three weeks she was unconsciously teaching herself to hope that
+she might be relieved from her engagement. She did not love him. She
+was becoming aware that she did not love him. She was beginning to
+doubt whether, in truth, she had ever loved him. But yet she felt that
+she could not, escape from her engagement if he should show himself to.
+be really actuated by any fixed purpose to carry it out; nor could she
+bring herself to be so weak before Lady Aylmer as to seem to yield. The
+necessity of not striking her colours was forced upon her by the
+warfare to which she was subjected. She was unhappy, feeling that her
+present position in life was bad, and unworthy of her. She could have
+brought herself almost to run away from Aylmer Park, as a boy runs away
+from school, were it not that she had no place to which to run. She
+could not very well make her appearance at Plaistow Hall, and say that
+she had come there for shelter and succour. She could, indeed, go to
+Mrs Askerton's cottage for awhile; and the more she thought of the
+state of her affairs, the more did she feel sure that that would,
+before long, be her destiny. It must be her destiny unless Captain
+Aylmer should return at Easter with purposes so firmly fixed that even
+his mother should not be able to prevail against them.
+
+And now, in these days, circumstances gave her a new friend or perhaps,
+rather, a new acquaintance, where she certainly had looked neither for
+the one or for the other. Lady Aylmer and Belinda and the carriage and
+the horses used, as I have said, to go off without her. This would take
+place soon after luncheon. Most of us know how the events of the day
+drag themselves on tediously in such a country house as Aylmer Park -a
+country house in which people neither read, nor flirt, nor gamble, nor
+smoke, nor have resort to the excitement of any special amusement.
+Lunch was on the table at half-past one, and the carriage was at the
+door at three. Eating and drinking and the putting on of bonnets
+occupied the hour and a half. From breakfast to lunch Lady Aylmer, with
+her old 'front', would occupy herself with her household accounts. For
+some days after Clara's arrival she put on her new 'front' before
+lunch; but of late since the long conversation in the carriage the new
+'front' did not appear till she came down for the carriage. According
+to the theory of her life, she was never to be seen by any but her own
+family in her old 'front'. At breakfast she would appear with head so
+mysteriously enveloped with such a bewilderment of morning caps that
+old 'front' or new 'front' was all the same. When Sir Anthony perceived
+this change when he saw that Clara was treated as though she belonged
+to Aylmer Park then he told himself that his son's marriage with Miss
+Amedroz was to be; and, as Miss Amedroz seemed to him to be a very
+pleasant young woman, he would creep out of his own quarters when the
+carriage was gone and have a little chat with her being careful to
+creep away again before her ladyship's return. This was Clara's new
+friend.
+
+'Have you heard from Fred since he has been gone?' the old man asked
+one day, when he had come upon Clara still seated in the parlour in
+which they had lunched. He had been out, at the front of the house,
+scolding the under-gardener; but the man had taken away his barrow and
+left him, and Sir Anthony had found himself without employment.
+
+'Only a line to say that he is to be here on the sixteenth.'
+
+'I don't think people write so many love-letters as they did when I was
+young,' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'To judge from the novels, I should think not. The old novels used to
+be full of love-letters.'
+
+'Fred was never good at writing, I think.'
+
+'Members of Parliament have too much to do, I suppose,' said Clara.
+
+'But he always writes when there is any business. He's a capital man of
+business. I wish I could say as much for his brother or for myself.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer seems to like work of that sort.'
+
+'So she does. She's fond of it I am not. I sometimes think that Fred
+takes after her. Where was it you first knew him?'
+
+'At Perivale. We used, both of us, to be staying with Mrs Winterfield.'
+
+'Yes, yes; of course. The most natural thing in life. Well, my dear, I
+can assure you that I am quite satisfied.'
+
+'Thank you, Sir Anthony. I'm glad to hear you say even as much as that.'
+
+'Of course money is very desirable for a man situated like Fred; but
+he'll have enough, and if he is pleased, I am. Personally, as regards
+yourself, I am more than pleased. I am indeed.'
+
+'It's very good of you to say so.'
+
+Sir Anthony looked at Clara, and his heart was softened towards her as
+he saw that there was a tear in her eye. A man's heart must be very
+hard when it does not become softened by the trouble of a woman with
+whom he finds himself alone. 'I don't know how you and Lady Aylmer get
+on together,' he said; 'but it will not be my fault if we are not
+friends.'
+
+'I am afraid that Lady Aylmer does not like me,' said Clara.
+
+'Indeed. I was afraid there was something of that. But you must
+remember she is hard to please. You'll find she'll come round in time.'
+
+'She thinks that Captain Aylmer should not marry a woman without money.'
+
+'That's all very well; but I don't see why Fred shouldn't please
+himself, He's old enough to know what he wants.'
+
+'Is he, Sir Anthony? That's just the question. I'm not quite sure that
+he does know what he wants.'
+
+'Fred doesn't know, do you mean?'
+
+'I don't quite think he does, sir. And the worst of it is, I am in
+doubt as well as he.'
+
+'In doubt about marrying him?'
+
+'In doubt whether it will be good for him or for any of us. I don't
+like to come into a family that does not desire to have me.'
+
+'You shouldn't think so much of Lady Aylmer as all that, my dear.'
+
+'But I do think a great deal of her.'
+
+'I shall be very glad to have you as a daughter-in-law. And as for Lady
+Aylmer between you and me, my dear, you shouldn't take every word she
+says so much to heart. She's the best woman in the world, and I'm sure
+I'm bound to say so. But she has her temper, you know; and I don't
+think you ought to give way to her altogether. There's the carriage. It
+won't do you any good if we're found together talking over it all; will
+it?' Then the baronet hobbled off, and Lady Aylmer, when she entered
+the room, found Clara sitting alone.
+
+Whether it was that the wife was clever enough to extract from her
+husband something of the conversation that had passed between him and
+Clara, or whether she had some other source of information or whether
+her conduct might proceed from other grounds, we need not inquire; but
+from that afternoon Lady Aylmer's manner and words to Clara became much
+less courteous than they had been before. She would always speak as
+though some great iniquity was being committed, and went about the
+house with a portentous frown, as though some terrible measure must
+soon be taken with the object of putting an end to the present
+extremely improper state of things. All this was so manifest to Clara,
+that she said to Sir Anthony one day that she could no longer bear the
+look of Lady Aylmer's displeasure and that she would be forced to leave
+Aylmer Park before Frederic's return, unless the evil were mitigated.
+She had by this time told Sir Anthony that she much doubted whether the
+marriage would be possible, and that she really believed that it would
+be best for all parties that the idea should be abandoned. Sir Anthony,
+when he heard this, could only shake his head and hobble away. The
+trouble was too deep for him to cure.
+
+But Clara still held on; and now there wanted but two days to Captain
+Aylmer's return, when, all suddenly, there arose a terrible storm at
+Aylmer Park, and then came a direct and positive quarrel between Lady
+Aylmer and Clara a quarrel direct and positive and, on the part of both
+ladies, very violent.
+
+Nothing had hitherto been said at Aylmer Park about Mrs Askerton
+nothing, that is, since Clara's arrival. And Clara had been thankful
+for this silence. The letter which Captain Aylmer had written to her
+about Mrs Askerton will perhaps be remembered, and Clara's answer to
+that letter. The Aylmer Park opinion as to this poor woman, and as to
+Clara's future conduct towards the poor woman, had been expressed very
+strongly; and Clara had as strongly resolved that she would not be
+guided by Aylmer Park opinions in that matter. She had anticipated much
+that was disagreeable on this subject, and had therefore congratulated
+herself not a little on the absence of all allusion to it. But Lady
+Aylmer had, in truth, kept Mrs Askerton in reserve, as a battery to be
+used against Miss Amedroz if all other modes of attack should fail as a
+weapon which would be powerful when other weapons had been powerless.
+For a while she had thought it possible that Clara might be the owner
+of the Belton estate, and then it had been worth the careful mother's
+while to be prepared to accept a daughter-in-law so dowered. We have
+seen how the question of such ownership had enabled her to put forward
+the plea of poverty which she had used on her son's behalf. But since
+that, Frederic had declared his intention of marrying the young woman
+in spite of his poverty, and Clara seemed to be equally determined. 'He
+has been fool enough to speak the word, and she is determined to keep
+him to it,' said Lady Aylmer to her daughter. Therefore the Askerton
+battery was brought to bear not altogether unsuccessfully.
+
+The three ladies were sitting together in the drawing-room, and had
+been as mute as fishes for half an hour. In these sittings they were
+generally very silent, speaking only in short little sentences. 'Will
+you drive with us today, Miss Amedroz?' 'Not today, I think, Lady
+Aylmer.' 'As you are reading, perhaps you won't mind our leaving you?'
+'Pray do not put yourself to inconvenience for me, Miss Aylmer,' Such
+and such like was their conversation; but on a sudden, after a full
+half- hour's positive silence, Lady Aylmer asked a question altogether
+of another kind. 'I think, Miss Amedroz, my son wrote to you about a
+certain Mrs Askerton?'
+
+Clara put down her work and sat for a moment almost astonished. It was
+not only that Lady Aylmer had asked so very disagreeable a question,
+but that she had asked it with so peculiar a voice a voice as it were a
+command, in a manner that was evidently intended to be taken as
+serious, and with a look of authority in her eye, as though she were
+resolved that this battery of hers should knock the enemy absolutely in
+the dust! Belinda gave a little spring in her chair, looked intently at
+her work, and went on stitching faster than before. 'Yes, he did,' said
+Clara, finding that an answer was imperatively demanded from her.
+
+'It was quite necessary that he should write. I believe it to be an
+undoubted fact that Mrs Askerton is is is not at all what she ought to
+be.'
+
+'Which of us is what we ought to be?' said Clara.
+
+'Miss Amedroz, on this subject I am not at all inclined to joke. Is it
+not true that Mrs Askerton'
+
+'You must excuse me, Lady Aylmer, but what I know of Mrs Askerton, I
+know altogether in confidence; so that I cannot speak to you of her
+past life.'
+
+'But, Miss Amedroz, pray excuse me if I say that I must speak of it.
+When I remember the position in which you do us the honour of being our
+visitor here, how can I help speaking of it?' Belinda was stitching
+very hard, and would not even raise her eyes. Clara, who still held her
+needle in her hand, resumed her work, and for a moment or two made no
+further answer. But Lady Aylmer had by no means completed her task.
+'Miss Amedroz,' she said, 'you must allow me to judge for myself in
+this matter. The subject is one on which I feel myself obliged to speak
+to you.'
+
+'But I have got nothing to say about it.'
+
+'You have, I believe, admitted the truth of the allegations made by us
+as to this woman.' Clara was becoming very angry. A red spot showed
+itself on each cheek, and a frown settled upon her brow. She did not as
+yet know what she would say or how she would conduct herself. She was
+striving to consider how best she might assert her own independence.
+But she was fully determined that in this matter she would not bend an
+inch to Lady Aylmer. 'I believe we may take that as admitted?', said
+her ladyship.
+
+'I am not aware that I have admitted anything to you, Lady Aylmer, or
+said anything that can justify you in questioning me on the subject.'
+
+'Justify me in questioning a young woman who tells me that she is to be
+my future daughter-in-law!'
+
+'I have not told you so. I have never told you anything of the kind.'
+
+'Then on what footing, Miss Amedroz, do you do us the honour of being
+with us here at Aylmer Park?'
+
+'On a very foolish footing.'
+
+'On a foolish footing! What does that mean?'
+
+'It means that I have been foolish in coming to a house in which I am
+subjected to such questioning.'
+
+'Belinda, did you ever hear anything like this? Miss Amedroz, I must
+persevere, however much you may dislike it. The story of this woman's
+life whether she be Mrs Askerton or not, I don't know'
+
+'She is Mrs Askerton,' said Clara.
+
+'As to that I do not profess to know, and I dare say that you are no
+wiser than myself. But what she has been we do know.' Here Lady Aylmer
+raised her voice and continued to speak with all the eloquence which
+assumed indignation could give her. 'What she has been we do know, and
+I ask you, as a duty which I own to my son, whether you have put an end
+to your acquaintance with so very disreputable a person a person whom
+even to have known is a disgrace?'
+
+'I know her, and'
+
+'Stop one minute, if you please. My questions are these Have you put an
+end to that acquaintance? Are you ready to give a promise that it shall
+never be resumed?
+
+'I have not put an end to that acquaintance or rather that affectionate
+friendship as I should call it, and I am ready to promise that it shall
+be maintained with all my heart.'
+
+'Belinda, do you hear her?'
+
+'Yes, mamma.' And Belinda slowly shook her head, which was now bowed
+lower than ever over her lap.
+
+'And that is your resolution?'
+
+'Yes, Lady Aylmer; that is my resolution.'
+
+'And you think that becoming to you, as a young woman?'
+
+'Just so; I think that becoming to me as a young woman.'
+
+'Then let me tell you, Miss Amedroz, that I differ from you altogether
+altogether.' Lady Aylmer, as she repeated the last word, raised her
+folded hands as though she were calling upon heaven to witness how
+thoroughly she differed from the young woman!
+
+'I don't see how I am to help that, Lady Aylmer. I dare say we may
+differ on many subjects.'
+
+'I dare say we do. I dare say we do. And I need not point out to you
+how very little that would be a matter of regret to me but for the hold
+you have upon my unfortunate son.'
+
+'Hold upon him, Lady Aylmer! How dare you insult me by such language?'
+Hereupon Belinda again jumped in her chair; but Lady Aylmer looked as
+though she enjoyed the storm.
+
+'You undoubtedly have a hold upon him, Miss Amedroz, and I think that
+it is a great misfortune. Of course, when he hears what your conduct is
+with reference to this person, he will release himself from his
+entanglement.'
+
+'He can release himself from his entanglement whenever he chooses,'
+said Clara, rising from her chair. 'Indeed, he is released. I shall let
+Captain Aylmer know that our engagement must be at an end, unless he
+will promise that I shall never in future be subjected to the
+unwarrantable insolence of his mother.' Then she walked off to the
+door, not regarding, and indeed not hearing, the parting shot that was
+fired at her.
+
+And now what was to be done! Clara went up to her own room, making
+herself strong and even comfortable, with an inward assurance that
+nothing should ever induce her even to sit down to table again with
+Lady Aylmer. She would not willingly enter the same room with Lady
+Aylmer, or have any speech with her. But what should she at once do?
+She could not very well leave Aylmer Park without settling whither she
+would go; nor could she in any way manage to leave the house on that
+afternoon. She almost resolved that she would go to Mrs Askerton.
+Everything was of course over between her and Captain Aylmer, and
+therefore there was no longer any hindrance to her doing so on that
+score. But what would be her Cousin Will's wish? He, now, was the only
+friend to whom she could trust for good counsel. What would be his
+advice? Should she write and ask him? No she could not do that. She
+could not bring herself to write to him, telling him that the Aylmer
+'entanglement' was at an end. Were she to do so, he, with his
+temperament, would take such letter as meaning much more than it was
+intended to mean. But she would write a letter to Captain Aylmer. This
+she thought that she would do at once, and she began it.
+
+She got as far as 'My dear Captain Aylmer,' and then she found that the
+letter was one which could not be written very easily. And she
+remembered, as the greatness of the difficulty of writing the letter
+became plain to her, that it could not now be sent so as to reach
+Captain Aylmer before he would leave London. If written at all, it must
+be addressed to him at Aylmer Park, and the task might be done tomorrow
+as well as today. So that task was given up for the present.
+
+But she did write a letter to Mrs Askerton a letter which she would
+send or not on the morrow, according to the state of her mind as it
+might then be. In this she declared her purpose of leaving Aylmer Park
+on the day after Captain Aylmer's arrival, and asked to be taken in at
+the cottage. An answer was to be sent to her, addressed to the Great
+Northern Railway Hotel.
+
+Richards, the maid, came up to her before dinner, with offers of
+assistance for dressing offers made in a tone which left no doubt on
+Clara's mind that Richards knew all about the quarrel. But Clara
+declined to be dressed, and sent down a message saying that she would
+remain in her room, and begging to be supplied with tea. She would not
+even condescend to say that she was troubled with a headache. Then
+Belinda came up to her, just before dinner was announced, and with a
+fluttered gravity advised Miss Amedroz to come down-stairs. 'Mamma
+thinks it will be much better that you should show yourself, let the
+final result be what it may.'
+
+'But I have not the slightest desire to show myself.'
+
+'There are the servants, you know.'
+
+'But, Miss Aylmer, I don't care a straw for the servants really not a
+straw.'
+
+'And papa will feel it so.'
+
+'I shall be sorry if Sir Anthony is annoyed but I cannot help it. It
+has not been my doing.'
+
+'And mamma says that my brother would of course wish it.'
+
+'After what your mother has done, I don't see what his wishes would
+have to do with it even if she knew them which I don't think she does.'
+
+'But if you will think of it, I'm sure you'll find it is the proper
+thing to do. There is nothing to be avoided so much as an open quarrel,
+that all the servants can see.'
+
+'I must say, Miss Aylmer, that I disregard the servants. After what
+passed downstairs, of course I have had to consider what I should do.
+Will you tell your mother that I will stay here, if she will permit it?'
+
+'Of course. She will be delighted.'
+
+'I will remain, if she will permit it, till the morning after Captain
+Aylmer's arrival. Then I shall go.'
+
+'Where to, Miss Amedroz?'
+
+'I have already written to a friend, asking her to receive me.'
+
+Miss Aylmer paused a moment before she asked her next question but she
+did ask it, showing by her tone and manner that she had been driven to
+summon up all her courage to enable her to do so. 'To what friend, Miss
+Amedroz? Mamma will be glad to know.'
+
+'That is a question which Lady Aylmer can have no right to ask,' said
+Clara.
+
+'Oh very well. Of course, if you don't like to tell, there's no more to
+be said.'
+
+'I do not like to tell, Miss Aylmer.'
+
+Clara had her tea in her room that evening, and lived there the whole
+of the next day. The family downstairs was not comfortable. Sir Anthony
+could not be made to understand why his guest kept her room which was
+not odd, as Lady Aylmer was very sparing in the information she gave
+him; and Belinda found it to be impossible to sit at table, or to say a
+few words to her father and mother, without showing at every moment her
+consciousness that a crisis had occurred. By the next day's post the
+letter to Mrs Askerton was sent, and at the appointed time Captain
+Aylmer arrived. About an hour after he entered the house, Belinda went
+upstairs with a message from him would Miss Amedroz see him? Miss
+Amedroz would see him, but made it a condition of doing so that she
+should not be required to meet Lady Aylmer. She need not be afraid,'
+said Lady Aylmer. 'Unless she sends me a full apology, with a promise
+that she will have no further intercourse whatever with that woman, I
+will never willingly see her again.' A meeting was therefore arranged
+between Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz in a sitting-room upstairs.
+
+'What is all this, Clara?' said Captain Aylmer, at once.
+
+'Simply this that your mother has insulted me most wantonly.'
+
+'She says that it is you who have been uncourteous to her.'
+
+'Be it so you can of course believe whichever you please, and it is
+desirable, no doubt, that you should prefer to believe your mother.'
+
+'But I do not wish there to be any quarrel.'
+
+'But there is a quarrel, Captain Aylmer, and I must leave your father's
+house. I cannot stay here after what has taken place. Your mother told
+me I cannot tell you what she told me, but she made against me just
+those accusations which she knew it would be the hardest for me to
+bear.'
+
+'I'm sure you have mistaken her.'
+
+'No; I have not mistaken her.'
+
+'And where do you propose to go?'
+
+'To Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'Oh, Clara!'
+
+'I have written to Mrs Askerton to ask her to receive me for awhile.
+Indeed, I may almost say that I had no other choice.'
+
+'If you go there, Clara, there will be an end to everything.'
+
+'And there must be an end of what you call everything, Captain Aylmer,'
+said she, smiling. 'It cannot be for your good to bring into your
+family a wife of whom your mother would think so badly as she thinks of
+me.'
+
+There was a great deal said, and Captain Aylmer walked very often up
+and down the room, endeavouring to make some arrangement which might
+seem in some sort to appease his mother. Would Clara only allow a
+telegram to be sent to Mrs Askerton, to explain that she had changed
+her mind? But Clara would allow no such telegram to be sent, and on
+that evening she packed up all her things. Captain Aylmer saw her again
+and again, sending Belinda backwards and forwards, and making different
+appointments up to midnight; but it was all to no purpose, and on the
+next morning she took her departure alone in the Aylmer Park carriage
+for the railway station. Captain Aylmer had proposed to go with her;
+but she had so stoutly declined his company that he was obliged to
+abandon his intention. She saw neither of the ladies on that morning,
+but Sir Anthony came out to say a word of farewell to her in the hall.
+'I am very sorry for all this,' said he. 'It is a pity,' said Clara,
+'but it cannot be helped. Good-bye, Sir Anthony.' 'I hope we may meet
+again under pleasanter circumstances,' said the baronet. To this Clara
+made no reply, and was then handed into the carriage by Captain Aylmer.
+
+'I am so bewildered,' said he, 'that I cannot now say anything
+definite, but I shall write to you, and probably follow you.'
+
+'Do not follow me, pray, Captain Aylmer,' said she, Then she was driven
+to the station; and as she passed through the lodges of the park
+entrance she took what she intended to be a final farewell of Aylmer
+Park.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+ONCE MORE BACK TO BELTON
+
+When the carriage was driven away, Sir Anthony and Captain Aylmer were
+left standing alone at the ball door of the house. The servants had
+slunk off, and the father and son, looking at each other, felt that
+they also must slink away, or else have some words together on the
+subject of their guest's departure. The younger gentleman would have
+preferred that there should be no words, but Sir Anthony was curious to
+know something of what had passed in the house during the last few
+days. 'I'm afraid things are not going quite comfortable,' he said.
+
+'It seems to me, sir,' said his son, 'that things very seldom do go
+quite comfortable.'
+
+'But, Fred what is it all about? Your mother says that Miss Amedroz is
+behaving very badly.'
+
+'And Miss Amedroz says that my mother is behaving very badly.'
+
+'Of course that's only natural. And what do you say?'
+
+'I say nothing, sir. The less said the soonest mended.'
+
+'That's all very well; but it seems to me that you, in your position,
+must say something. The long and the short of it is this. Is she to be
+your wife?'
+
+'Upon my word, sir, I don't know.'
+
+They were still standing out under the portico, and as Sir Anthony did
+not for a minute or two ask any further questions, Captain Aylmer
+turned as though he were going into the house. But his father had still
+a word or two to say. Stop a moment, Fred. I don't often trouble you
+with advice.'
+
+'I'm sure I'm always glad to hear it when you offer any.'
+
+'I know very well that in most things your opinion is better than mine.
+You've had advantages which I never had. But I've had more experience
+than you, my dear boy. It stands to reason that in some things I must
+have had more experience than you.' There was a tone of melancholy in
+the father's voice as he said this which quite touched his son, and
+which brought the two closer together out in the porch. 'Take my word
+for it,' continued Sir Anthony, 'that you are much better off as you
+are than you could be with a wife.'
+
+'Do you mean to say that no man should marry?'
+
+'No I don't mean to say that. An eldest son ought to marry, so that the
+property may have an heir. And poor men should marry, I suppose, as
+they want wives to do for them. And sometimes, no doubt, a man must
+marry when he has got to be very fond of a girl, and has compromised
+himself, and all that kind of thing. I would never advise any man to
+sully his honour.' As Sir Anthony said this he raised himself a little
+with his two sticks and spoke out in a bolder voice. The voice however,
+sank again as he descended from the realms of honour to those of
+prudence. 'But none of these cases are yours, Fred. To be sure you'll
+have the Perivale property; but that is not a family estate, and you'll
+be much better off by turning it into money. And in the way of comfort,
+you can be a great deal more comfortable without a wife than you can
+with one. What do you want a wife for? And then, as to Miss Amedroz for
+myself I must say that I like her uncommonly. She has been very
+pleasant in her ways with me. But somehow or another, I don't think you
+are so much in love with her but what you can do without her.' Hereupon
+he paused and looked his son full in the face. Fred had also been
+thinking of the matter in his own way, and asking himself the same
+question whether he was in truth so much in love with Clara that he
+could not live without her. 'Of course I don't know,' continued Sir
+Anthony, ' what has taken place just now between you and her, or what
+between her and your mother; but I suppose the whole thing might fall
+through without any further trouble to you or without anything
+unhandsome on your part?' But Captain Aylmer still said nothing. The
+whole thing might, no doubt, fall through, but he wished to be neither
+unjust nor ungenerous and he specially wished to avoid anything
+unhandsome. After a further pause of a few minutes, Sir Anthony went on
+again, pouring forth the words of experience. 'Of course marriage is
+all very well. I married rather early in life, and have always found
+your mother to be a most excellent woman. A better woman doesn't
+breathe. I'm as sure of that as I am of anything. But God bless me of
+course you can see. I can't call anything my own. I'm tied down here
+and I can't move. I've never got a shilling to spend, while all these
+lazy hounds about the place are eating me up. There isn't a clerk with
+a hundred a year in London that isn't better off than I am as regards
+ready money. And what comfort have I in a big house, and no end of
+gardens, and a place like this? What pleasures do I get out of it? That
+comes of marrying and keeping up one's name in the county respectably!
+What do I care for the county? D   the county! I often wish that I'd
+been a younger son as you are.'
+
+Captain Aylmer had no answer to make to all this. It was, no doubt, the
+fact that age and good living had made Sir Anthony altogether incapable
+of enjoying the kind of life which he desiderated, and that he would
+probably have eaten and drunk himself into his grave long since had
+that kind of life been within his reach. This, however, the son could
+not explain to the father. But in fitting, as he endeavoured to do, his
+father's words to his own case, Captain Aylmer did perceive that a
+bachelor's life might perhaps be the most suitable to his own peculiar
+case. Only he would do nothing unhandsome. As to that he was quite
+resolved. Of course Clara must show herself to be in some degree
+amenable to reason and to the ordinary rules of the world; but he was
+aware that his mother was hot. tempered, and he generously made up his
+mind that he would give Miss Amedroz even yet another chance.
+
+At the hotel in London Clara found a short note from Mrs Askerton, in
+which she was warmly assured that everything should be done to make her
+comfortable at the cottage as long as she should wish to stay there.
+But the very warmth of affection thus expressed made her almost shrink
+from what she was about to do. Mrs Askerton was no doubt anxious for
+her coming; but would her Cousin Will Belton approve of the visit; and
+what would her Cousin Mary say about it? If she was being driven into
+this step against her own approval, by the insolence of Lady Aylmer if
+she was doing this thing simply because Lady Aylmer had desired her not
+to do it, and was doing it in opposition to the wishes of the man she
+had promised to marry as well as to her own judgment, there could not
+but be cause for shrinking. And yet she believed that she was right. If
+she could only have had some one to tell her some one in whom she could
+trust implicitly to direct her! She had hitherto been very much prone
+to rebel against authority. Against her aunt she had rebelled, and
+against her father, and against her lover. But now she wished with all
+her heart that there might be some one to whom she could submit with
+perfect faith. If she could only know what her Cousin Will would think.
+In him she thought she could have trusted with that perfect faith if
+only he would have been a brother to her.
+
+But it was too late now for doubting, and on the next day she found
+herself getting out of the old Redicote fly, at Colonel Askerton's
+door. He came out to meet her, and his greeting was very friendly.
+Hitherto there had been no great intimacy between him and her, owing
+rather to the manner of life adopted by him than to any cause of mutual
+dislike between them. Mrs Askerton had shown herself desirous of some
+social intercourse since she had been at Belton, but with Colonel
+Askerton there had been nothing of this. He had come there intending to
+live alone, and had been satisfied to carry out his purpose. But now
+Clara had come to his house as a guest, and he assumed towards her
+altogether a new manner. 'We are so glad to have you,' he said, taking
+both her hands. Then she passed on into the cottage, and in a minute
+was in her friend's arms.
+
+'Dear Clara dearest Clara, I am so glad to have you here.'
+
+'It is very good of you.'
+
+'No, dear; the goodness is with you to come. But we won't quarrel about
+that. We will both be ever so good. And he is so happy that you should
+be here. You'll get to know him now. But come upstairs. There's a fire
+in your room, and I'll be your maid for the occasion because then we
+can talk.' Clara did as she was bid and went upstairs; and as she sat
+over the fire while her friend knelt beside her for Mrs Askerton was
+given to such kneelings she could not but tell herself that Belton
+Cottage was much more comfortable than Aylmer Park. During the whole
+time of her sojourn at Aylmer Park no word of real friendship had once
+greeted her ears. Everything there had been cold and formal, till
+coldness and formality had given way to violent insolence.
+
+'And so you have quarrelled with her ladyship,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I
+knew you would.'
+
+'I have not said anything about quarrelling with her.'
+
+'But of course you have. Come, now; don't make yourself disagreeable.
+You have had a downright battle have you not?'
+
+'Something very like it, I'm afraid.'
+
+'I am so glad,' said Mrs Askerton, rubbing her hands.
+
+'That is ill-natured.'
+
+'Very well. Let it be ill-natured. One isn't to be good-natured all
+round, or what would be the use of it? And what sort of a woman is she?'
+
+'Oh dear; I couldn't describe her. She is very large, and wears a great
+wig, and manages everything herself, and I've no doubt she's a very
+good woman in her own way.'
+
+'I can see her at once and a very pillar of virtue as regards morality
+and going to church. Poor me! Does she know that you have come here?'
+
+'I have no doubt she does. I did not tell her, nor would I tell her
+daughter; but I told Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'That was right. That was very right. I'm so glad of that. But who
+would doubt that you would show a groper spirit? And what did he say?'
+
+'Not much, indeed.'
+
+'I won't trouble you about him. I don't in the least doubt but all that
+will come right. And what sort of man is Sir Anthony?'
+
+'A common-place sort of a man; very gouty, and with none of his wife's
+strength. I liked him the best of them all.'
+
+'Because you saw the least of him, I suppose.'
+
+'He was kind in his manner to me.'
+
+'And they were like she-dragons. I understand it all, and can see them
+just as though I had been there. I felt that I knew what would come of
+it when you first told me that you were going to Aylmer Park, I did,
+indeed. I could have prophesied it all.'
+
+'What a pity you did not.'
+
+'It would have done no good and your going there has done good. It has
+opened your eyes to more than one thing, I don't doubt. But tell me
+have you told them in Norfolk that you were coming here?'
+
+'No I have not written to my cousin.'
+
+'Don't be angry with me if I tell you something. I have.'
+
+'Have what?'
+
+'I have told Mr Belton that you were coming here. It was in this way. I
+had to write to him about our continuing in the cottage. Colonel
+Askerton always makes me write if it's possible, and of course we were
+obliged to settle something as to the place.'
+
+'I'm sorry you said anything about me.'
+
+'How could I help it? What would you have thought of me, or what would
+he have thought, if, when writing to him, I had not mentioned such a
+thing as your visit? Besides, it's much better that he should know.'
+
+'I am sorry that you said anything about it.'
+
+'You are ashamed that he should know that you are here,' said Mrs
+Askerton, in a tone of reproach.
+
+'Ashamed! No; I am not ashamed. But I would sooner that he had not been
+told as yet. Of course he would have been told before long.'
+
+'But you are not angry with me?'
+
+'Angry! How can I be angry with any one who is so kind to me?'
+
+That evening passed by very pleasantly, and when she went again to her
+own room, Clara was almost surprised to find how completely she was at
+home. On the next day she and Mrs Askerton together went up to the
+house, and roamed through all the rooms, and Clara seated herself in
+all the accustomed chairs. On the sofa, just in the spot to which
+Belton had thrown it, she found the key of the cellar. She took it up
+in her band, thinking that she would give it to the servant; but again
+she put it back upon the sofa. It was his key, and he had left it
+there, and if ever there came an occasion she would remind him where he
+had put it. Then they went out to the cow, who was at her ease in a
+little home paddock.
+
+'Dear Bessy,' said Clara, 'see how well she knows me.' But I think the
+tame little beast would have known any one else as well who had gone up
+to her as Clara did, with food in her hand. 'She is quite as sacred as
+any cow that ever was worshipped among the cow-worshippers,' said Mrs
+Askerton. I suppose they milk her and sell the butter, but otherwise
+she is not regarded as an ordinary cow at all.' 'Poor Bessy,' said
+Clara. 'I wish she had never come here. What is to be done with her?'
+'Done with her! She'll stay here till she dies a natural death, and
+then a romantic pair of mourners will follow her to her grave, mixing
+their sympathetic tears comfortably as they talk of the old days; and
+in future years, Bessy will grow to be a divinity of the past, never to
+be mentioned without tenderest reminiscences. I have not the slightest
+difficulty in prophesying as to Bessy's future life and posthumous
+honours.' They roamed about the place the whole morning, through the
+garden and round the farm buildings, and in and out of the house; and
+at every turn something was said about Will Belton. But Clara would not
+go up to the rocks, although Mrs Askerton more than once attempted to
+turn in that direction. He had said that he never would go there again
+except under certain circumstances. She knew that those circumstances
+would never come to pass; but yet neither would she go there. She would
+never go there till her cousin was married. Then, if in those days she
+should ever be present at Belton Castle, she would creep up to the spot
+all alone, and allow herself to think of the old days.
+
+On the following morning there came to her a letter bearing the Downham
+post-mark but at the first glance she knew that it was not from her
+Cousin Will. Will wrote with a bold round hand, that was extremely
+plain and caligraphic when he allowed him. self time for the work in
+hand, as he did with the commencement of his epistles, but which would
+become confused and altogether anti- caligraphic when he fell into a
+hurry towards the end of his performance as was his wont. But the
+address of this letter was written in a pretty, small, female hand very
+careful in the perfection of every letter, and very neat in every
+stroke. It was from Mary Briton, between whom and Clara there had never
+hitherto been occasion for correspondence. The letter was as follows:
+
+'Plaistow Hall, April, 186 .
+
+My Dear Cousin Clara,
+
+William has heard from your friends at Belton, who are tenants on the
+estate, and as to whom there seems to be some question whether they are
+to remain. He has written, saying, I believe, that there need be no
+difficulty if they wish to stay there. But we learn, also, from Mrs
+Askerton's letter, that you are expected at the cottage, and therefore
+I will address this to Belton, supposing that it may find you there.
+
+You and I have never yet known each other which has been a grief to me;
+but this grief, I hope, may be cured some day before long. I myself, as
+you know, am such a poor creature that I cannot go about the world to
+see my friends as other people do at least, not very well; and
+therefore I write to you with the object of asking you to come and see
+me here. This is an interesting old house in its way; and though I must
+not conceal from you that life here is very, very quiet, I would do my
+best to make the days pass pleasantly with you. I had heard that you
+were gone to Aylmer Park. Indeed, William told me of his taking you up
+to London. Now it seems you have left Yorkshire, and I suppose you will
+not return there very soon. If it be so, will it not be well that you
+should come to me for a short time?
+
+Both William and I feel that just for the present for a little time you
+would perhaps prefer to be alone with me. He must go to London for
+awhile, and then on to Belton, to settle your affairs and his. He
+intends to be absent for six weeks. If you would not be afraid of the
+dullness of this house for so long a time, pray come to us. The
+pleasure to me would be very great, and I hope that you have some of
+that feeling, which with me is so strong, that we ought not to be any
+longer personally strangers to each other. You could then make up your
+mind as to what you would choose to do afterwards. I think that by the
+end of that time that is, when William returns my uncle and aunt from
+Sleaford will be with us. He is a clergyman, you know; and if you then
+like to remain, they will be delighted to make your acquaintance.
+
+It seems to be a long journey for a young lady to make alone, from
+Belton to Plaistow; but travelling is so easy now-a-days, and young
+ladies seem to be so independent, that you may be able to manage it.
+Hoping to see you soon, I remain
+
+Your affectionate Cousin,
+
+MARY BELTON.'
+
+This letter she received before breakfast, and was therefore able to
+read it in solitude, and to keep its receipt from the knowledge of Mrs
+Askerton, if she should be so minded. She understood at once all that
+it intended to convey a hint that Plaistow Hall would be a better
+resting place for her than Mrs Askerton's cottage; and an assurance
+that if she would go to Plaistow Hall for her convenience, no advantage
+should be taken of her presence there by the owner of the house for his
+convenience. As she sat thinking of the offer which had been made to
+her she fancied that she could see and hear her Cousin Will as he
+discussed the matter with his sister, and with a half assumption of
+surliness declared his own intention of going away. Captain Aylmer,
+after that interview in London, had spoken of Belton's conduct as being
+unpardonable; but Clara had not only pardoned him, but had, in her own
+mind, pronounced his virtues to be so much greater than his vices as to
+make him almost perfect. 'But I will not drive him out of his own
+house,' she said. 'What does it matter where I go?'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has had a letter from your cousin,' said Mrs Askerton
+as soon as the two ladies were alone together.
+
+'And what does he say?'
+
+'Not a word about you.'
+
+'So much the better. I have given him trouble enough, and am glad to
+think that he should be free of me for awhile. Is Colonel Askerton to
+stay at the cottage?'
+
+'Now, Clara, you are a hypocrite. You know that you are a hypocrite.'
+
+'Very likely but I don't know why you should accuse me just now.'
+
+'Yes, you do. Have not you heard from Norfolk also?' 'Yes I have.'
+
+'I was sure of it. I knew he would never have written in that way, in
+answer to my letter, ignoring your visit here altogether, unless he had
+written to you also.'
+
+'But he has not written to me. My letter is from his sister. There it
+is.' Whereupon she handed the letter to Mrs Askerton, and waited
+patiently while it was being read. Her friend returned it to her
+without a word, and Clara was the first to speak again. 'It is a nice
+letter, is it not? I never saw her, you know.'
+
+'So she says.'
+
+'But is it not a kind letter?'
+
+'I suppose it is meant for kindness. It is not very complimentary to
+me. It presumes that such a one as I may be treated without the
+slightest consideration. And so I may. It is only fit that I should be
+so treated. If you ask my advice, I advise you to go at once at once.'
+
+'But I have not asked your advice, dear; nor do I intend to ask it.'
+
+'You would not have shown it me if you had not intended to go.'
+
+'How unreasonable you are! You told me just now that I was a hypocrite
+for not telling you of my letter, and now you are angry with me because
+I have shown it you.'
+
+'I am not angry. I think you have been quite right to show it me. I
+don't know how else you could have acted upon it.'
+
+'But I do not mean to act upon it. I shall not go to Plaistow. There
+are two reasons against it, each sufficient. I shall not leave you just
+yet unless you send me away; and I shall not cause my cousin to be
+turned out of his own house.'
+
+'Why should he be turned out? Why should you not go to him? You love
+him and as for him, he is more in love than any man I ever knew. Go to
+Plaistow Hall, and everything will run smooth.'
+
+'No, dear; I shall not do that.'
+
+'Then you are foolish. I am bound to tell you so, as I have inveigled
+you here.'
+
+'I thought I had invited myself.'
+
+'No; I asked you to come, and when I asked you I knew that I was wrong.
+Though I meant to be kind, I knew that I was unkind. I saw that my
+husband disapproved it, though he had not the heart to tell me so. I
+wish he had. I wish he had.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I cannot tell you how much you wrong yourself, and how
+you wrong me also. I am more than contented to be here.'
+
+'But you should not be contented to be here. It is just that. In
+learning to love me or rather, perhaps, to pity me, you lower yourself.
+Do you think that I do not see it all, and know it all? Of course it is
+bad to be alone, but I have no right not to be alone.' There was
+nothing for Clara to do but to draw herself once again close to the
+poor woman, and to embrace her with protestations of fair, honest,
+equal regard and friendship. 'Do you think I do not understand that
+letter?' continued Mrs Askerton. 'If it had come from Lady Aylmer I
+could have laughed at it, because I believe Lady Aylmer to be an
+overbearing virago, whom it is good to put down in every way possible.
+But this comes from a pure-minded woman, one whom I believe to be
+little given to harsh judgments on her fellow-sinners; and she tells
+you, in her calm wise way, that it is bad for you to be here with me.'
+
+'She says nothing of the kind.'
+
+'But does she not mean it? Tell me honestly do you not know that she
+means it?'
+
+'I am not to be guided by what she means.'
+
+'But you are to be guided by what her brother means. It is to come to
+that, and you may as well bend your neck at once. It is to come to
+that, and the sooner the better for you. it is easy to see that you are
+badly off for guidance when you take up me as your friend.' When she
+had so spoken Mrs Askerton got up and went to the door. 'No, Clara, do
+not come with me; not now,' she said, turning to her companion, who had
+risen as though to follow her. 'I will come to you soon, but I would
+rather be alone now. And, look here, dear; you must answer your
+cousin's letter. Do so at once, and say that you will go to Plaistow.
+In any event it will be better for you.'
+
+Clara, when she was alone, did answer her cousin's letter, but she did
+not accept the invitation that had been given her. She assured Miss
+Belton that she was most anxious to know her, and hoped that she might
+do so before long, either at Plaistow or at Belton; but that at present
+she was under an engagement to stay with her friend Mrs Askerton. In an
+hour or two Mrs Askerton returned, and Clara handed to her the note to
+read. 'Then all I can say is you are very silly, and don't know on
+which side your bread is buttered.' It was evident from Mrs Askerton's
+voice that she had recovered her mood and tone of mind. 'I don't
+suppose it will much signify, as it will all come right at last,' she
+said afterwards. And then, after luncheon, when she had been for a few
+minutes with her husband in his own room, she told Clara that the
+colonel wanted to speak to her. 'You'll find him as grave as a judge,
+for he has got something to say to you in earnest. Nobody can be so
+stern as he is when he chooses to put on his wig and gown.' So Clara
+went into the colonel's study, and seated herself in a chair which he
+had prepared for her.
+
+She remained there for over an hour, and during the hour the
+conversation became very animated. Colonel Askerton's assumed gravity
+had given way to ordinary eagerness, during which he walked about the
+room in the vehemence of his argument; and Clara, in answering him, had
+also put forth all her strength. She had expected that he also was
+going to speak to her on the propriety of her going to Norfolk; but he
+made no allusion to that subject, although all that he did say was
+founded on Will Belton's letter to himself. Belton, in speaking of the
+cottage, had told Colonel Askerton that Miss Amedroz would be his
+future landlord, and had then gone on to explain that it was his,
+Belton's, intention to destroy the entail, and allow the property to
+descend from the father to the daughter. 'As Miss Amedroz is with you
+now,' he said, 'may I beg you to take the trouble to explain the matter
+to her at length, and to make her understand that the estate is now, at
+this moment, in fact her own. Her possession of it does not depend on
+any act of hers or, indeed, upon her own will or wish in the matter.'
+On this subject Colonel Askerton had argued, using all his skill to
+make Clara in truth perceive that she was her father's heiress through
+the generosity undoubtedly of her cousin and that she had no
+alternative but to assume the possession which was thus thrust upon her.
+
+And so eloquent was the colonel that Clara was staggered, though she
+was not convinced. 'It is quite impossible,' she said. 'Though he may
+be able to make it over to me, I can give it back again.'
+
+'I think not. In such a matter as this a lady in your position can only
+be guided by her natural advisers her father's lawyer and other family
+friends.'
+
+'I don't know why a young lady should be in any way different from an
+old gentleman.'
+
+'But an old gentleman would not hesitate under such circumstances. The
+entail in itself was a cruelty, and the operation of it on your poor
+brother's death was additionally cruel.'
+
+'It is cruel that any one should be poor,' argued Clara; 'but that does
+not take away the right of a rich man to his property.'
+
+There was much more of this sort said between them, till Clara was at
+any rate convinced that Colonel Askerton believed that she ought to be
+the owner of the property. And then at last he ventured upon another
+argument which soon drove Clara out of the room. 'There is, I believe,
+one way in which it can all be made right,' said he.
+
+'What way? 'said Clara, forgetting in her eagerness the obviousness of
+the mode which her companion was about to point out.
+
+'Of course, I know nothing of this myself,' he said smiling; 'but Mary
+thinks that you and your cousin might arrange it between you if you
+were together.'
+
+'You must not listen to what she says about that, Colonel Askerton.'
+'Must I not? Well; I will not listen to more than I can help; but Mary,
+as you know, is a persistent talker. I, at any rate, have done my
+commission.' Then Clara left him and was alone for what remained of the
+afternoon.
+
+It could not be, she said to herself, that the property ought to be
+hers. It would make her miserable, were she once to feel that she had
+accepted it. Some small allowance out of it, coming to her from the
+brotherly love of her cousin some moderate stipend sufficient for her
+livelihood, she thought she could accept from him. It seemed to her
+that it was her destiny to be dependent on charity to eat bread given
+to her from the benevolence of a friend; and she thought that she could
+endure his benevolence better than that of any other. Benevolence from
+Aylmer Park or from Perivale would be altogether unendurable.
+
+But why should it not be as Colonel Askerton had proposed? That this
+cousin of hers loved her with all his heart with a constancy for which
+she had at first given him no credit she was well aware. And, as
+regarded herself, she loved him better than all the world beside. She
+had at last become conscious that she could not now marry Captain
+Aylmer without sin without false vows, and fatal injury to herself and
+him. To the prospect of that marriage, as her future fate, an end must
+be put at any rate an end, if that which had already taken place was
+not to be regarded as end enough. But yet she had been engaged to
+Captain Aylmer was engaged to him even now. When last her cousin had
+mentioned to her Captain Aylmer's name she had declared that she loved
+him still. How then could she turn round now, and so soon accept the
+love of another man? How could she bring herself to let her cousin
+assume to himself the place of a lover, when it was but the other day
+that she had rebuked him for expressing the faintest hope in that
+direction?
+
+But yet yet ! As for going to Plaistow, that was quite out of the
+question.
+
+'So you are to be the heiress after all,' said Mrs Askerton to her that
+night in her bedroom.
+
+'No; I am not to be the heiress after all,' said Clara, rising against
+her friend impetuously.
+
+'You'll have to be lady of Belton in one way or the other at any rate,'
+said Mrs Askerton.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ IS PURSUED
+
+'I suppose now, my dear, it may be considered that everything is
+settled about that young lady,' said Lady Aylmer to her son, on the
+same day that Miss Amedroz left Aylmer Park.
+
+'Nothing is settled, ma'am,' said the captain.
+
+'You don't mean to tell me that after what has passed you intend to
+follow her up any farther.'
+
+'I shall certainly endeavour to see her again.'
+
+'Then, Frederic, I must tell you that you are very wrong indeed almost
+worse than wrong. I would say wicked, only I feel sure that you will
+think better of it. You cannot mean to tell me that you would marry her
+after what has taken place?'
+
+'The question is whether she would marry me.'
+
+'That is nonsense, Frederic. I wonder that you, who are so generally so
+clear-sighted, cannot see more plainly than that. She is a scheming,
+artful young woman, who is playing a regular game to catch a husband.'
+
+'If that were so, she would have been more humble to you, ma'am.'
+
+'Not a bit, Fred. That's just it. That has been her cleverness. She
+tried that on at first, and found that she could not get round me.
+Don't allow yourself to be deceived by that, I pray. And then there is
+no knowing how she may be bound up with those horrid people, so that
+she cannot throw them over, even if she would.'
+
+'I don't think you understand her, ma'am.'
+
+'Oh very well. But I understand this, and you had better understand it
+too that she will never again enter a house of which I am the mistress;
+nor can I ever enter a house in which she is received. If you choose to
+make her your wife after that, I have done.' Lady Aylmer had not done,
+or nearly done; but we need hear no more of her threats or entreaties.
+Her son left Aylmer Park immediately after Easter Sunday, and as he
+went, the mother, nodding her head, declared to her daughter that that
+marriage would never come off, let Clara Amedroz be ever so sly, or
+ever so clever.
+
+'Think of what I have said to you, Fred,' said Sir Anthony, as he took
+his leave of his son.
+
+'Yes, sir, I will.'
+
+'You can't be better off than you are you can't, indeed.' With these
+words in his ears Captain Aylmer started for London, intending to
+follow Clara down to Belton. He hardly knew his own mind on this matter
+of his purposed marriage. He was almost inclined to agree with his
+father that he was very well off as he was. He was almost inclined to
+agree with his mother in her condemnation of Clara's conduct. He was
+almost inclined to think that he had done enough towards keeping the
+promise made to his aunt on her death. bed but still he was not quite
+contented with himself. He desired to be honest and true, as far as his
+ideas went of honesty and truth, and his conscience told him that Clara
+had been treated with cruelty by his mother. I am inclined to think
+that Lady Aylmer, in spite of her high experience and character for
+wisdom, had not fought her battle altogether well. No man likes to be
+talked out of his marriage by his mother, and especially not so when
+the talking takes the shape of threats. When she told him that under no
+circumstances would she again know Clara Amedroz, he was driven by his
+spirit of manhood to declare to himself that that menace from her
+should not have the slightest influence on him. The word or two which
+his father said was more effective. After all it might be better for
+him in his peculiar position to have no wife at all. He did begin to
+believe that he had no need for a wife. He had never before thought so
+much of his father's example as he did now. Clara was manifestly a
+hot-tempered woman a very hot-tempered woman indeed! Now his mother was
+also a hot-tempered woman, and he could see the result in the present
+condition of his father's life. He resolved that he would follow Clara
+to Belton, so that some final settlement might be made between them;
+but in coming to this resolution he acknowledged to himself that should
+she decide against him he would not break his heart. She, however,
+should have her chance. Undoubtedly it was only right that she should
+have her chance.
+
+
+
+But the difficulty of the circumstances in which he was placed was so
+great, that it was almost impossible for him to make up his mind
+fixedly to any purpose in reference to Clara. As he passed through
+London on his way to Belton he called at Mr Green's chambers with
+reference to that sum of fifteen hundred pounds, which it was now
+absolutely necessary that he should make over to Miss Amedroz, and from
+Mr Green he learned that William Belton had given positive instructions
+as to the destination of the Belton estate. He would not inherit it, or
+have anything to do with it under the entail from the effects of which
+he desired to be made entirely free. Mr Green, who knew that Captain
+Aylmer was engaged to marry his client, and who knew nothing of any
+interruption to that agreement, felt no hesitation in explaining all
+this to Captain Aylmer. 'I suppose you had heard of it before,' said Mr
+Green. Captain Aylmer certainly had heard of it, and had been very much
+struck by the idea; but up to this moment he had not quite believed in
+it. Coming simply from William Belton to Clara Amedroz, such an offer
+might be no more than a strong argument used in love- making. 'Take
+back the property, but take me with it, of course.' That Captain Aylmer
+thought might have been the correct translation of Mr William Belton's
+romance. But he was forced to look  at the matter differently when he
+found that it had been put into a lawyer's hands. 'Yes,' said he,' I
+have heard of it. Mr Belton mentioned it to me himself.' This was not
+strictly true. Clara had mentioned it to him; but Belton had come into
+the room immediately afterwards, and Captain Aylmer might probably have
+been mistaken.
+
+'He's quite in earnest,' said Mr Green.
+
+'Of course, I can say nothing, Mr Green, as I am myself so nearly
+interested in the matter. It is a great question, no doubt, how far
+such an entail as that should be allowed to operate.'
+
+'I think it should stand, as a matter of course. I think Belton is
+wrong,' said Mr Green.
+
+'Of course I can give no opinion,' said the other.
+
+'I'll tell you what you can do, Captain Aylmer. You can suggest to Miss
+Amedroz that there should be a compromise. Let them divide it. They are
+both clients of mine, and in that way I shall do my duty to each. Let
+them divide it. Belton has money enough to buy up the other moiety, and
+in that way would still be Belton of Belton.'
+
+Captain Aylmer had not the slightest objection to such a plan. Indeed,
+he regarded it as in all respects a wise and salutary arrangement. The
+moiety of the Belton estate might probably be worth twenty-five
+thousand pounds, and the addition of such a sum as that to his existing
+means would make all the difference in the world as to the expediency
+of his marriage. His father's arguments would all fall to the ground if
+twenty-five thousand pounds were to be obtained in this way; and he had
+but little doubt that such a change in affairs would go far to mitigate
+his mother's wrath. But he was by no means mercenary in his views so,
+at least, he assured himself. Clara should have her chance with or
+without the Belton estate or with or without the half of it. He was by
+no means mercenary. Had he not made his offer to her and repeated it
+almost with obstinacy, when she had no prospect of any fortune? He
+could always remember that of himself at least; and remembering that
+now, he could take a delight in these bright money prospects without
+having to accuse himself in the slightest degree of mercenary motives.
+This fortune was a godsend which he could take with clean hands if only
+he should ultimately be able to take the lady who possessed the fortune!
+
+>From London he wrote to Clara, telling her that he proposed to visit
+her at Belton. His letter was written before he had seen Mr Green, and
+was not very fervent in its expressions; but, nevertheless, it was a
+fair letter, written with the intention of giving her a fair chance. He
+had seen with great sorrow 'with heartfelt grief,' that quarrel between
+his mother and his own Clara. Thinking, as he felt himself obliged to
+think, about Mrs Askerton, he could not but feel that his mother bad
+cause for her anger. But he himself was unprejudiced, and was ready,
+and anxious also the word anxious was underscored to carry out his
+engagement. A few words between them might probably set everything
+right, and therefore be proposed to meet her at the Belton Castle
+house, at such an hour, on such a day. He should run down to Perivale
+on his journey, and perhaps Clara would let him have a line addressed
+to him there. Such was his letter.
+
+'What do you think of that?' said Clara, showing it to Mrs Askerton on
+the afternoon of the day on which she had received it.
+
+'What do you think of it?' said Mrs Askerton. 'I can only hope, that he
+will not come within reach of my hands.'
+
+'You are not angry with me for showing it to you?'
+
+'No why should I be angry with you? Of course I knew it all without any
+showing. Do not tell Colonel Askerton, or they will be killing each
+other.'
+
+'Of course I shall not tell Colonel Askerton; but I could not help
+showing this to you.'
+
+'And you will meet him?'
+
+'Yes; I shall meet him. What else can I do?'
+
+'Unless, indeed, you were to write and tell him that it would do no
+good.'
+
+'It will be better that he should come.'
+
+'If you allow him to talk you over you will be a wretched woman all
+your life.'
+
+'It will be better that he should come,' said Clara again. And then she
+wrote to Captain Aylmer at Perivale, telling him that she would be at
+the house at the hour he had named, on the day he had named.
+
+When that day came she walked across the park a little before the time
+fixed, not wishing to meet Captain Aylmer before she had reached the
+house. It was now nearly the middle of April, and the weather was soft
+and pleasant. It was almost summer again, and as she felt this, she
+thought of all the events which had occurred since the last summer of
+their agony of grief at the catastrophe which had closed her brother's
+life, of her aunt's death first, and then of her father's following so
+close upon the other, and of the two offers of marriage made to her as
+to which she was now aware that she had accepted the wrong man and
+rejected the wrong man. She was steadily minded, now, at this moment,
+that before she parted from Captain Aylmer, her engagement with him
+should be brought to a close. Now, at this coming interview, so much at
+any rate should be done. She had tried to make herself believe that she
+felt for him that sort of affection which a woman should have for the
+man she is to marry, but she had failed. She hardly knew whether she
+had in truth ever loved him; but she was quite sure that she did not
+love him now. No she had done with Aylmer Park, and she could feel
+thankful, amidst all her troubles, that that difficulty should vex her
+no more. In showing Captain Aylmer's letter to Mrs Askerton she had
+made no such promise as this, but her mind had been quite made up. 'He
+certainly shall not talk me over,' she said to herself as she walked
+across the park.
+
+But she could not see her way so clearly out of that further difficulty
+with regard to her cousin. It might be that she would be able to rid
+herself of the one lover with comparative ease; but she could not bring
+herself to entertain the idea of accepting the other. It was true that
+this man longed for her desired to call her his own, with a wearing,
+anxious, painful desire which made his heart grievously heavy heavy as
+though with lead hanging to its strings; and it was true that Clara
+knew that it was so. It was true also that his spirit had mastered her
+spirit, and that his persistence had conquered her resistance the
+resistance, that is, of her feelings. But there remained with her a
+feminine shame, which made it seem to her to be impossible that she
+should now reject Captain Aylmer, and as a consequence of that
+rejection, accept Will Belton's hand. As she thought of this, she could
+not see her way out of her trouble in that direction with any of that
+clearness which belonged to her in reference to Captain Aylmer.
+
+She had been an hour in the house before he came, and never did an hour
+go so heavily with her. There was no employment for her about the
+place, and Mrs Bunce, the old woman who now lived there, could not
+understand why her late mistress chose to remain seated among the
+unused furniture. Clara had of course told her that a gentleman was
+coming. 'Not Mr Will?' said the woman. 'No; it is not Mr Will,' said
+Clara; 'his name is Captain Aylmer.' 'Oh, indeed.' And then Mrs Bunce
+looked at her with a mystified look. Why on earth should not the
+gentleman call on Miss Amedroz at Mrs Askerton's cottage? 'I'll be sure
+to show 'un up, when a comes, at any rate,' said the old woman solemnly
+and Clara felt that it was all very uncomfortable.
+
+At last the gentleman did come, and was shown up with all the ceremony
+of which Mrs Bunce was capable. 'Here he be, mum.' Then Mrs Bunce
+paused a moment before she retreated, anxious to learn whether the new
+corner was a friend or a foe. She concluded from the captain's manner
+that he was a very dear friend, and then she departed.
+
+'I hope you are not surprised at my coming,' said Captain Aylmer, still
+holding Clara by the hand.
+
+'A little surprised,' she said, smiling.
+
+'But not annoyed?'
+
+'No not annoyed.'
+
+'As soon as you had left Aylmer Park I felt that it was the right thing
+to do the only thing to do as I told my mother.'
+
+'I hope you have not come in opposition to her wishes,' said Clara,
+unable to control a slight tone of banter as she spoke.
+
+'In this matter I found myself compelled to act in accordance with my
+own judgment,' said he, untouched by her sarcasm.
+
+'Then I suppose that Lady Aylmer is is vexed with you for coming here.
+I shall be so sorry for that so very sorry, as no good can come of it.'
+
+'Well I am not so sure of that. My mother is a most excellent woman,
+one for whose opinions on all matters I have the highest possible value
+a value so high, that that that'
+
+'That you never ought to act in opposition to it. That is what you
+really mean, Captain Aylmer; and upon my word I think that you are
+right.'
+
+'No, Clara; that is not what I mean not exactly that. Indeed, just at
+present I mean the reverse of that. There are some things on which a
+man must act on his own judgment, irrespectively of the opinions of any
+one else.'
+
+'Not of a mother, Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes of a mother. That is to say, a man must do so. With a lady of
+course it is different. I was very, very sorry that there should have
+been any unpleasantness at Aylmer Park.'
+
+'It was not pleasant to me, certainly.'
+
+'Nor to any of us, Clara.'
+
+'At any rate, it need not be repeated.'
+
+'I hope not.'
+
+'No it certainly need not be repeated. I know now that I was wrong to
+go to Aylmer Park. I felt sure beforehand that there were many things
+as to which I could not possibly agree with Lady Aylmer, and I ought
+not to have gone.'
+
+'I don't see that at all, Clara.'
+
+'I do see it now.'
+
+'I can't understand you. What things? Why should you be determined to
+disagree with my mother? Surely you ought at any rate to endeavour to
+think as she thinks.'
+
+'I cannot do that, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'I am sorry to hear you speak in this way. I have come here all the way
+from Yorkshire to try to put things straight between us; but you
+receive me as though you would remember nothing but that unpleasant
+quarrel.'
+
+'It was so unpleasant so very unpleasant! I had better speak out the
+truth at once. I think that Lady Aylmer ill-used me cruelly. I do. No
+one can talk me out of that conviction. Of course I am sorry to be
+driven to say as much to you and I should never have said it, had you
+not come here. But when you speak of me and your mother together, I
+must say what I feel. Your mother and I, Captain Aylmer, are so opposed
+to each other, not only in feeling, but in opinions also, that it is
+impossible that we should be friends impossible that we should not be
+enemies if we are brought together.'
+
+This she said with great energy, looking intently into his face as she
+spoke. He was seated near her, on a chair from which he was leaning
+over towards her, holding his hat in both hands between his legs. Now,
+as he listened to her, he drew his chair still nearer, ridding himself
+of his hat, which he left upon the carpet, and keeping his eyes upon
+hers as though he were fascinated. 'I am sorry to hear you speak like
+this,' he said.
+
+'It is best to say the truth.'
+
+'But, Clara, if you intend to be my wife'
+
+'Oh, no that is impossible now.' 'What is impossible?'
+
+'Impossible that I should become your wife. Indeed I have convinced
+myself that you do not wish it.'
+
+'But I do wish it.'
+
+'No no. If you will question your heart about it quietly, you will find
+that you do not wish it.'
+
+'You wrong me, Clara.'
+
+'At any rate it cannot be so.'
+
+'I will not take that answer from you,' he said, getting up from his
+chair, and walking once up and down the room. Then he returned to it,
+and repeated his words. 'I will not take that answer from you. An
+engagement such as ours cannot be put aside like an old glove. You do
+not mean to tell me that all that has been between us is to mean
+nothing.' There was something now like feeling in his tone, something
+like passion in his gesture, and Clara, though she had no thought of
+changing her purpose, was becoming unhappy at the idea of his
+unhappiness.
+
+'It has meant nothing,' she said. 'We have been like children together,
+playing at being in love. It is a game from which you will come out
+scatheless, but I have been scalded.'
+
+'Scalded!'
+
+'Well never mind. I do not mean to complain, and certainly not of you.'
+
+'I have come here all the way from Yorkshire in order that things may
+be put right between us.'
+
+'You have been very good very good to come, and I will not say that I
+regret your trouble. It is best, I think, that we should meet each
+other once more face to face, so that we may understand each other.
+There was no understanding anything during those terrible days at
+Aylmer Park.' Then she paused, but as he did not speak at once she went
+on. 'I do not blame you for anything that has taken place, but I am
+quite sure of this that you and I could never be happy together as man
+and wife.'
+
+'I do not know why you say so; I do not indeed.'
+
+'You would disapprove of everything that I should do. You do disapprove
+of what I am doing now.'
+
+'Disapprove of what?'
+
+'I am staying with my friend, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+He felt that this was hard upon him. As she had shown herself inclined
+to withdraw herself from him, he had become more resolute in his desire
+to follow her up, and to hold by his engagement. He was not employed
+now in giving her another chance as he had proposed to himself to do
+but was using what eloquence he had to obtain another chance for
+himself. Lady Aylmer had almost made him believe that Clara would be
+the suppliant, but now he was the suppliant himself. In his anxiety to
+keep her he was willing even to pass over her terrible iniquity in
+regard to Mrs Askerton that great sin which had led to all these
+troubles. He had once written to her about Mrs Askerton, using very
+strong language, and threatening her with his mother's full
+displeasure. At that time Mrs Askerton had simply been her friend.
+There had been no question then of her taking refuge under that woman's
+roof. Now she had repelled Lady Aylmer's counsels with scorn, was
+living as a guest in Mrs Askerton's house; and yet he was willing to
+pass over the Askerton difficulty without a word. He was willing not
+only to condone past offences, but to wink at existing iniquity! But
+she she who was the sinner, would not permit of this. She herself
+dragged up Mrs Askerton's name, and seemed to glory in her own shame.
+
+'I had not intended,' said he, 'to speak of your friend.'
+
+'I only mention her to show how impossible it is that we should ever
+agree upon some subjects as to which a husband and wife should always
+be of one mind. I knew this from the moment in which I got your letter
+and only that I was a coward I should have said so then.'
+
+'And you mean to quarrel with me altogether?'
+
+'No why should we quarrel?'
+
+'Why, indeed?' said he.
+
+'But I wish it to be settled quite settled, as from the nature of
+things it must be, that there shall be no attempt at renewal of our
+engagement. After what has passed, how could I enter your mother's
+house?'
+
+'But you need not enter it.' Now, in his emergency he was willing to
+give up anything everything. He had been prepared to talk her over into
+a reconciliation with his mother, to admit that there had been faults
+on both sides, to come down from his high pedestal and discuss the
+matter as though Clara and his mother stood upon the same footing.
+Having recognized the spirit of his lady-love, he had told himself that
+so much indignity as that must be endured. But now, he had been carried
+so far beyond this, that he was willing, in the sudden vehemence of his
+love, to throw his mother over altogether, and to accede to any terms
+which Clara might propose to him. 'Of course, I would wish you to be
+friends,' he said, using now all the tones of a suppliant; 'but if you
+found that it could not be so'
+
+'Do you think that I would divide you from your mother?'
+
+'There need be no question as to that.'
+
+'Ah there you are wrong. There must be such questions. I should have
+thought of it sooner.'
+
+'Clara, you are more to me than my mother. Ten times more.' As he said
+this he came up and knelt down beside her. 'You are everything to me.
+You will not throw me over.' He was a suppliant indeed, and such
+supplications are very potent with women. Men succeed often by the
+simple earnestness of their prayers. Women cannot refuse to give that
+which is asked for with so much of the vehemence of true desire.
+'Clara, you have promised to be my wife. You have twice promised; and
+can have no right to go back because you are displeased with what my
+mother may have said. I am not responsible for my mother. Clara, say
+that you will be my wife.' As he spoke he strove to take her hand, and
+his voice sounded as though there were in truth something of passion in
+his heart.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+THERE IS NOTHING TO TELL
+
+Captain Aylmer had never before this knelt to Clara Amedroz. Such
+kneeling on the part of lovers used to be the fashion because lovers in
+those days held in higher value than they do now that which they asked
+their ladies to give or because they pretended to do so. The forms at
+least of supplication were used; whereas in these wiser days Augustus
+simply suggests to Caroline that they two might as well make fools of
+themselves together and so the thing is settled without the need of
+much prayer. Captain Aylmer's engagement had been originally made
+somewhat after this fashion. He had not, indeed, spoken of the thing
+contemplated as a folly, not being a man given to little waggeries of
+that nature; but he had been calm, unenthusiastic, and reasonable. He
+bad not attempted to evince any passion, and would have been quite
+content that Clara should believe that he married as much from
+obedience to his aunt as from love for herself, had he not found that
+Clara would not take him at all under such a conviction. But though she
+had declined to come to him after that fashion though something more
+than that had been needed still she had been won easily, and,
+therefore, lightly prized. I fear that it is so with everything that we
+value with our horses, our houses, our wines, and, above all, with our
+women. Where is the man who has heart and soul big enough to love a
+woman with increased force of passion because she has at once
+recognized in him all that she has herself desired? Captain Aylmer
+having won his spurs easily, had taken no care in buckling them, and
+now found, to his surprise, that he was like to lose them. He had told
+himself that he would only be too glad to shuffle his feet free of
+their bondage; but now that they were going from him, he began to find
+that they were very necessary for the road that he was to travel.
+'Clara,' he said, kneeling by her side,' you are more to me than my
+mother; ten times more!'
+
+This was all new to her. Hitherto, though she had never desired that he
+should assume such attitude as this, she had constantly been
+unconsciously wounded by his coldness by his cold propriety and
+unbending self-possession. His cold propriety and unbending
+self-possession were gone now, and he was there at her feet. Such an
+argument, used at Aylmer Park, would have conquered her would have won
+her at once, in spite of herself; but now she was minded to be
+resolute. She had sworn to herself that she would not peril herself, or
+him, by joining herself to a man with whom she had so little sympathy,
+and who apparently had none with her. But in what way was she to answer
+such a prayer as that which was now made to her? The man who addressed
+her was entitled to use all the warmth of an accepted lover. He only
+asked for that which had already been given to him.
+
+'Captain Aylmer ' she began.
+
+'Why is it to be Captain Aylmer? What have I done that you should use
+me in this way? It was not I who who made you unhappy at Aylmer Park.'
+
+'I will not go back to that. It is of no use. Pray get up. It shocks me
+to see you in this way.'
+
+'Tell me, then, that it is once more all right between us. Say that,
+and I shall be happier than I ever was before yes, than I ever was
+before. I know how much I love you now, how sore it would be to lose
+you. I have been wrong. I had not thought enough of that, but I will
+think of it now.'
+
+She found that the task before her was very difficult so difficult that
+she almost broke down in performing it. It would have been so easy and,
+for the moment, so pleasant to have yielded. He had his hand upon her
+arm, having attempted to take her hand. In preventing that she had
+succeeded, but she could not altogether make herself free from him
+without rising. For a moment she had paused paused as though she were
+about to yield. For a moment, as he looked into her eyes, he had
+thought that he would again be victorious. Perhaps there was something
+in his glance, some too visible return of triumph to his eyes, which
+warned her of her danger. 'No!' she said, getting up and walking away
+from him; 'no!'
+
+'And what does "no" mean, Clara?' Then he also rose, and stood leaning
+on the table. 'Does it mean that you will be forsworn?'
+
+'It means this that I will not come between you and your mother; that I
+will not be taken into a family in which I am scorned; that I will not
+go to Aylmer Park myself or be the means of preventing you from going
+there.'
+
+'There need be no question of Aylmer Park.'
+
+'There shall be none!'
+
+'But, so much being allowed, you will be my wife?'
+
+'No, Captain Aylmer no. I cannot be your wife. Do not press it further;
+you must know that on such a subject I would think much before I
+answered you. I have thought much, and I know that I am right.'
+
+'And your promised word is to go for nothing?'
+
+'If it will comfort you to say so, you may say it. If you do not
+perceive that the mistake made between us has been as much your mistake
+as mine, and has injured me more than it has injured you, I will not
+remind you of it will never remind you of it after this.'
+
+'But there has been no mistake and there shall be no injury.'
+
+'Ah, Captain Aylmer you do not understand; you cannot understand. I
+would not for worlds reproach you; but do you think I suffered nothing
+from your mother?'
+
+'And must I pay for her sins?'
+
+'There shall be no paying, no punishment, and no reproaches. There
+shall be none at least from me. But do not think that I speak in anger
+or in pride I will not marry into Lady Aylmer's family.'
+
+'This is too bad too bad! After all that is past, it is too bad!'
+
+'What can I say? Would you advise me to do that which would make us
+both wretched?'
+
+'It would not make me wretched. It would make me happy. It would
+satisfy me altogether.'
+
+'It cannot be, Captain Aylmer. It cannot be. When I speak to you in
+that way, will you not let it be final?'
+
+He paused a moment before he spoke again, and then he turned sharp upon
+her. 'Tell me this, Clara; do you love me? Have you ever loved me?' She
+did not answer him, but stood there, listening quietly to his
+accusations. 'You have never loved me, and yet you have allowed
+yourself to say that you did. Is not that true?' Still she did not
+answer. 'I ask you whether that is not true?' But though he asked her,
+and paused for an answer, looking the while full into her face, yet she
+did not speak. And now I suppose you will become your cousin's wife?'
+he said. 'It will suit you to change, and to say that you love him.'
+
+Then at last she spoke. 'I did not think that you would have treated me
+in this way, Captain Aylmer! I did not expect that you would insult me!'
+
+'I have not insulted you.'
+
+'But your manner to me makes my task easier than I could have hoped it
+to be. You asked me whether I ever loved you? I once thought that I did
+so; and so thinking, told you, without reserve, all my feeling. When I
+came to find that I had been mistaken, I conceived myself bound by my
+engagement to rectify my own error as best I could; and I resolved,
+wrongly as I now think, very wrongly that I could learn as your wife to
+love you. Then came circumstances which showed me that a release would
+be good for both of us, and which justified me in accepting it. No girl
+could be bound by any engagement to a man who looked on and saw her
+treated in his own home, by his own mother, as you saw me treated at
+Aylmer Park. I claim to be released myself, and I know that this
+release is as good for you as it is for me.'
+
+'I am the best judge of that.'
+
+'For myself at any rate I will judge. For myself I have decided. Now I
+have answered the questions which you asked me as to my love for
+yourself. To that other question which you have thought fit to put to
+me about my cousin, I refuse to give any answer whatsoever.' Then,
+having said so much, she walked out of the room, closing the door
+behind her, and left him standing there alone.
+
+We need not follow her as she went up, almost mechanically, into her
+own room the room that used to be her own and then shut herself in,
+waiting till she should be assured, first by sounds in the house, and
+then by silence, that he was gone. That she fell away greatly from the
+majesty of her demeanour when she was thus alone, and descended to the
+ordinary ways of troubled females, we may be quite sure. But to her
+there was no further difficulty. Her work for the day was done. In due
+time she would take herself to the cottage, and all would be well, or,
+at any rate, comfortable with her. But what was he to do? How was he to
+get himself out of the house, and take himself back to London? While he
+had been in pursuit of her, and when he was leaving his vehicle at the
+public- house in the village of Belton, he like some other invading
+generals had failed to provide adequately for his retreat. When he was
+alone he took a turn or two about the room, half thinking that Clara
+would return to him. She could hardly leave him alone in a strange
+house him, who, as he had twice told her, had come all the way from
+Yorkshire to see her. But she did not return, and gradually he came to
+understand that he must provide for his own retreat without assistance.
+He was hardly aware, even now, how greatly he had transcended his usual
+modes of speech and action, both in the energy of his supplication and
+in the violence of his rebuke. He had been lifted for awhile out  of
+himself by the excitement of his position, and now that he was
+subsiding into quiescence, he was unconscious that he had almost
+mounted into passion that he had spoken of love very nearly with
+eloquence. But he did recognize this as a fact that Clara was not to be
+his wife, and that he had better get back from Belton to London as
+quickly as possible. It would be well for him to teach himself to look
+back on the result of his aunt's dying request as an episode in his
+life satisfactorily concluded. His mother had undoubtedly been right.
+Clara, he could see now, would have led him a devil of a life; and even
+had she come to him possessed of a moiety of the property a supposition
+as to which he had very strong doubts still she might have been dear at
+the money. 'No real feeling,' he said to himself, as he walked about
+the room 'none whatever; and then so deficient in delicacy!' But still
+he was discontented because he had been rejected, and therefore tried
+to make him. self believe that he could still have her if he chose to
+persevere. 'But no,' he said, as he continued to pace the room, 'I have
+done everything more than every. thing that honour demands. I shall not
+ask her again. it is her own fault. She is an imperious woman, and my
+mother read her character aright.' It did not occur to him, as he thus
+consoled himself for what he had lost, that his mother's accusation
+against Clara had been altogether of a different nature. When we
+console ourselves by our own arguments, we are not apt to examine their
+accuracy with much strictness.
+
+But whether he were consoled or not, it was necessary that he should
+go, and in his going he felt himself to be ill-treated. He left the
+room, and as he went downstairs was disturbed and tormented by the
+creaking of his own boots. He tried to be dignified as he walked
+through the hall, and was troubled at his failure, though he was not
+conscious of any one looking at him. Then it was grievous that he
+should have to let himself out of the front door without attendance. At
+ordinary times he thought as little of such things as most men, and
+would not be aware whether he opened a door for himself or had it
+opened for him by another but now there was a distressing awkwardness
+in the necessity for self-exertion. He did not know the turn of the
+handle, and was unfamiliar with the manner of exit. He was being
+treated with indignity, and before he had escaped from the house had
+come to think that the Amedroz and Belton people were somewhat below
+him. He endeavoured to go out without a noise, but there was a slam of
+the door, without which he could not get the lock to work; and Clara,
+up in her own room, knew all about it.
+
+'Carriage yes; of course I want the carnage,' he said to the
+unfortunate boy at the public-house. 'Didn't you hear me say that I
+wanted it?' He had come down with a pair of horses, and as he saw them
+being put to the vehicle he wished he had been contented with one. As
+he was standing there, waiting, a gentleman rode by, and the boy, in
+answer to his question, told him that the horseman was Colonel
+Askerton. Before the day was over Colonel Askerton would probably know
+all that had happened to him. 'Do move a little quicker; will you?' he
+said to the boy and the old man who was to drive him. Then he got into
+the carriage, and was driven out of Belton, devoutly purposing that he
+never would return; and as he made his way back to Perivale he thought
+of a certain Lady Emily, who would, as he assured himself, have behaved
+much better than Clara Amedroz had done in any such scene as that which
+had just taken place.
+
+When Clara was quite sure that Captain Aylmer was off the premises,
+she, too, descended, but she did not immediately leave the house. She
+walked through the room, and rang for the old woman, and gave certain
+directions as to the performance of which she certainly was not very
+anxious, and was careful to make Mrs Bunce understand that nothing had
+occurred between her and the gentleman that was either exalting or
+depressing in its nature. 'I suppose Captain Aylmer went out, Mrs
+Bunce?' 'Oh yes, miss, a went out. I stood and see'd un from the top of
+the kitchen stairs.' 'You might have opened the door for him, Mrs
+Bunce.' 'Indeed then I never thought of it, miss, seeing the house so
+empty and the like.' Clara said that it did not signify; and then,
+after an hour of composure, she walked back across the park to the
+cottage.
+
+'Well?' said Mrs Askerton as soon as Clara was inside the drawing-room.
+
+'Well,' replied Clara.
+
+'What have you got to tell? Do tell me what you have to tell.'
+
+'I have nothing to tell.'
+
+'Clara, that is impossible. Have you seen him? I know you have seen
+him, because he went by from the house about an hour since.'
+
+'Oh yes; I have seen him.'
+
+'And what have you said to him?'
+
+'Pray do not ask me these questions just now. I have got to think of it
+all to think what he did say and what I said.'
+
+'But you will tell me.'
+
+'Yes; I suppose so.' Then Mrs Askerton was silent on the subject for
+the remainder of the day, allowing Clara even to go to bed without
+another question. And nothing was asked on the following morning
+nothing till the usual time for the writing of letters.
+
+'Shall you have anything for the post?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'There is plenty of time yet.'
+
+'Not too much if you mean to go out at all. Come, Clara, you had better
+write to him at once.'
+
+'Write to whom? I don't know that I have any letter to write at all.'
+Then there was a pause. 'As far as I can see,' she said, 'I may give up
+writing altogether for the future, unless some day you may care to hear
+from me.'
+
+'But you are not going away.'
+
+'Not just yet if you will keep me. To tell you the truth, Mrs Askerton,
+I do not yet know where on earth to take myself.'
+
+'Wait here till we turn you out.'
+
+'I have got to put my house in order. You know what I mean. The job
+ought not to be a troublesome one, for it is a very small house.'
+
+'I suppose I know what you mean.'
+
+'It will not be a very smart establishment. But I must look it all in
+the face; must I not? Though it were to be no house at all, I cannot
+stay here all my life.'
+
+'Yes, you may. You have lost Aylmer Park because you were too noble not
+to come to us.'
+
+'No,' said Clara, speaking aloud, with bright eyes almost with her
+hands clenched. 'No I deny that.'
+
+'I shall choose to think so for my own purposes. Clara, you are savage
+to me almost always savage; but next to him I love you better than all
+the world beside. And so does he. "It's her courage," he said to me the
+other day. "That she should dare to do as she pleases here, is nothing;
+but to have dared to persevere in the fangs of that old dragon," it was
+just what he said "that was wonderful!"'
+
+'There is an end of the old dragon now, so far as I am concerned.'
+
+'Of course there is and of the young dragon too. You wouldn't have had
+the heart to keep me in suspense if you had accepted him again. You
+couldn't have been so pleasant last night if that had been so.'
+
+'I did not know I was very pleasant.'
+
+'Yes, you were. You were soft and gracious gracious for you, at least.
+And now, dear, do tell me about it. Of course I am dying to know.'
+
+'There is nothing to tell.'
+
+'That is nonsense. There must be a thousand things to tell. At any rate
+it is quite decided?'
+
+'Yes; it is quite decided.'
+
+'All the dragons, old and young, are banished into outer darkness.'
+
+'Either that, or else they are to have all the light to themselves.'
+
+'Such light as glimmers through the gloom of Aylmer Park. And was he
+contented? I hope not. I hope you had him on his knees before he left
+you.'
+
+'Why should you hope that? How can you talk such nonsense?'
+
+'Because I wish that he should recognize what he has lost that he
+should know that he has been a fool a mean fool.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I will not have him spoken of like that. He is a man
+very estimable of estimable qualities.'
+
+'Fiddle-de-dee. He is an ape a monkey to be carried on his mother's
+organ. His only good quality was that you could have carried him on
+yours. I can tell you one thing there is not a woman breathing that
+will ever carry William Belton on hers. Whoever his wife may be, she
+will have to dance to his piping.'
+
+'With all my heart and I hope the tunes will be good.'
+
+'But I wish I could have been present to have heard what passed hidden,
+you know, behind a curtain. You won't tell me?'
+
+'I will tell you not a word more.'
+
+'Then I will get it out from Mrs Bunce. I'll be bound she was
+listening.'
+
+'Mrs Bunce will have nothing to tell you; I do not know why you should
+be so curious.'
+
+'Answer me one question at least when it came to the last, did he want
+to go on with it? Was the final triumph with him or with you?'
+
+'There was no final triumph. Such things, when they have to end, do not
+end triumphantly.'
+
+'And is that to be all?' 'Yes that is to be all.'
+
+'And you say that you have no letter to write.'
+
+'None no letter; none at present; none about this affair. Captain
+Aylmer, no doubt, will write to his mother, and then all those who are
+concerned will have been told.'
+
+Clara Amedroz held her purpose and wrote no letter, but Mrs Askerton
+was not so discreet, or so indiscreet as the case might be. She did
+write not on that day or on the next, but before a week had passed by.
+She wrote to Norfolk, telling Clara not a word of her letter, and by
+return of post the answer came. But the answer was for Clara, not for
+Mrs Askerton, and was as follows:
+
+'Plaistow Hall, April, 186
+
+My dear Clara,
+
+I don't know whether I ought to tell you but I suppose I may as well
+tell you, that Mary has had a letter from Mrs Askerton. It was a kind,
+obliging letter, and I am very grateful to her. She has told us that
+you have separated yourself altogether from the Aylmer Park people. I
+don't suppose you'll think I ought to pretend to be very sorry. I can't
+be sorry, even though I know how much you have lost in a worldly point
+of view. I could not bring myself to like Captain Aylmer, though I
+tried hard.' Oh Mr Belton, Mr Belton! 'He and I never could have been
+friends, and it is no use my pretending regret that you have quarrelled
+with them. But that, I suppose, is all over, and I will not say a word
+more about the Aylmers.
+
+I am writing now chiefly at Mary's advice, and because she says that
+something should be settled about the estate. Of course it is necessary
+that you should feel yourself to be the mistress of your own income,
+and understand exactly your own position. Mary says that this should be
+arranged at once, so that you may be able to decide how and where you
+will live. I therefore write to say that I will have nothing to do with
+your father's estate at Belton nothing, that is, for myself. I have
+written to Mr Green to tell him that you are to be considered as the
+heir. If you will allow me to undertake the management of the property
+as your agent, I shall be delighted. I think I could do it as well as
+any one else: and, as we agreed that we would always be dear and close
+friends, I think that you will not refuse me the pleasure of serving
+you in this way.
+
+And now Mary has a proposition to make, as to which she will write
+herself tomorrow, but she has permitted me to speak of it first. If you
+will accept her as a visitor, she will go to you at Belton. She thinks,
+and I think too, that you ought to know each other. I suppose nothing
+would make you come here, at present, and therefore she must go to you.
+She thinks that all about the estate would be settled more comfortably
+if you two were together. At any rate, it would be very nice for her
+and I think you would like my sister Mary. She proposes to start about
+the 10th of May. I should take her as far as London and see her off,
+and she would bring her own maid with her. In this way she thinks that
+she would get as far as Taunton very well. She had, perhaps, better
+stay there for one night, but that can all be settled if you will say
+that you will receive her at the house.
+
+I cannot finish my letter without saying one word for myself. You know
+what my feelings have been, and I think you know that they still are,
+and always must be, the same. From almost the first moment that I saw
+you I have loved you. When you refused me I was very unhappy; but I
+thought I might still have a chance, and therefore I resolved to try
+again. Then, when I heard that you were engaged to Captain Aylmer, I
+was indeed broken-hearted. Of course I could not be angry with you. I
+was not angry, but I was simply broken-hearted. I found that I loved
+you so much that I could not make myself happy without you. It was all
+of no use, for I knew that you were to be married to Captain Aylmer. I
+knew it, or thought that I knew it. There was nothing to be done only I
+knew that I was wretched. I suppose it is selfishness, but I felt, and
+still feel, that unless I can have you for my wife, I cannot be happy
+or car for anything. Now you are free again free, I mean, from Captain
+Aylmer and how is it possible that I should not again have a hope?
+Nothing but your marriage or death could keep me from hoping.
+
+I don't know much about the Aylmers. I know nothing of what has made
+you quarrel with the people at Aylmer Park nor do I want to know. To me
+you are once more that Clara Amedroz with whom I used to walk in Belton
+Park, with your hand free to be given wherever your heart can go with
+it. While it is free I shall always ask for it. I know that it is in
+many ways above my reach. I quite understand that in education and
+habits of thinking you are my superior. But nobody can love you better
+than I do. I sometimes fancy that nobody could ever love you so well.
+Mary thinks that I ought to allow a time to go by before I say all this
+again but what is the use of keeping it back? It seems to me to be more
+honest to tell you at once that the only thing in the world for which I
+care one straw is that you should be my wife.
+
+Your most affectionate Cousin,
+
+'WILLIAM BELTON.'
+
+'Miss Belton is coming here, to the castle, in a fortnight,' said
+Clara that morning at breakfast. Both Colonel Askerton and his wife
+were in the room, and she was addressing herself chiefly to the former.
+
+'Indeed, Miss Belton! And is he coming?' said Colonel Askerton.
+
+'So you have heard from Plaistow?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Yes in answer to your letter. No, Colonel Askerton, my Cousin William
+is not coming. But his sister purposes to be here, and I must go up to
+the house and get it ready.'
+
+'That will do when the time comes,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I did not mean quite immediately.'
+
+'And are you to be her guest, or is she to be yours? said Colonel
+Askerton.
+
+'It's her brother's home, and therefore I suppose I must be hers.
+Indeed it must be so, as I have no means of entertaining any one,'
+
+'Something, no doubt, will be settled,' said the colonel.
+
+'Oh, what a weary word that is,' said Clara; 'weary, at least, for a
+woman's ears! It sounds of poverty and dependence, and endless trouble
+given to others, and all the miseries of female dependence. If I were a
+young man I should be allowed to settle for myself.'
+
+'There would be no question about the property in that case,' said the
+colonel.
+
+'And there need be no question now,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+When the two women were alone together, Clara, of course, scolded her
+friend for having written to Norfolk without letting it be known that
+she was doing so scolded her, and declared how vain it was for her to
+make useless efforts for an unattainable end; but Mrs Askerton always
+managed to slip out of these reproaches, neither asserting herself to
+be right, nor owning herself to be wrong. 'But you must answer his
+letter,' she said.
+
+'Of course I shall do that.'
+
+'I wish I knew what he said.'
+
+'I shan't show it you, if you mean that.'
+
+'All the same I wish I knew what he said.'
+
+Clara, of course, did answer the letter; but she wrote her answer to
+Mary, sending, however, one little scrap to Mary's brother. She wrote
+to Mary at great length, striving to explain, with long and laborious
+arguments, that it was quite impossible that she should accept the
+Belton estate from her cousin. That subject, however, and the manner of
+her future life, she would discuss with her dear Cousin Mary, when Mary
+should have arrived. And then Clara said how she would go to Taunton to
+meet her cousin, and how she would prepare William's house for the
+reception of William's sister; and how she would love her cousin when
+she should come to know her. All of which was exceedingly proper and
+pretty. Then there was a little postscript, 'Give the enclosed to
+William.' And this was the note to William:
+
+'Dear William,
+
+Did you not say that you would be my brother? Be my brother always. I
+will accept from your hands all that a brother could do; and when that
+arrangement is quite fixed, I will love you as much as Mary loves you,
+and trust you as completely; and I will be obedient, as a younger
+sister should be.
+
+Your loving Sister, C. A.'
+
+'It's all no good,' said William Belton, as he crunched the note in
+his hand. 'I might as well shoot myself. Get out of the way there, will
+you?' And the injured groom scudded across the farm-yard, knowing that
+there was something wrong with his master.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+MARY BELTON
+
+It was about the middle of the pleasant month of May when Clara
+Amedroz again made that often repeated journey to Taunton, with the
+object of meeting Mary Belton. She had transferred herself and her own
+peculiar belongings back from the cottage to the house, and had again
+established herself there so that she might welcome her new friend. But
+she was not satisfied with simply receiving her guest at Belton, and
+therefore she made the journey to Taunton, and settled herself for the
+night at the inn. She was careful to get a bedroom for an 'invalid
+lady', close to the sitting-room, and before she went down to the
+station she saw that the cloth was laid for tea, and that the tea
+parlour had been made to look as pleasant as was possible with an inn
+parlour.
+
+She was very nervous as she stood upon the platform waiting for the new
+comer to show herself. She knew that Mary was a cripple, but did not
+know how far her cousin was disfigured by her infirmity; and when she
+saw a pale-faced little woman, somewhat melancholy, but yet pretty
+withal, with soft, clear eyes, and only so much appearance of a stoop
+as to soften the hearts of those who saw her, Clara was agreeably
+surprised, and felt herself to be suddenly relieved of an unpleasant
+weight. She could talk to the woman she saw there, as to any other
+woman, without the painful necessity of treating her always as an
+invalid. 'I think you are Miss Belton?' she said, holding out her hand.
+The likeness between Mary and her brother was too great to allow of
+Clara being mistaken.
+
+'And you are Clara Amedroz? It is so good of you to come to meet me!'
+
+'I thought you would be dull in a strange town by yourself.'
+
+'It will be much nicer to have you with me.'
+
+Then they went together up to the inn; and when they had taken their
+bonnets off, Mary Belton kissed her cousin. 'You are very nearly what I
+fancied you,' said Mary.
+
+'Am I? I hope you fancied me to be something that you could like.'
+
+'Something that I could love very dearly. You are a little taller than
+what Will said; but then a gentleman is never a judge of a lady's
+height. And he said you were thin.'
+
+'I am not very fat.'
+
+'No; not very fat; but neither are you thin. Of course, you know, I
+have thought a great deal about you. It seems as though you had come to
+be so very near to us; and blood is thicker than water, is it not? If
+cousins are not friends, who can be?'
+
+In the course of that evening they became very confidential together,
+and Clara thought that she could love Mary Belton better than any woman
+that she had ever known. Of course they were talking about William, and
+Clara was at first in constant fear lest some word should be said on
+her lover's behalf some word which would drive her to declare that she
+would not admit him as a lover; but Mary abstained from the subject
+with marvellous care and tact. Though she was talking through the whole
+evening of her brother, she so spoke of him as almost to make Clara
+believe that she could not have heard of that episode in his life. Mrs
+Askerton would have dashed at the subject at once; but then, as Clara
+told herself, Mary Bolton was better than Mrs Askerton.
+
+A few words were said about the estate, and they originated in Clara's
+declaration that Mary would have to be regarded as the mistress of the
+house to which they were going. 'I cannot agree to that,' said Mary.
+
+'But the house is William's, you know,' said Clara.
+
+'He says not.'
+
+'But of course that must be nonsense, Mary.'
+
+'It is very evident that you know nothing of Plaistow ways, or you
+would not say that anything coming from William was nonsense. We are
+accustomed to regard all his words as law, and when he says that a
+thing is to be so, it always is so.'
+
+'Then he is a tyrant at home.'
+
+'A beneficent despot. Some despots, you know, always were beneficent.'
+
+'He won't have his way in this thing.'
+
+'I'll leave you and him to fight about that, my dear. I am so
+completely under his thumb that I always obey him in everything. You
+must not, therefore, expect to range me on your side.'
+
+The next day they were at Belton Castle, and in a very few hours Clara
+felt that she was quite at home with her cousin. On the second day Mrs
+Askerton came up and called according to an arrangement to that effect
+made between her and Clara. I'll stay away if you like it,' Mrs
+Askerton had said. But Clara had urged her to come, arguing with her
+that she was foolish to be thinking always of her own misfortune. 'Of
+course I am always thinking of it,' she had replied, and always
+thinking that other people are thinking of it. Your cousin, Miss
+Belton, knows all my history, of course, But what matters? I believe it
+would be better that everybody should know it. I suppose she's very
+straight-laced and prim.'She is not prim at all,' said Clara. 'Well,
+I'll come,' said Mrs Askerton, 'but I shall not be a bit surprised if I
+hear that she goes back to Norfolk the next day.'
+
+So Mrs Askerton came, and Miss Belton did not go back to Norfolk.
+Indeed, at the end of the visit, Mrs Askerton had almost taught herself
+to believe that William Belton had kept his secret, even from his
+sister. 'She's a dear little woman,' Mrs Askerton afterwards said to
+Clara.
+
+'Is she not?'
+
+'And so thoroughly like a lady.'
+
+'Yes; I think she is a lady.'
+
+'A princess among ladies! What a pretty little conscious way she has of
+asserting herself when she has an opinion and means to stick to it! I
+never saw a woman who got more strength out of her weakness. Who would
+dare to contradict her?'
+
+'But then she knows everything so well,' said Clara.
+
+'And how like her brother she is!'
+
+'Yes there is a great family likeness.'
+
+'And in character, too. I'm sure you'd find, if you were to try her,
+that she has all his personal firmness, though she can't show it as he
+does by kicking out his feet and clenching his fist.'
+
+'I'm glad you like her,' said Clara.
+
+'I do like her very much.'
+
+'It is so odd the way you have changed. You used to speak of him as
+though he was merely a clod of a farmer, and of her as a stupid old
+maid. Now, nothing is too good to say of them.'
+
+'Exactly, my dear and if you do not understand why, you are not so
+clever as I take you to be.'
+
+Life went on very pleasantly with them at Belton for two or three weeks
+but with this drawback as regarded Clara, that she had no means of
+knowing what was to be the course of her future life. During these
+weeks she twice received letters from her Cousin Will, and answered
+both of them. But these letters referred to matters of business which
+entailed no contradiction to certain details of money due to the estate
+before the old squire's death, and to that vexed question of Aunt
+Winterfield's legacy, which had by this time drifted into Belton's
+hands, and as to which he was inclined to act in accordance with his
+cousin's wishes, though he was assured by Mr Green that the legacy was
+as good a legacy as had ever been left by an old woman. 'I think,' he
+said in his last letter,' that we shall be able to throw him over in
+spite of Mr Green.' Clara, as she read this, could not but remember
+that the man to be thrown over was the man to whom she had been
+engaged, and she could not but remember also all the circumstances of
+the intended legacy of her aunt's death, and of the scenes which had
+immediately followed her death. It was so odd that William Belton
+should now be discussing with her the means of evading all her aunt's
+intentions and that he should be doing so, not as her accepted lover.
+He had, indeed, called himself her brother, but he was in truth her
+rejected lover.
+
+>From time to time during these weeks Mrs Askerton would ask her
+whether Mr Belton was coming to Belton, and Clara would answer her with
+perfect truth that she did not believe that he had any such intention.
+'But he must come soon,' Mrs Askerton would say. And when Clara would
+answer that she knew nothing about it, Mrs Askerton would ask further
+questions about Mary Belton. 'Your cousin must know whether her brother
+is coming to look after the property?' But Miss Belton, though she
+heard constantly from her brother, gave no such intimation. If he had
+any intention of coming, she did not speak of it. During all these days
+she had not as yet said a word of her brother's love. Though his name
+was daily in her mouth and latterly, was frequently mentioned by Clara
+there had been no allusion to that still enduring hope of which Will
+Belton himself could not but speak when he had any opportunity of
+speaking at all. And this continued till at last Clara was driven to
+suppose that Mary Belton knew nothing of her brother's hopes.
+
+But at last there came a change a change which to Clara was as great as
+that which had affected her when she first found that her delightful
+cousin was not sale against love-making. She had made up her mind that
+the sister did not intend to plead for her brother that the sister
+probably knew nothing of the brother's necessity for pleading that the
+brother probably had no further need for pleading When she remembered
+his last passionate words, she could not but accuse herself of
+hypocrisy when she allowed place in her thoughts to this latter
+supposition. He had been so intently earnest! The nature of the man was
+so eager and true! But yet, in spite of all that bad been said, of all
+the fire in his eyes, and life in his words, and energy in his actions,
+he had at last seen that his aspirations were foolish, and his desires
+vain. It could not otherwise be that she and Mary should pass these
+hours in such calm repose without an allusion to the disturbing
+subject! After this fashion, and with such meditations as these, had
+passed by the last weeks and then at last there came the change.
+
+'I have had a letter from William this morning,' said Mary.
+
+'And so have not I,' said Clara, and yet I expect to hear from him.'
+
+'He means to be here soon,' said Mary.
+
+'Oh, indeed!
+
+'He speaks of being here next week.'
+
+For a moment or two Clara had yielded to the agitation caused by her
+cousin's tidings; but with a little gush she recovered her presence of
+mind, and was able to speak with all the hypocritical propriety of a
+female. 'I am glad to hear it,' she said. 'It is only right that he
+should come.'
+
+'He has asked me to say a word to you as to the purport of his journey.'
+
+Then again Clara's courage and hypocrisy were so far subdued that they
+were not able to maintain her in a position adequate to the occasion.
+'Well,' she said laughing, 'what is the word? I hope it is not that I
+am to pack up, bag and baggage, and take myself elsewhere. Cousin
+William is one of those persons who are willing to do everything except
+what they are wanted to do. He will go on talking about the Belton
+estate, when I want to know whether I may really look for as much as
+twelve shillings a week to live upon.'
+
+'He wants me to speak to you about about the earnest love he bears for
+you.'
+
+'Oh dear! Mary could you not suppose it all to be said? It is an old
+trouble, and need not be repeated.'
+
+'No,' said Mary, 'I cannot suppose it to be all said.' Clara looking up
+as she heard the voice, was astonished both by the fire in the woman's
+eye and by the force of her tone. 'I will not think so meanly of you as
+to believe that such words from such a man can be passed by as meaning
+nothing. I will not say that you ought to be able to love him; in that
+you cannot control your heart; but if you cannot love him, the want of
+such love ought to make you suffer to suffer much and be very sad.'
+
+'I cannot agree to that, Mary.'
+
+'Is all his life nothing, then? Do you know what love means with him
+this love which he bears to you? Do you understand that it is
+everything to him? that from the first moment in which he acknowledged
+to himself that his heart was set upon you, he could not bring himself
+to set it upon any other thing for a moment? Perhaps you have never
+understood this; have never perceived that he is so much in earnest,
+that to him it is more than money, or land, or health more than life
+itself that he so loves that he would willingly give everything that he
+has for his love? Have you known this?'
+
+Clara would not answer these questions for a while. What if she had
+known it all, was she therefore bound to sacrifice herself? Could it be
+the duty of any woman to give herself to a man simply because a man
+wanted her? That was the argument as it was put forward now by Mary
+Belton.
+
+'Dear, dearest Clara,' said Mary Belton, stretching herself forward
+from her chair, and putting out her thin, almost transparent, hand, 'I
+do not think that you have thought enough of this; or, perhaps, you
+have not known it. But his love for you is as I say. To him it is
+everything. It pervades every hour of every day, every corner in his
+life! He knows nothing of anything else while he is in his present
+state.'
+
+'He is very good more than good.'
+
+'He is very good.'
+
+'But I do not see that that Of course I know how disinterested he is.'
+
+'Disinterested is a poor word. It insinuates that in such a matter
+there could be a question of what people call interest.'
+
+'And I know, too, how much he honours me.'
+
+'Honour is a cold word. It is not honour, but love downright true,
+honest love. I hope he does honour you. I believe you to be an honest,
+true woman; and, as he knows you well, he probably does honour you but
+I am speaking of love.' Again Clara was silent. She knew what should be
+her argument if she were determined to oppose her cousin's pleadings;
+and she knew also she thought she knew that she did intend to oppose
+them; but there was a coldness in the argument to which she was averse.
+'You cannot be insensible to such love as that!' said Mary, going on
+with the cause which she had in hand.
+
+'You say that he is fond of me.'
+
+'Fond of you! I have not used such trifling expressions as that.'
+
+'That he loves me.'
+
+'You know he loves you. Have you ever doubted a word that he has spoken
+to you on any subject?'
+
+'I believe he speaks truly.'
+
+'You know he speaks truly. He is the very soul of truth.'
+
+'But, Mary'
+
+'Well, Clara! But remember; do not answer me lightly. Do not play with
+a man's heart because you have it in your power.'
+
+'You wrong me. I could never do like that. You tell me that he loves me
+but what if I do not love him? Love will not be constrained. Am I to
+say that I love him because I believe that he loves me?'
+
+This was the argument, and Clara found herself driven to use it not so
+much from its special applicability to herself, as on account of its
+general fitness. Whether it did or did not apply to herself she had no
+time to ask herself at that moment; but she felt that no man could have
+a right to claim a woman's hand on the strength of his own love unless
+he had been able to win her love. She was arguing on behalf of women in
+general rather than on her own behalf.
+
+'If you mean to tell me that you cannot love him, of course I must give
+over,' said Mary, not caring at all for men and women in general, but
+full of anxiety for her brother. 'Do you mean to say that that you can
+never love him?' It almost seemed, from her face, that she was
+determined utterly to quarrel with her new-found cousin to quarrel and
+to go at once away if she got an answer that would not please her.
+
+'Dear Mary, do not press me so hard.'
+
+'But I want to press you hard. It is not right that he should lose his
+life in longing and hoping.'
+
+'He will not lose his life, Mary.'
+
+'I hope not not not if I can help it. I trust that he will be strong
+enough to get rid of his trouble to put it down and trample it under
+his feet.' Clara, as she heard this, began to ask herself what it was
+that was to be trampled under Will's feet. 'I think he will be man
+enough to overcome his passion; and then, perhaps you may regret what
+you have lost.'
+
+'Now you are unkind to me.'
+
+'Well; what would you have me say? Do I not know that he is offering
+you the best gift that he can give? Did I not begin by swearing to you
+that he loved you with a passion of love that cannot but be flattering
+to you? If it is to be love in vain, this to him is a great misfortune.
+And, yet, when I say that I hope that he will recover, you tell me that
+I am unkind.'
+
+'No not for that.'
+
+'May I tell him to come and plead for himself?'
+
+Again Clara was silent, not knowing how to answer that last question.
+And when she did answer it, she answered it thoughtlessly. 'Of course
+he knows that he can do that.'
+
+'He says that he has been forbidden.'
+
+'Oh, Mary, what am I to say to you? You know it all, and I wonder that
+you can continue to question me in this way.'
+
+'Know all what?'
+
+'That I have been engaged to Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'But you are not engaged to him now.'
+
+'No I am not.'
+
+'And there can be no renewal there, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh, no!'
+
+'Not even for my brother would I say a word if I thought'
+
+'No there is nothing of that; but If you cannot understand, I do not
+think that I can explain it.' It seemed to Clara that her cousin, in
+her anxiety for her brother, did not conceive that a woman, even if she
+could suddenly transfer her affections from one man to another, could
+not bring herself to say that she had done so.
+
+'I must write to him today,' said Mary, 'and I must give him some
+answer. Shall I tell him that he had better not come here till you are
+gone?'
+
+'That will perhaps be best,' said Clara.
+
+'Then he will never come at all.'
+
+'I can go can go at once. I will go at once. You shall never have to
+say that my presence prevented his coming to his own house. I ought not
+to be here. I know it now. I will go away, and you may tell him that I
+am gone.'
+
+'No, dear; you will not go.'
+
+'Yes I must go. I fancied things might be otherwise, because he once
+told me that he would be a brother to me. And I said I would hold him
+to that not only because I want a brother so badly, but because I love
+him so dearly. But it cannot be like that.'
+
+'You do not think that he will ever desert you?'
+
+'But I will go away, so that he may come to his own house. I ought not
+to be here. Of course I ought not to be at Belton either in this house
+or in any other. Tell him that I will be gone before he can come, and
+tell him also that I will not be too proud to accept from him what it
+may be fit that he should give me. I have no one but him no one but him
+no one but him.' Then she burst into tears, and throwing hack her head,
+covered her face with her hands.
+
+Miss Belton, upon this, rose slowly from the chair on which she was
+sitting, and making her way painfully across to Clara, stood leaning on
+the weeping girl's chair. 'You shall not go while I am here,' she said.
+
+'Yes; I must go. He cannot come till I am gone.'
+
+'Think of it all once again, Clara. May I not tell him to come, and
+that while he is coming you will see if you cannot soften your heart
+towards him?'
+
+'Soften my heart! Oh, if I could only harden it!'
+
+'He would wait. If you would only hid him wait, he would be so happy in
+waiting.'
+
+'Yes till tomorrow morning. I know him. Hold out your little finger to
+him, and he has your whole hand and arm in a moment.'
+
+'I want you to say that you will try to love him.'
+
+But Clara was in truth trying not to love him. She was ashamed of
+herself because she did love the one man, when, but a few weeks since,
+she had confessed that she loved another. She had mistaken herself and
+her own feelings, not in reference to her cousin, but in supposing that
+she could really have sympathized with such a man as Captain Aylmer. It
+was necessary to her self-respect that she should be punished because
+of that mistake. She could not save herself from this condemnation she
+would not grant herself a respite because, by doing so, she would make
+another person happy. Had Captain Aylmer never crossed her path, she
+would have given her whole heart to her cousin. Nay; she had so given
+it had done so, although Captain Aylmer had crossed her path and come
+in her way. But it was matter of shame to her to find that this had
+been possible, and she could not bring herself to confess her shame.
+
+The conversation at last ended, as such conversations always do end,
+without any positive decision. Mary wrote of course to her brother, but
+Clara was not told of the contents of the letter. We, however, may know
+them, and may understand their nature, without learning above two lines
+of the letter. 'If you can be content to wait awhile, you will
+succeed,' said Mary; 'but when were you ever content to wait for
+anything?' ' If there is anything I hate, it is waiting,' said Will,
+when he received the letter; nevertheless the letter made him happy,
+and he went about his farm with a sanguine heart, as he arranged
+matters for another absence. 'Away long?' he said, in answer to a
+question asked him by his head man; 'how on earth can I say how long I
+shall be away? You can go on well enough without me by this time, I
+should think. You will have to learn, for there is no knowing how often
+I may be away, or for how long.'
+
+When Mary said that the letter had been written, Clara again spoke
+about going. 'And where will you go?' said Mary.
+
+'I will take a lodging in Taunton.'
+
+'He would only follow you there, and there would be more trouble. That
+would be all. He must act as your guardian, and in that capacity, at
+any rate, you must submit to him.' Clara, therefore, consented to
+remain at Belton; but, before Will arrived, she returned from the house
+to the cottage.
+
+'Of course I understand all about it,' said Mrs Askerton; 'and let me
+tell you this that if it is not all settled within a week from his
+coming here, I shall think that you are without a heart. He is to be
+knocked about, and cuffed, and kept from his work, and made to run up
+and down between here and Norfolk, because you cannot bring yourself to
+confess that you have been a fool.'
+
+'I have never said that I have not been a fool,' said Clara.
+
+'You have made a mistake as young women will do sometimes, even when
+they are as prudent and circumspect as you are and now you don't quite
+like the task of putting it right.'
+
+It was all true, and Clara knew that it was true. The putting right of
+mistakes is never pleasant; and in this case it was so unpleasant that
+she could not bring herself to acknowledge that it must be done. And
+yet, I think that, by this time, she was aware of the necessity.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+TAKING POSSESSION
+
+'I want her to have it all,' said William Belton to Mr Green, the
+lawyer, when they came to discuss the necessary arrangements for the
+property.
+
+'But that would be absurd.'
+
+'Never mind. It is what I wish. I suppose a man may do what he likes
+with his own.'
+
+'She won't take it,' said the lawyer.
+
+'She must take it, if you manage the matter properly,' said Will.
+
+'I don't suppose it will make much difference,' said the lawyer 'now
+that Captain Aylmer is out of the running.'
+
+'I know nothing about that. Of course I am very glad that he should be
+out of the running, as you call it. He is a bad sort of fellow, and I
+didn't want him to have the property. But all that has had nothing to
+do with it. I'm not doing it because I think she is ever to be my wife.'
+
+>From this the reader will understand that Belton was still fidgeting
+himself and the lawyer about the estate when he passed through London.
+The matter in dispute, however, was so important that he was induced to
+seek the advice of others besides Mr Green, and at last was brought to
+the conclusion that it was his paramount duty to become Belton of
+Belton. There seemed in the minds of all these councillors to be some
+imperative and almost imperious requirement that the acres should go
+back to a man of his name. Now, as there was no one else of the family
+who could stand in his way, he had no alternative but to become Belton
+of Belton. He would, however, sell his estate in Norfolk, and raise
+money for endowing Clara with commensurate riches. Such was his own
+plan but having fallen among counsellors he would not exactly follow
+his own plan, and at last submitted to an arrangement in accordance
+with which an annuity of eight hundred pounds a year was to be settled
+upon Clara, and this was to lie as a charge upon the estate in Norfolk.
+
+'It seems to me to be very shabby,' said William Belton.
+
+'It seems to me to be very extravagant,' said the leader among the
+counsellors. 'She is net entitled to sixpence.'
+
+But at last the arrangement as above described was the one to which
+they all assented.
+
+When Belton reached the house which was now his own he found no one
+there but his sister. Clara was at the cottage. As he had been told
+that she was to return there, he had no reason to be annoyed. But,
+nevertheless, he was annoyed, or rather discontented, and had not been
+a quarter of an hour about the place before he declared his intention
+to go and seek her.
+
+'Do no such thing, Will; pray do not,' said his sister.
+
+'And why not?'
+
+'Because it will be better that you should wait. You will only injure
+yourself and her by being impetuous.'
+
+'But it is absolutely necessary that she should know her own position.
+It would be cruelty to keep her in ignorance though for the matter of
+that I shall be ashamed to tell her. Yes I shall be ashamed to look her
+in the face. What will she think of it after I had assured her that she
+should have the whole?'
+
+'But she would not have taken it, Will. And had she done so, she would
+have been very wrong. Now she will be comfortable.'
+
+'I wish I could be comfortable,' said he.
+
+'If you will only wait'
+
+'I hate waiting. I do not see what good it will do. Besides, I don't
+mean to say anything about that not today, at least. I don t indeed. As
+for being here and not seeing her, that is out of the question. Of
+course she would think that I had quarrelled with her, and that I meant
+to take everything to myself, now that I have the power.'
+
+'She won't suspect you of wishing to quarrel with her, Will'
+
+'I should in her place. It is out of the question that I should be
+here, and not go to her. It would be monstrous. I will wait till they
+have done lunch, and then I will go up.'
+
+It was at last decided that he should walk up to the cottage, call upon
+Colonel Askerton, and ask to see Clara in the colonel's presence. It
+was thought that he could make his statement about the money better
+before a third person who could be regarded as Clara's friend, than
+could possibly be done between themselves. He did, therefore, walk
+across to the cottage, and was shown into Colonel Askerton's study.
+
+'There he is,' Mrs Askerton said, as soon as she heard the sound of the
+bell. 'I knew that he would come at once.'
+
+During the whole morning Mrs Askerton had been insisting that Belton
+would make his appearance on that very day the day of his arrival at
+Belton, and Clara had been asserting that he would not do so.
+
+'Why should he come?' Clara had said.
+
+'Simply to take you to his own house, like any other of his goods and
+chattels.'
+
+'I am not his goods or his chattels.'
+
+'But you soon will be; and why shouldn't you accept your lot quietly?
+He is Belton of Belton, and everything here belongs to him.'
+
+'I do not belong to him.'
+
+'What nonsense! When a man has the command of the situation, as he has,
+he can do just what he pleases. If he were to come and carry you off by
+violence, I have no doubt the Beltonians would assist him, and say that
+he was right. And you of course would forgive him. Belton of Belton may
+do anything.'
+
+'That is nonsense, if you please.'
+
+'Indeed if you had any of that decent feeling of feminine inferiority
+which ought to belong to all women, he would have found you sitting on
+the doorstep of his house waiting for him.'
+
+That had been said early in the morning, when they first knew that he
+had arrived; but they had been talking about him ever since talking
+about him under pressure from Mrs Askerton, till Clara had been driven
+to long that she might be spared. 'If he chooses to come, he will
+come,' she said. 'Of course he will come,' Mrs Askerton had answered,
+and then they heard the ring of the hell. 'There he is. I could swear
+to the sound of his foot. Doesn't he step as though he were Belton of
+Belton, and conscious that everything belonged to him?' Then there was
+a pause. 'He has been shown in to Colonel Askerton. What on earth could
+he want with him?'
+
+'He has called to tell him something about the cottage,' said Clara,
+endeavouring to speak as though she were calm through it all.
+
+'Cottage! Fiddlestick! The idea of a man coming to look after his
+trumpery cottage on the first day of his showing himself as lord of his
+own property! Perhaps he is demanding that you shall be delivered up to
+him. If he does I shall vote for obeying.'
+
+'And I for disobeying and shall vote very strongly too.'
+
+Their suspense was yet prolonged for another ten minutes, and at the
+end of that time the servant came in and asked if Miss Amedroz would be
+good enough to go into the master's room. 'Mr Belton is there, Fanny?'
+asked Mrs Askerton. The girl confessed that Mr Belton was there, and
+then Clara, without another word, got up and left the room. She had
+much to do in assuming a look of composure before she opened the door;
+but she made the effort, and was not unsuccessful. In another second
+she found her hand in her cousin's, and his bright eye was fixed upon
+her with that eager friendly glance which made his face so pleasant to
+those whom he loved.
+
+'Your cousin has been telling me of the arrangements he has been making
+for you with the lawyers,' said Colonel Askerton. 'I can only say that
+I wish all the ladies had cousins so liberal, and so able to be
+liberal.'
+
+'I thought I would see Colonel Askerton first, as you are staying at
+his house. And as for liberality there is nothing of the kind. You must
+understand, Clara, that a fellow can't do what he likes with his own in
+this country. I have found myself so bullied by lawyers and that sort
+of people, that I have been obliged to yield to them. I wanted that you
+should have the old place, to do just what you pleased with It.'
+
+'That was out of the question, Will.'
+
+'Of course it was,' said Colonel Askerton. Then, as Belton himself did
+not proceed to the telling of his own story, the colonel told it for
+him, and explained what was the income which Clara was to receive.
+
+'But that is as much out of the question,' said she, 'as the other. I
+cannot rob you in that way. I cannot and I shall not. And why should I?
+What do I want with an income? Something I ought to have, if only for
+the credit of the family, and that I am willing to take from your
+kindness; but'
+
+'It's all settled now, Clara.'
+
+'I don't think that you can lessen the weight of your obligation, Miss
+Amedroz, after what has been done up in London,' said the colonel.
+
+'If you had said a hundred a year'
+
+'I have been allowed to say nothing,' said Belton; 'those people have
+said eight and so it is settled. When are you coming over to see Mary?'
+
+To this question he got no definite answer, and as he went away
+immediately afterwards he hardly seemed to expect one. He did not even
+ask for Mrs Askerton, and as that lady remarked, behaved altogether
+like a bear. 'But what a munificent bear!' she said. 'Fancy eight
+hundred a year of your own. One begins to doubt whether it is worth
+one's while to marry at all with such an income as that to do what one
+likes with! However, it all means nothing. It will all be his own again
+before you have even touched it.'
+
+'You must not say anything more about that,' said Clara gravely.
+
+'And why must I not?'
+
+'Because I shall hear nothing more of it. There is an end of all that
+as there ought to be.'
+
+'Why an end? I don't see an end. There will be no end till Belton of
+Belton has got you and your eight hundred a year as well as everything
+else.'
+
+'You will find that he does not mean anything more,' said Clara.
+
+'You think not?'
+
+'I am sure of it.' Then there was a little sound in her throat as
+though she were in some danger of being choked; but she soon recovered
+herself, and was able to express herself clearly. 'I have only one
+favour to ask you now, Mrs Askerton, and that is that you will never
+say anything more about him. He has changed his mind. Of course he has,
+or he would not come here like that and have gone away without saying a
+word.'
+
+'Not a word! A man gives you eight hundred a year and that is not
+saying a word!'
+
+'Not a word except about money! But of course he is right. I know that
+he is right. Alter what has passed he would be very wrong to to think
+about it any more. You joke about his being Belton of Belton. But it
+does make a difference.'
+
+'It does does it?'
+
+'It has made a difference. I see and feel it now. I shall never hear
+him ask me that question any more.'
+
+'And if you did hear him, what answer would you make him?'
+
+'I don't know.'
+
+'That is just it. Women are so cross-grained that it is a wonder to me
+that men should ever have any. thing to do with them. They have about
+them some madness of a phantasy which they dignify with the name of
+feminine pride, and under the cloak of this they believe themselves to
+be justified in tormenting their lovers' lives out. The only
+consolation is that they torment themselves as much. Can anything be
+more cross-grained than you are at this moment? You were resolved just
+now that it would be the most unbecoming thing in the world if he spoke
+a word more about his love for the next twelve months'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I said nothing about twelve months.'
+
+'And now you are broken-hearted because he did not blurt it all out
+before Colonel Askerton in a business interview, which was very
+properly had at once, and in which he has had the exceeding good taste
+to confine himself altogether to the one subject.'
+
+'I am not complaining.'
+
+'It was good taste; though if he had not been a bear he might have
+asked after me, who am fighting his battles for him night and day.'
+
+'But what will he do next?'
+
+'Eat his dinner, I should think, as it is now nearly five o'clock. Your
+father used always to dine at five.'
+
+'I can't go to see Mary,' she said, 'till he comes here again.'
+
+'He will be here fast enough. I shouldn't wonder if he was to come here
+tonight.' And he did come again that night.
+
+When Belton's interview was over in the colonel's study, he left the
+house without even asking after the mistress, as that mistress had
+taken care to find out and went off, rambling about the estate which
+was now his own. It was a beautiful place, and he was not insensible to
+the gratification of being its owner. There is much in the glory of
+ownership of the ownership of land and houses, of beeves and woolly
+flocks, of wide fields and thick-growing woods, even when that
+ownership is of late date, when it conveys to the owner nothing but the
+realization of a property on the soil; but there is much more in it
+when it contains the memories of old years; when the glory is the glory
+of race as well as the glory of power and property. There had been
+Beltons of Belton living there for many centuries, and now he was the
+Belton of the day, standing on his own ground the descendant and
+representative of the Beltons of old Belton of Belton without a flaw in
+his pedigree! He felt himself to be proud of his position prouder than
+he could have been of any other that might have been vouchsafed to him.
+And yet amidst it all he was somewhat ashamed of his pride. 'The man
+who can do it for himself is the real man after all,' he said. 'But I
+have got it by a fluke and by such a sad chance too!' Then he wandered
+on, thinking of the circumstances under which the property had fallen
+into his hands, and remembering how and when and where the first idea
+had occurred to him of making Clara Amedroz his wife. He had then felt
+that if he could only do that he could reconcile himself to the
+heirship. And the idea had grown upon him instantly, and had become a
+passion by the eagerness with which he had welcomed it. From that day
+to this he had continued to tell himself that he could not enjoy his
+good fortune unless he could enjoy it with her. There had come to be a
+horrid impediment in his way a barrier which had seemed to have been
+placed there by his evil fortune, to compensate the gifts given to him
+by his good fortune, and that barrier had been Captain Aylmer. He had
+not, in fact, seen much of his rival, but he had seen enough to make it
+matter of wonder to him that Clara could be attached to such a man. He
+had thoroughly despised Captain Aylmer, and had longed to show his
+contempt of the man by kicking him out of the hotel at the London
+railway station. At that moment all the world had seemed to him to be
+wrong and wretched.
+
+But now it seemed that all the world might so easily be made right
+again! The impediment had got itself removed. Belton did not even yet
+altogether comprehend by what means Clara had escaped from the meshes
+of the Aylmer Park people, but he did know that she had escaped. Her
+eyes had been opened before it was too late, and she was a free woman
+to be compassed if only a man might compass her. While she had been
+engaged to Captain Aylmer, Will had felt that she was not assailable.
+Though he had not been quite able to restrain himself as on that fatal
+occasion when he had taken her in his arms and kissed her still he had
+known that as she was an engaged woman, he could not, without insulting
+her, press his own suit upon her. But now all that was over. Let him
+say what he liked on that head, she would have no proper plea for
+anger. She was assailable and, as this was so, why the mischief should
+he not set about the work at once? His sister bade him wait. Why should
+he wait when one fortunate word might do it? Wait! He could not wait.
+How are you to bid a starving man to wait when you put him down at a
+well-covered board? Here was he, walking about Belton Park just where
+she used to walk with him and there was she at Belton Cottage, within
+half an hour of him at this moment, if he were to go quickly; and yet
+Mary was telling him to wait! No; he would not wait. There could be no
+reason for waiting. Wait, indeed, till some other Captain Aylmer should
+come in the way and give him more trouble!
+
+So he wandered on, resolving that he would see his cousin again that
+very day. Such an interview as that which had just taken place between
+two such dear friends was not natural was not to be endured. What might
+not Clara think of it! To meet her for the first time after her escape
+from Aylmer Park, and to speak to her only on matters concerning money!
+He would certainly go to her again on that afternoon. In his walking he
+came to the bottom of the rising ground on the top of which stood the
+rock on which he and Clara had twice sat. But he turned away, and would
+not go up to it. He hoped that he might go up to it very soon but,
+except under certain dream. stances, he would never go up to it again.
+
+'I am going across to the cottage immediately after dinner,' he said to
+his sister.
+
+'Have you an appointment?'
+
+'No; I have no appointment. I suppose a man doesn't want an appointment
+to go and see his own cousin down in the country.'
+
+'I don't know what their habits are.'
+
+'I shan't ask to go in; but I want to see her.'
+
+Mary looked at him with loving, sorrowing eyes, but she said no more.
+She loved him so well that she would have given her right hand to get
+for him what he wanted but she sorrowed to think that he should want
+such a thing so sorely. Immediately after his dinner, he took his hat
+and went out without saying a word further, and made his way once more
+across to the gate of the cottage. It was a lovely summer evening, at
+that period of the year in which our summer evenings just begin, when
+the air is sweeter and the flowers more fragrant, and the forms of the
+foliage more lovely than at any other time. it was now eight o'clock,
+but it was hardly as yet evening; none at least of the gloom of evening
+had come, though the sun was low in the heavens. At the cottage they
+were all sitting out on the lawn; and as Belton came near he was seen
+by them, and he saw them.
+
+'I told you so,' said Mrs Askerton, to Clara, in a whisper.
+
+'He is not coming in,' Clara answered. 'He is going on.'
+
+But when he had come nearer, Colonel Askerton called to him over the
+garden paling, and asked him to join them. He was now standing within
+ten or fifteen yards of them, though the fence divided them. 'I have
+come to ask my Cousin Clara to take a walk with me,' he said. 'She can
+be back by your tea time.' He made his request very placidly, and did
+not in any way look like a lover.
+
+'I am sure she will be glad to go,' said Mrs Askerton. But Clara said
+nothing.
+
+'Do take a turn with me, if you are not tired,' said he.
+
+'She has not been out all day, and cannot be tired,' said Mrs Askerton,
+who had now walked up to the paling. 'Clara, get your hat. But, Mr
+Belton, what have I done that I am to be treated in this way? Perhaps
+you don't remember that you have not spoken to me since your arrival.'
+
+'Upon my word, I beg your pardon,' said he, endeavouring to stretch his
+hand across the bushes.
+
+'I forgot I didn't see you this morning.'
+
+'I suppose I musn't be angry, as this is your day of taking possession;
+but it is exactly on such days as this that one likes to be remembered.'
+
+'I didn't mean to forget you, Mrs Askerton; I didn't, indeed. And as
+for the special day, that's all bosh, you know. I haven't taken
+particular possession of anything that I know of.'
+
+'I hope you will, Mr Belton, before the day is over,' said she. Clara
+had at length arisen, and had gone into the house to fetch her hat. She
+had not spoken a word, and even yet her cousin did not know whether she
+was coming. 'I hope you will take possession of a great deal that is
+very valuable. Clara has gone to get her hat.'
+
+'Do you think she means to walk?'
+
+'I think she does, Mr Belton. And there she is at the door. Mind you
+bring her back to tea.'
+
+Clara, as she came forth, felt herself quite unable to speak, or walk,
+or look after her usual manner. She knew herself to be a victim to be
+so far a victim that she could no longer control her own fate. To
+Captain Aylmer, at any rate, she had never succumbed. In all her
+dealings with him she had fought upon an equal footing. She had never
+been compelled to own herself mastered. But now she was being led out
+that she might confess her own submission, and acknowledge that
+hitherto she had not known what was good for her. She knew that she
+would have to yield. She must have known how happy she was to have an
+opportunity of yielding; but yet yet, had there been any room for
+choice, she thought she would have refrained from walking with her
+cousin that evening. She had wept that afternoon because she had
+thought that he would not come again; and now that he had come at the
+first moment that was possible for him, she was almost tempted to wish
+him once more away.
+
+'I suppose you understand that when I came up this morning I came
+merely to talk about business,' said Belton, as soon as they were off
+together.
+
+'It was very good of you to come at all so soon after your arrival.'
+
+'I told those people in London that I would have it all settled at
+once, and so I wanted to have it off my mind.'
+
+'I don't know what I ought to say to you. Of course I shall not want so
+much money as that.'
+
+'We won't talk about the money any more today. I hate talking about
+money.'
+
+'It is not the pleasantest subject in the world.'
+
+'No,' said he; 'no indeed. I hate it particularly between friends. So
+you have come to grief with your friends, the Aylmers?'
+
+'I hope I haven't come to grief and the Aylmers, as a family, never
+were my friends. I'm obliged to contradict you, point by point you see.'
+
+'I don't like Captain Aylmer at all,' said Will, after a pause.
+
+'So I saw, Will; and I dare say he was not very fond of you.' 'Fond of
+me! I didn't want him to be fond of me. I don't suppose he ever thought
+much about me. I could not help thinking of him.' She had nothing to
+say to this, and therefore walked on silently by his side. 'I suppose
+he has not any idea of coming back here again?'
+
+'What; to Belton? No, I do not think he will come to Belton any more.'
+
+'Nor will you go to Aylmer Park?'
+
+'No; certainly not. Of all the places on earth. Will, to which you
+could send me, Aylmer Park is the one to which I should go most
+unwillingly.'
+
+'I don't want to send you there.'
+
+'You never could be made to understand what a woman she is; how
+disagreeable, how cruel, how imperious, how insolent.'
+
+'Was she so bad as all that?'
+
+'Indeed she was, Will. I can't but tell the truth to you.
+
+'And he was nearly as bad as she.'
+
+'No, Will; no; do not say that of him.'
+
+'He was such a quarrelsome fellow. He flew at me just because I said we
+had good hunting down in Norfolk.'
+
+'We need not talk about all that, Will.'
+
+'No of course not. It's all passed and gone, I suppose.'
+
+'Yes it is all passed and gone. You did not know my Aunt Winterfield,
+or you would understand my first reason for liking him.'
+
+'No,' said Will; 'I never saw her.'
+
+Then they walked on together for a while without speaking, and Clara
+was beginning to feel some relief some relief at first; but as the
+relief came, there came back to her the dead, dull, feeling of
+heaviness at her heart which had oppressed her after his visit in the
+morning. She had been right, and Mrs Askerton had been wrong. He had
+returned to her simply as her cousin, and now he was walking with her
+and talking to her in this strain, to teach her that it was so. But of
+a sudden they came to a place where two paths diverged, and he turned
+upon her and asked her quickly which path they should take. 'Look,
+Clara,' he said, 'will you go up there with me?' It did not need that
+she should look, as she knew that the way indicated by him led up among
+the rocks.
+
+'I don't much care which way,' she said, faintly.
+
+'Do you not? But I do. I care very much. Don't you remember where that
+path goes?' She had no answer to give to this. She remembered well, and
+remembered how he had protested that he would never go to the place
+again unless he could go there as her accepted lover. And she had asked
+herself sundry questions as to that protestation. Could it be that for
+her sake he would abstain from visiting the prettiest spot on his
+estate that he would continue to regard the ground as hallowed because
+of his memories of her? 'Which way shall we go?' he asked.
+
+'I suppose it does not much signify,' said she, trembling.
+
+'But it does signify. It signifies very much to me. Will you go up to
+the rocks?'
+
+'I am afraid we shall be late, if we stay out long.'
+
+'What matters how late? Will you come?'
+
+'I suppose so if you wish it, Will.'
+
+She had anticipated that the high rock was to be the altar at which the
+victim was to be sacrificed; but now he would not wait till he had
+taken her to the sacred spot. He had of course intended that he would
+there renew his offer; but he had perceived  that his offer had been
+renewed, and had, in fact, been accepted, during this little parley as
+to the pathway. There was hardly any necessity for further words. So he
+must have thought; for, as quick as lightning, he flung his arms around
+her, and kissed her again, as he had kissed her on that other terrible
+occasion that occasion on which he had felt that he might hardly hope
+for pardon.
+
+'William, William,' she said; 'how can you serve me like that?' But he
+had a full understanding as to his own privileges, and was well aware
+that he was in the right now, as he had been before that he was
+trespassing egregiously. 'Why are you so rough with me?' she said.
+
+'Clara, say that you love me.'
+
+'I will say nothing to you because you are so rough.' They were now
+walking up slowly towards the rocks.
+
+And as he had his arm round her waist, he was contented for awhile to
+allow her to walk without speaking. But when they were on the summit it
+was necessary for him that he should have a word from her of positive
+assurance. 'Clara, say that you love me.'
+
+'Have I not always loved you, Will, since almost the first moment that
+I saw you?'
+
+'But that won't do. You know that is not fair. Come, Clara; I've had a
+deal of trouble and grief too; haven't I? You should say a word to make
+up for it that is, if you can say it.'
+
+'What can a word like that signify to you today? You have got
+everything.'
+
+'Have I got you?' Still she paused. 'I will have an answer. Have I got
+you? Are you now my own?'
+
+'I suppose so, Will. Don't now. I will not have it again. Does not that
+satisfy you?'
+
+'Tell me that you love me.'
+
+'You know that I love you.'
+
+'Better than anybody in the world?'
+
+'Yes better than anybody in the world.'
+
+'And after all you will be my wife?'
+
+'Oh, Will how you question one!'
+
+'You shall say it, and then it will all be fair and honest.'
+
+'Say what? I'm sure I thought I had said everything.'
+
+'Say that you mean to be my wife.'
+
+'I suppose so if you wish it.'
+
+'Wish it!' said he, getting up from his seat, and throwing his hat into
+the bushes on one side; 'wish it! I don't think you have ever
+understood howl have wished it. Look here, Clara; I found when I got
+down to Norfolk that I couldn't live without you. Upon my word it is
+true. I don't suppose you'll believe me.'
+
+'I didn't think it could be so bad with you as that.'
+
+'No I don't suppose women ever do believe. And I wouldn't have believed
+it of myself. I hated myself for it. By George, I did. That is when I
+began to think it was all up with me.'
+
+'All up with you! Oh, Will!'
+
+'I had quite made up my mind to go to New Zealand. I had, indeed. I
+couldn't have kept my hands off that man if we had been living in the
+same country. I should have wrung his neck.'
+
+'Will, how can you talk so wickedly?'
+
+'There's no understanding it till you have felt it. But never mind.
+It's all right now; isn't it, Clara?'
+
+'If you think so.'
+
+'Think so! Oh, Clara, I am such a happy fellow. Do give me a kiss. You
+have never given me one kiss yet.'
+
+'What nonsense! I didn't think you were such a baby.'
+
+'By George, but you shall or you shall never get home to tea to-night.
+My own, own, own darling. Upon my word, Clara, when I begin to think
+about it I shall be half mad.'
+
+'I think you are quite that already.'
+
+'No, I'm not but I shall be when I'm alone. What can I say to you,
+Clara, to make you under. stand how much I love you? You remember the
+song, "For Bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me down and dee". Of course it
+is all nonsense talking of dying for a woman. What a man has to do is
+to live for her. But that is my feeling. I'm ready to give you my life.
+If there was anything to do for you, I'd do it if I could, whatever it
+was. Do you understand me?'
+
+'Dear Will! Dearest Will!'
+
+'Am I dearest?'
+
+'Are you not sure of it?'
+
+'But I like you to tell me so. I like to feel that you are not ashamed
+to own it. You ought to say it a few times to me, as I have said it so
+very often to you.'
+
+'You'll hear enough of it before you've done with me.'
+
+'I shall never have heard enough of it. Oh, Heavens, only think, when I
+was coming down in the train last night I was in such a bad way.'
+
+'And are you in a good way now?'
+
+'Yes; in a very good way. I shall crow over Mary so when I get home.'
+
+'And what has poor Mary done?'
+
+'Never mind.'
+
+'I dare say she knows what is good for you better than you know
+yourself. I suppose she has told you that you might do a great deal
+better than trouble yourself with a wife?'
+
+'Never mind what she has told me. It is settled now is it not?
+
+'I hope so, Will.'
+
+'But not quite settled as yet. When shall it be? That is the next
+question.'
+
+But to that question Clara positively refused to make any reply that
+her lover would consider to be satisfactory. He continued to press her
+till she was at last driven to remind him how very short a time it was
+since her father had been among them; and then he was very angry with
+himself, and declared himself to be a brute. 'Anything but that,' she
+said. 'You are the kindest and the best of men but at the same time the
+most impatient.'
+
+'That's what Mary says; but what's the good of waiting? She wanted me
+to wait today.'
+
+'And as you would not, you have fallen into a trap out of which you can
+never escape. But pray let us go. What will they think of us?'
+
+'I shouldn't wonder if they didn't think something near the truth.'
+
+'Whatever they think, we will go back. It is ever so much past nine.'
+
+'Before you stir, Clara, tell me one thing. Are you really happy?'
+
+'Very happy.'
+
+'And are you glad that this has been done?'
+
+'Very glad. Will that satisfy you?'
+
+'And you do love me?'
+
+'I do I do I do. Can I say more than that?
+
+'More than anybody else in the world?'
+
+'Better than all the world put together.'
+
+'Then,' said he, holding her tight in his arms, 'show me that you love
+me.' And as he made his request he was quick to explain to her what,
+according to his ideas, was the becoming mode by which lovers might
+show their love. I wonder whether it ever occurred to Clara, as she
+thought of it all before she went to bed that night, that Captain
+Aylmer and William Belton were very different in their manners. And if
+so, I must wonder further whether she most approved the manners of the
+patient man or the man who was impatient.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+About two months after the scene described in the last chapter, when
+the full summer had arrived, Clara received two letters from the two
+lovers the history of whose loves have just been told, and these shall
+be submitted to the reader, as they will serve to explain the manner in
+which the two men proposed to arrange their affairs. We will first have
+Captain Aylmer's letter, which was the first read; Clara kept the
+latter for the last, as children always keep their sweetest morsels.
+
+'Aylmer Park, August 188
+
+My dear Miss Amedroz,
+
+I heard before leaving London that you are engaged to marry your cousin
+Mr William Belton, and I think that perhaps you may be satisfied to
+have a line from me to let you know that I quite approve of the
+marriage.' 'I do not care very much for his approval or disapproval,'
+said Clara as she read this. 'No doubt it will be the best thing you
+can do, especially as it will heal all the sores arising from the
+entail.' 'There never was any sore,' said Clara. 'Pray give my
+compliments to Mr Belton, and offer him my congratulations, and tell
+him that I wish him all happiness in the married state.' 'Married
+fiddlestick!' said Clara. In this she was unreasonable; but the
+euphonious platitudes of Captain Aylmer were so unlike the vehement
+protestations of Mr Belton that she must be excused if by this time she
+had come to entertain something of an unreasonable aversion for the
+former.
+
+I hope you will not receive my news with perfect indifference when I
+tell you that I also am going to be married. The lady is one whom I
+have known for a long time, and have always esteemed very highly. She
+is Lady Emily Tagmaggert, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Mull.'
+Why Clara should immediately have conceived a feeling of supreme
+contempt for Lady Emily Tagmaggert, and assured herself that her
+ladyship was a thin, dry, cross old maid with a red nose, I cannot
+explain; but I do know that such were her thoughts, almost
+instantaneously, in reference to Captain Aylmer's future bride. 'Lady
+Emily is a very intimate friend of my sister's; and you, who know how
+our family cling together, will feel how thankful I must be when I tell
+you that my mother quite approves of the engagement. I suppose we shall
+be married early in the spring. We shall probably spend some months
+every year at Perivale, and I hope that we may look forward to the
+pleasure of seeing you sometimes as a guest beneath our roof.' On
+reading this Clara shuddered, and made some inward protestation which
+seemed to imply that she had no wish whatever to revisit the dull
+streets of the little town with which she had been so well acquainted.
+'I hope she'll be good to poor Mr Possit,' said Clara, 'and give him
+port wine on Sundays.'
+
+I have one more thing that I ought to say. You will remember that I
+intended to pay my aunt's legacy immediately after her death, but that
+I was prevented by circumstances which I could not control. I have paid
+it now into Mr Green's hands on your account, together with the sum of
+œ59 18s 3d., which is due upon it as interest at the rate of 5 per
+cent. I hope that this may be satisfactory.' 'It is not satisfactory at
+all,' said Clara, putting down the letter, and resolving that Will
+Belton should be instructed to repay the money instantly. It may,
+however, be explained here that in this matter Clara was doomed to be
+disappointed; and that she was forced, by Mr Green's arguments, to
+receive the money. 'Then it shall go to the hospital at Perivale,' she
+declared when those arguments were used. As to that, Mr Green was quite
+indifferent, but I do not think that the legacy which troubled poor
+Aunt Winterfield so much on her dying bed was ultimately applied to so
+worthy a purpose.
+
+And now, my dear Miss Amedroz,' continued the letter, 'I will say
+farewell, with many assurances of my unaltered esteem, and with
+heartfelt wishes for your future happiness. Believe me to be always,
+
+Most faithfully and sincerely yours,
+
+FREDERIC F. AYLMER.
+
+'Esteem!' said Clara, as she finished the letter. 'I wonder which he
+esteems the most, me or Lady Emily Tagmaggert. He will never get beyond
+esteem with any one.
+
+The letter which was last read was as follows:
+
+Plaistow, August 186 .
+
+Dearest Clara,
+
+I don't think I shall ever get done, and I am coming to hate farming.
+It is awful lonely here, too, and I pass all my evenings by myself,
+wondering why I should be doomed to this kind of thing, while you and
+Mary are comfortable together at Belton. We have begun with the wheat,
+and as soon as that is safe I shall cut and run. I shall leave the
+barley to Bunce. Bunce knows as much about it as I do and as for
+remaining here all the summer, it's out of the question.
+
+My own dear, darling love, of course I don't intend to urge you to do
+anything that you don't like; but upon my honour I don't see the force
+of what you say. You know I have as much respect for your father's
+memory as anybody, but what harm can it do to him that we should be
+married at once? Don't you think he would have wished it himself? It
+can be ever so quiet. So long as it's done, I don't care a straw how
+it's done. Indeed, for the matter of that, I always think it would be
+best just to walk to church and to walk home again without saying
+anything to anybody. I hate fuss and nonsense, and really I don't think
+anybody would have a right to say anything if we were to do it at once
+in that sort of way. I have had a bad time of it for the last
+twelvemonth. You must allow that, and I think that I ought to be
+rewarded.
+
+As for living, you shall have your choice. Indeed you shall live
+anywhere you please at Timbuctoo if you like it. I don't want to give
+up Plaistow, because my father and grandfather farmed the land
+themselves; but I am quite prepared not to live here. I don't think it
+would suit you, because it has so much of the farm-house about it. Only
+I should like you sometimes to come and look at the old place. What I
+should like would be to pull down the house at Belton and build
+another. But you mustn't propose to put it off till that's done, as I
+should never have the heart to do it. If you think that would suit you,
+I'll make up my mind to live at Belton for a constancy; and then I'd go
+in for a lot of cattle, and don't doubt I'd make a fortune. I'm almost
+sick of looking at the straight ridges in the big square fields every
+day of my life.
+
+Give my love to Mary. I hope she fights my battle for me. Pray think of
+all this, and relent if you can. I do so long to have an end of this
+purgatory. If there was any use, I wouldn't say a word; but there's no
+good in being tortured, when there is no use. God bless you, dearest
+love. I do love you so well!
+
+Yours most affectionately,
+
+W. BELTON.'
+
+She kissed the letter twice, pressed it to her bosom, and then sat
+silent for half an hour thinking of it of it, and the man who wrote it,
+and of the man who had written the other letter. She could not but
+remember how that other man had thought to treat her, when it was his
+intention and her intention that they two should join their lots
+together how cold he had been; how full of caution and counsel; how he
+had preached to her himself and threatened her with the preaching of
+his mother; how manifestly he had purposed to make her life a sacrifice
+to his life; how he had premeditated her incarceration at Perivale,
+while he should be living a bachelor's life in London! Will Belton's
+ideas of married life were very different. Only come to me at once now,
+immediately, and everything else shall be disposed just as you please.
+This was his offer. What he proposed to give or rather his willingness
+to be thus generous, was very sweet to her; but it was not half so
+sweet as his impatience in demanding his reward. How she doted on him
+because he considered his present state to be a purgatory! How could
+she refuse anything she could give to one who desired her gifts so
+strongly?
+
+As for her future residence, it would be a matter of indifference to
+her where she should live, so long as she might live with him; but for
+him she felt that but one spot in the world was fit for him. He was
+Belton of Belton, and it would not be becoming that he should live
+elsewhere. Of course she would go with him to Plaistow Hall as often as
+he might wish it; but Belton Castle should be his permanent
+resting-place. It would be her duty to be proud for him, and therefore,
+for his sake, she would beg that their home might be in Somersetshire.
+
+'Mary,' she said to her cousin soon afterwards, 'Will sends his love to
+you.'
+
+'And what else does he say?'
+
+'I couldn't tell you everything. You shouldn't expect it.'
+
+'I don't expect it; but perhaps there may be something to be told.'
+
+'Nothing that I need tell specially. You, who know him so well, can
+imagine what he would say.'
+
+'Dear Will! I am sure he would mean to write what was pleasant.'
+
+Then the matter would have dropped had Clara been so minded but she, in
+truth, was anxious to be forced to talk about the letter. She wished to
+be urged by Mary to do that which Will urged her to do or, at least, to
+learn whether Mary thought that her brother's wish might be gratified
+without impropriety. 'Don't you think we ought to live here?' she said.
+
+'By all means if you both like it.'
+
+'He is so good so unselfish, that he will only ask me to do what I like
+best.'
+
+'And which would you like best?'
+
+'I think he ought to live here because it is the old family property. I
+confess that the name goes for something with me. He says that he would
+build a new house.'
+
+'Does he think he could have it ready by the time you are married?'
+
+'Ah that is just the difficulty. Perhaps, after all, you had better
+read his letter. I don't know why I should not show it to you. It will
+only tell you what you know already that he is the most generous fellow
+in all the world.' Then Mary read the letter. 'What am I to say to
+him?' Clara asked. 'It seems so hard to refuse anything to one who is
+so true, and good, and generous.'
+
+'It is hard.'
+
+'But you see my poor, dear father's death has been so recent.'
+
+'I hardly know,' said Mary, 'how the world feels about such things.'
+
+'I think we ought to wait at least twelve months,' said Clara, very
+sadly.
+
+'Poor Will! He will be broken-hearted a dozen times before that. But
+then, when his happiness does come, he will be all the happier.' Clara,
+when she heard this, almost hated her cousin Mary not for her own sake,
+but on Will's account. Will trusted so implicitly to his sister, and
+yet she could not make a better fight for him than this! It almost
+seemed that Mary was indifferent to her brother's happiness. Had Will
+been her brother, Clara thought, and had any girl asked her advice
+under similar circumstances, she was sure that she would have answered
+in a different way. She would have told such girl that her first duty
+was owing to the man who was to be her husband, and would not have said
+a word to her about the feeling of the world. After all, what did the
+feeling of the world signify to them, who were going to be all the
+world to each other?
+
+On that afternoon she went up to Mrs Askerton's; and succeeded in
+getting advice from her also, though she did not show Will's letter to
+that lady. 'Of course, I know what he says,' said Mrs Askerton. 'Unless
+I have mistaken the man, he wants to be married tomorrow.'
+
+'He is not so bad as that,' said Clara.
+
+'Then the next day, or the day after. Of course he is impatient, and
+does not see any earthly reason why his impatience should not be
+gratified.'
+
+'He is impatient.'
+
+'And I suppose you hesitate because of your father's death?
+
+'It seems but the other day does it not?' said Clara.
+
+'Everything seems but the other day to me. It was but the other day
+that I myself was married.'
+
+'And, of course, though I would do anything I could that he would ask
+me to do'
+
+'But would you do anything?'
+
+'Anything that was not wrong I would. Why should I not, when he is so
+good to me?'
+
+'Then write to him, my dear, and tell him that it shall be as he wishes
+it. Believe me, the days of Jacob are over. Men don't understand
+waiting now, and it's always as well to catch your fish when you can.'
+
+'You don't suppose I have any thought of that kind?'
+
+'I am sure you have not and I'm sure that he deserves no such thought
+but the higher that are his deserts, the greater should be his reward.
+If I were you, I should think of nothing but him, and I should do
+exactly as he would have me.' Clara kissed her friend as she parted
+from her, and again resolved that all that woman's sins should be
+forgiven her. A woman who could give such excellent advice deserved
+that every sin should be forgiven her. 'They'll be married yet before
+the summer is over,' Mrs Askerton said to her husband that afternoon.
+'I believe a man may have anything he chooses to ask for, if he'll only
+ask hard enough.'
+
+And they were married in the autumn, if not actually in the summer.
+With what precise words Clara answered her lover's letter I will not
+say; but her answer was of such a nature that he found himself
+compelled to leave Plaistow, even before the wheat was garnered. Great
+confidence was placed in Bunce on that occasion, and I have reason to
+believe that it was not misplaced. They were married in September yes,
+in September, although that letter of Will's was written in August, and
+by the beginning of October they had returned from their wedding trip
+to Plaistow. Clara insisted that she should be taken to Plaistow, and
+was very anxious when there to learn all the particulars of the farm.
+She put down in a little book how many acres there were in each field,
+and what was the average produce of the land. She made inquiry about
+four-crop rotation, and endeavoured, with Bunce, to go into the great
+subject of stall-feeding. But Belton did not give her as much
+encouragement as he might have done. 'We'll come here for the shooting
+next year,' he said; 'that is, if there is nothing to prevent us.'
+
+'I hope there'll be nothing to prevent us.'
+
+'There might be, perhaps; but we'll always come if there is not. For
+the rest of it, I'll leave it to Bunce, and just run over once or twice
+in the year. It would not be a nice place for you to live at long.'
+
+'I like it of all things. I am quite interested about the farm.'
+
+'You'd get very sick of it if you were here in the winter. The truth is
+that if you farm well, you must farm ugly. The picturesque nooks and
+corners have all to be turned inside out, and the hedgerows must be
+abolished, because we want the sunshine. Now, down at Belton, just
+above the house, we won't mind farming well, but will stick to the
+picturesque.'
+
+The new house was immediately commenced at Belton, and was made to
+proceed with all imaginable alacrity. It was supposed at one time at
+least Belton himself said that he so supposed that the building would
+be ready for occupation at the end of the first summer; but this was
+not found to be possible. 'We must put it off till May, after all,'
+said Belton, as he was walking round the unfinished building with
+Colonel Askerton. 'It's an awful bore, but there's no getting people
+really to pull out in this country.'
+
+'I think they've pulled out pretty well. Of course you couldn't have
+gone into a damp house for the winter.'
+
+'Other people can get a house built within twelve months. Look what
+they do in London.'
+
+'And other people with their wives and children die in consequence of
+colds and sore throats and other evils of that nature. I wouldn't go
+into a new house, I know, till I was quite sure it was dry.'
+
+As Will at this time was hardly ten months married, he was not as yet
+justified in thinking about his own wife and children; but he had
+already found it expedient to make arrangements for the autumn, which
+would prevent that annual visit to Plaistow which Clara had
+contemplated, and which he had regarded with his characteristic
+prudence as being subject to possible impediments. He was to be absent
+himself for the first week in September, but was to return immediately
+after that. This he did; and before the end of that month he was
+justified in talking of his wife and family. 'I suppose it wouldn't
+have done to have been moving now under all the circumstances,' he said
+to his friend, Mrs Askerton, as he still grumbled about the unfinished
+house.
+
+'I don't think it would have done at all, under all the circumstances,'
+said Mrs Askerton.
+
+But in the following spring or early summer they did get into the new
+house and a very nice house it was, as will, I think, be believed by
+those who have known Mr William Belton. And when they were well
+settled, at which time little Will Belton was some seven or eight
+mouths old little Will, for whom great bonfires had been lit, as though
+his birth in those parts was a matter not to be regarded lightly; for
+was he not the first Belton of Belton who had been born there for more
+than a century? when that time came visitors appeared at the new Belton
+Castle, visitors of importance, who were entitled to, and who received,
+great consideration. These were no less than Captain Aylmer, Member for
+Perivale, and his newly-married bride, Lady Emily Aylmer, n‚e
+Tagmaggert. They were then just married, and had come down to Belton
+Castle immediately after their honeymoon trip. How it had come to pass
+that such friendship had sprung up or rather how it had been revived it
+would be bootless here to say. But old affiances, such as that which
+had existed between the Aylmer and the Amedroz families, do not allow
+themselves to die out easily, and it is well for us all that they
+should be long-lived. So Captain Aylmer brought his bride to Belton
+Park, and a small fatted calf was killed, and the Askertons came to
+dinner on which occasion Captain Aylmer behaved very well, though we
+may imagine that he must have had some misgivings on the score of his
+young wife. The Askertons came to dinner, and the old rector, and the
+squire from a neighbouring parish, and everything was very handsome and
+very dull. Captain Aylmer was much pleased with his visit, and declared
+to Lady Emily that marriage had greatly improved Mi. William Belton.
+Now Will had been very dull the whole evening, and very unlike the
+fiery, violent, unreasonable man whom Captain Aylmer remembered to have
+met at the station hotel of the Great Northern Railway.
+
+'I was as sure of it as possible,' Clara said to her husband that night.
+
+'Sure of what, my dear?'
+
+'That she would have a red nose.'
+
+'Who has got a red nose?'
+
+'Don't be stupid, Will. Who should have it but Lady Emily?'
+
+'Upon my word I didn't observe it.'
+
+'You never observe anything, Will; do you? But don't you think she is
+very plain?'
+
+'Upon my word I don't know. She isn't as handsome as some people.'
+
+'Don't be a fool, Will. How old do you suppose her to be?' 'How old?
+Let me see. Thirty, perhaps.'
+
+'If she's not over forty, I'll consent to change noses with her.'
+
+'No we won't do that; not if I know it.'
+
+'I cannot conceive why any man should marry such a woman as that. Not
+but what she's a very good woman, I dare say; only what can a man get
+by it? To be sure there's the title, if that's worth anything.' But
+Will Belton was never good for much conversation at this hour, and was
+too fast asleep to make any rejoinder to the last remark.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BELTON ESTATE ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Belton Estate, by Anthony Trollope
+(#32 in our series by Anthony Trollope)
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+Title: The Belton Estate
+
+Author: Anthony Trollope
+
+Release Date: January, 2004  [EBook #4969]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002]
+[Most recently updated November 30, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BELTON ESTATE ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Andrew Turek.
+
+
+
+THE BELTON ESTATE
+
+by Anthony Trollope
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Mrs Amedroz, the wife of Bernard Amedroz, Esq, of Belton Castle, and
+mother of Charles and Clara Amedroz, died when those children were only
+eight and six years old, thereby subjecting them to the greatest
+misfortune which children born in that sphere of life can be made to
+suffer. And, in the case of this boy and girl, the misfortune was
+aggravated greatly by the peculiarities of the father's character. Mr
+Amedroz was not a bad man as men are held to be bad in the world's
+esteem. He was not vicious was not a gambler or a drunkard was not
+self-indulgent to a degree that brought upon him any reproach; nor was
+he regardless of his children. But he was an idle, thriftless man, who,
+at the age of sixty-seven, when the reader will first make his
+acquaintance, had as yet done no good in the world whatever. Indeed he
+had done terrible evil; for his son Charles was now dead had perished
+by his own hand and the state of things which had brought about this
+woeful event had been chiefly due to the father's neglect.
+
+Belton Castle is a pretty country seat, standing in a small but
+beautifully wooded park, close under the Quantock hills in
+Somersetshire; and the little town of Belton clusters round the park
+gates. Few Englishmen know the scenery of England well, and the
+prettinesses of Somersetshire are among those which are the least
+known. But the Quantock hills are very lovely, with their rich valleys
+lying close among them, and their outlying moorlands running off
+towards Dulverton and the borders of Devonshire moorlands which are not
+flat, like Salisbury Plain, but are broken into ravines and deep
+watercourses and rugged dells hither and thither; where old oaks are
+standing, in which life seems to have dwindled down to the last spark;
+but the last spark is still there, and the old oaks give forth their
+scanty leaves from year to year.
+
+In among the hills, somewhat off the high road from Minehead to
+Taunton, and about five miles from the sea, stands the little town, or
+village, of Belton, and the modern house of Mr Amedroz, which is called
+Belton Castle. The village for it is in truth no more, though it still
+maintains a charter for a market, and there still exists on Tuesdays
+some pretence of an open sale of grain and butcher's meat in the square
+before the church-gate contains about two thousand persons. That and
+the whole parish of Belton did once and that not long ago belong to the
+Amedroz family. They had inherited it from the Beltons of old, an
+Amedroz having married the heiress of the family. And as the parish is
+large, stretching away to Exmoor on one side and almost to the sea on
+the other, containing the hamlet of Redicote, lying on the Taunton high
+road Redicote, where the post-office is placed, a town almost in
+itself, and one which is now much more prosperous than Belton as the
+property when it came to the first Amedroz had limits such as these,
+the family had been considerable in the county. But these limits had
+been straitened in the days of the grandfather and the father of
+Bernard Amedroz; and he, when he married a Miss Winterfield of Taunton,
+was thought to have done very well, in that mortgages were paid off the
+property with his wife's money to such an extent as to leave him in
+clear possession of an estate that gave him two thousand a year. As Mr
+Amedroz had no grand neighbours near him, as the place is remote and
+the living therefore cheap, and as with this income there was no
+question of annual visits to London, Mr and Mrs Amedroz might have done
+very well with such of the good things of the world as had fallen to
+their lot. And had the wife lived, such would probably have been the
+case; for the Winterfields were known to be prudent people. But Mrs
+Amedroz had died young, and things with Bernard Amedroz had gone badly.
+
+And yet the evil had not been so much with him as with that terrible
+boy of his. The father had been nearly forty when he married. He had
+then never done any good; but as neither had he done much harm, the
+friends of the family had argued well of his future career. After him,
+unless he should leave a son behind him, there would be no Amedroz left
+among the Quantock hills; and by some arrangement in respect to that
+Winterfield money which came to him on his marriage the Winterfields
+having a long-dated connexion with the Beltons of old the Amedroz
+property was, at Bernard's marriage, entailed back upon a distant
+Belton cousin, one Will Belton, whom no one had seen for many years,
+but who was by blood nearer the squire in default of children of his
+own than any other of his relatives. And now Will Belton was the heir
+to Belton Castle; for Charles Amedroz, at the age of twenty-seven, had
+found the miseries of the world to be too many for him, and had put an
+end to them and to himself.
+
+Charles had been a clever fellow a very clever fellow in the eyes of
+his father. Bernard Amedroz knew that he himself was not a clever
+fellow, and admired his son accordingly; and when Charles had been
+expelled from Harrow for some boyish freak in his vengeance against a
+neighbouring farmer, who had reported to the school authorities the
+doings of a few beagles upon his land, Charles had cut off the heads of
+all the trees in a young fir plantation his father was proud of the
+exploit. When he was rusticated a second time from Trinity, and when
+the father received an intimation that his son's name had better be
+taken from the College books, the squire was not so well pleased; but
+even then he found some delight in the stories which reached him of his
+son's vagaries; and when the young man commenced Bohemian life in
+London, his father did nothing to restrain him. Then there came the old
+story debts, endless debts; and lies, endless lies. During the two
+years before his death, his father paid for him, or undertook to pay,
+nearly ten thousand pounds, sacrificing the life assurances which were
+to have made provision for his daughter; sacrificing, to a great
+extent, his own life income sacrificing everything, so that the
+property might not be utterly ruined at his death. That Charles Amedroz
+should be a brighter, greater man than any other Amedroz, had still
+been the father's pride. At the last visit which Charles had paid to
+Belton his father had called upon him to pledge himself solemnly that
+his sister should not be made to suffer by what had been done for him.
+Within a month of that time he had blown his brains out in his London
+lodgings, thus making over the entire property to Will Belton at his
+father's death. At that last pretended settlement with his father and
+his father's lawyer, he had kept back the mention of debts as heavy
+nearly as those to which he had owned; and there were debts of honour,
+too, of which he had not spoken, trusting to the next event at
+Newmarket to set him right. The next event at Newmarket had set him
+more wrong than ever, and so there had come an end to everything with
+Charles Amedroz.
+
+This had happened in the spring, and the afflicted father afflicted
+with the double sorrow of his son's terrible death and his daughter's
+ruin had declared that he would turn his face to the wall and die. But
+the old squire's health, though far from strong, was stronger than he
+had deemed it, and his feelings, sharp enough, were less sharp than he
+thought them; and when a month had passed by, he had discovered that it
+would be better that he should live, in order that his daughter might
+still have bread to eat and a house of her own over her head. Though he
+was now an impoverished man, there was still left to him the means of
+keeping up the old home; and he told himself that it must, if possible,
+be so kept that a few pounds annually might be put by for Clara. The
+old carriage-horses were sold, and the park was let to a farmer, up to
+the hall door of the castle. So much the squire could do; but as to the
+putting by of the few pounds, any dependence on such exertion as that
+on his part would, we may say, be very precarious.
+
+Belton Castle was not in truth a castle. Immediately before the front
+door, so near to the house as merely to allow of a broad road running
+between it and the entrance porch, there stood an old tower, which gave
+its name to the residence an old square tower, up which the Amedroz
+boys for three generations had been able to climb by means of the ivy
+and broken stones in one of the inner corners and this tower was a
+remnant of a real castle that had once protected the village of Belton.
+The house itself was an ugly residence, three stories high, built in
+the time of George II, with low rooms and long passages, and an immense
+number of doors. It was a large unattractive house unattractive that
+is, as regarded its own attributes but made interesting by the beauty
+of the small park in which it stood. Belton Park did not, perhaps,
+contain much above a hundred acres, but the land was so broken into
+knolls and valleys, in so many places was the rock seen to be cropping
+up through the verdure, there were in it so many stunted old oaks, so
+many points of vantage for the lover of scenery, that no one would
+believe it to be other than a considerable domain. The farmer who took
+it, and who would not under any circumstances undertake to pay more
+than seventeen shillings an acre for it, could not be made to think
+that it was in any way considerable. But Belton Park, since first it
+was made a park, had never before been regarded in this fashion. Farmer
+Stovey, of the Grange, was the first man of that class who had ever
+assumed the right to pasture his sheep in Belton chase as the people
+around were still accustomed to call the woodlands of the estate.
+
+It was full summer at Belton, and four months had now passed since the
+dreadful tidings had reached the castle. It was full summer, and the
+people of the village were again going about their ordinary business;
+and the shop-girls with their lovers from Redicote were again to be
+seen walking among the oaks in the park on a Sunday evening; and the
+world in that district of Somersetshire was getting itself back into
+its grooves. The fate of the young heir had disturbed the grooves
+greatly, and had taught many in those parts to feel that the world was
+coming to an end. They had not loved young Amedroz, for he had been
+haughty when among them, and there had been wrongs committed by the
+dissolute young squire, and grief had come from his misdoings upon more
+than one household; but to think that he should have destroyed himself
+with his own hand! And then, to think that Miss Clara would become a
+beggar when the old squire should die! All the neighbours around
+understood the whole history of the entail, and knew that the property
+was to go to Will Belton. Now Will Belton was not a gentleman! So, at
+least, said the Belton folk, who had heard that the heir had been
+brought up as a farmer somewhere in Norfolk. Will Belton had once been
+at the Castle as a boy, now some fifteen years ago, and then there had
+sprung up a great quarrel between him and his distant cousin Charles
+and Will, who was rough and large of stature, had thrashed the smaller
+boy severely; and the thing had grown to have dimensions larger than
+those which generally attend the quarrels of boys; and Will had said
+something which had shown how well he understood his position in
+reference to the estate and Charles had hated him. So Will had gone,
+and had been no more seen among the oaks whose name he bore. And the
+people, in spite of his name, regarded him as an interloper. To them,
+with their short memories and scanty knowledge of the past, Amedroz was
+more honourable than Belton, and they looked upon the coming man as an
+intruder. Why should not Miss Clara have the property? Miss Clara had
+never done harm to any one!
+
+Things got back into their old grooves, and at the end of the third
+month the squire was once more seen in the old family pew at church. He
+was a large man, who had been very handsome, and who now, in his yellow
+leaf, was not without a certain beauty of manliness. He wore his hair
+and his beard long; before his son's death they were grey, but now they
+were very white. And though he stooped, there was still a dignity in
+his slow step a dignity that came to him from nature rather than from
+any effort. He was a man who, in fact, did little or nothing in the
+world whose life had been very useless; but he had been gifted with
+such a presence that he looked as though he were one of God's nobler
+creatures. Though always dignified he was ever affable, and the poor
+liked him better than they might have done had he passed his time in
+searching out their wants and supplying them. They were proud of their
+squire, though he had done nothing for them. It was something to them
+to have a man who could so carry himself sitting in the family pew in
+their parish church. They knew that he was poor, but they all declared
+that he was never mean. He was a real gentleman was this last Amedroz
+of the family; therefore they curtsied low, and bowed on his
+reappearance among them, and made all those signs of reverential awe
+which are common to the poor when they feel reverence for the presence
+of a superior.
+
+Clara was there with him, but she had shown herself in the pew for four
+or five weeks before this. She had not been at home when the fearful
+news had reached Belton, being at that time with a certain lady who
+lived on the farther side of the county, at Perivale a certain Mrs
+Winterfield, born a Folliot, a widow, who stood to Miss Amedroz in the
+place of an aunt. Mrs Winterfield was, in truth, the sister of a
+gentleman who had married Clara's aunt there having been marriages and
+intermarriages between the Winterfields and the Folliots and the
+Belton-Amedroz families. With this lady in Perivale, which I maintain
+to be the dullest little town in England, Miss Amedroz was staying when
+the news reached her father, and when it was brought direct from London
+to herself. Instantly she had hurried home, taking the journey with all
+imaginable speed though her heart was all but broken within her bosom.
+She had found her father stricken to the ground, and it was the more
+necessary, therefore, that she should exert herself. It would not do
+that she also should yield to that longing for death which terrible
+calamities often produce for a season.
+
+Clara Amedroz, when she first heard. the news of her brother's fate,
+had felt that she was for ever crushed to the ground. She had known too
+well what had been the nature of her brother's life, but she had not
+expected or feared any such termination to his career as this which had
+now come upon him to the terrible affliction of all belonging to him.
+She felt at first, as did also her father, that she and he were
+annihilated as regards this world, not only by an enduring grief, but
+also by a disgrace which would never allow her again to hold up her
+head. And for many a long year much of this feeling clung to her clung
+to her much more strongly than to her father. But strength was hers to
+perceive, even before she had reached her home, that it was her duty to
+repress both the feeling of shame and the sorrow, as far as they were
+capable of repression. Her brother had been weak, and in his weakness
+had sought a coward's escape from the ills of the world around him. She
+must not also be a coward! Bad as life might be to her henceforth, she
+must endure it with such fortitude as she could muster. So resolving
+she returned to her father, and was able to listen to his railings with
+a fortitude that was essentially serviceable both to him and to herself.
+
+'Both of you! Both of you!' the unhappy father had said in his woe.
+'The wretched boy has destroyed you as much as himself!' 'No, sir,' she
+had answered, with a forbearance in her misery, which, terrible as was
+the effort, she forced herself to accomplish for his sake. 'It is not
+so. No thought of that need add to your grief. My poor brother has not
+hurt me not in the way you mean.' 'He has ruined us all,' said the
+father; 'root and branch, man and woman, old and young, house and land.
+He has brought the family to an end ah me, to such an end!' After that
+the name of him who had taken himself from among them was not mentioned
+between the father and daughter, and Clara settled herself to the
+duties of her new life, striving to live as though there was no great
+sorrow around her as though no cloud-storm had burst over her head.
+
+The family lawyer, who lived at Taunton, had communicated the fact of
+Charles's death to Mr Belton, and Belton had acknowledged the letter
+with the ordinary expressions of regret. The lawyer had alluded to the
+entail, saying that it was improbable that Mr Amedroz would have
+another son. To this Belton had replied that for his cousin Clara's
+sake he hoped that the squire's life might be long spared. The lawyer
+smiled as he read the wish, thinking to himself that luckily no wish on
+the part of Will Belton could influence his old client either for good
+or evil. What man, let alone what lawyer, will ever believe in the
+sincerity of such a wish as that expressed by the heir to a property?
+And yet where is the man who will not declare to himself that such,
+under such circumstances, would be his own wish?
+
+Clara Amedroz at this time was not a very young lady. She had already
+passed her twenty-fifth birthday, and in manners, appearance, and
+habits was, at any rate, as old as her age. She made no pretence to
+youth, speaking of herself always as one whom circumstances required to
+take upon herself age in advance of her years. She did not dress young,
+or live much with young people, or correspond with other girls by means
+of crossed letters; nor expect that, for her, young pleasures should be
+provided. Life had always been serious with her; but now, we may say,
+since the terrible tragedy lit the family, it must be solemn as well as
+serious. The memory of her brother must always be upon her; and the
+memory also of the fact that her father was now an impoverished man, on
+whose behalf it was her duty to care that every shilling spent in the
+house did its full twelve pennies' worth of work. There was a mixture
+in this of deep tragedy and of little cares, which seemed to destroy
+for her the poetry as well as the pleasure of life. The poetry and
+tragedy might have gone hand in hand together; and so might the cares
+and pleasures of life have done, had there been no black sorrow of
+which she must be ever mindful. But it was her lot to have to
+scrutinize the butcher's bill as she was thinking of her brother's
+fate; and to work daily among small household things while the spectre
+of her brother's corpse was ever before her eyes.
+
+A word must be said to explain how it had come to pass that the life
+led by Miss Amedroz had been more than commonly serious before that
+tragedy had befallen the family. The name of the lady who stood to
+Clara in the place of an aunt has been already mentioned. When a girl
+has a mother, her aunt may be little or nothing to her. But when the
+mother is gone, if there be an aunt unimpeded with other family duties,
+then the family duties of that aunt begin and are assumed sometimes
+with great vigour. Such had been the case with Mrs Winterfield. No
+woman ever lived, perhaps, with more conscientious ideas of her duty as
+a woman than Mrs Winterfield of Prospect Place, Perivale. And this, as
+I say it, is intended to convey no scoff against that excellent lady.
+She was an excellent lady unselfish, given to self-restraint, generous,
+pious, looking to find in her religion a safe path through life a path
+as safe as the facts of Adam's fall would allow her feet to find. She
+was a woman fearing much for others, but fearing also much for herself,
+striving to maintain her house in godliness, hating sin, and struggling
+with the weakness of her humanity so that she might not allow herself
+to hate the sinners. But her hatred for the sin she found herself bound
+at all times to pronounce to show it by some act at all seasons. To
+fight the devil was her work was the appointed work of every living
+soul, if only living souls could be made to acknowledge the necessity
+of the task. Now an aunt of that kind, when she assumes her duties
+towards a motherless niece, is apt to make life serious.
+
+But, it will be said, Clara Amedroz could have rebelled; and Clara's
+father was hardly made of such stuff that obedience to the aunt would
+be enforced on her by parental authority. Doubtless Clara could have
+rebelled against her aunt. Indeed, I do not know that she had hitherto
+been very obedient. But there were family facts about these Winterfield
+connexions which would have made it difficult for her to ignore her
+so-called aunt, even had she wished to do so. Mrs Winterfield had
+twelve hundred a year at her own disposal, and she was the only person
+related to the Amedroz family from whom Mr Amedroz had a right to have
+expectations on his daughter's behalf. Clara had, in a measure, been
+claimed by the lady, and the father had made good the lady's claim, and
+Clara had acknowledged that a portion of her life was due to the
+demands of Perivale. These demands had undoubtedly made her life
+serious.
+
+Life at Perivale was a very serious thing. As regards amusement,
+ordinarily so called, the need of any such institution was not
+acknowledged at Prospect House. Food, drink, and raiment were
+acknowledged to be necessary to humanity, and, in accordance with the
+rules of that house, they were supplied in plenty, and good of their
+kind. Such ladies as Mrs Winterfield generally keep good tables,
+thinking no doubt that the eatables should do honour to the grace that
+is said for them. And Mrs Winterfield herself always wore a thick black
+silk dress not rusty or dowdy with age but with some gloss of the silk
+on it; giving away, with secret, underhand, undiscovered charity, her
+old dresses to another lady of her own sort, on whom fortune had not
+bestowed twelve hundred a year. And Mrs Winterfield kept a low,
+four-wheeled, one-horsed phaeton, in which she made her pilgrimages
+among the poor of Perivale, driven by the most solemn of stable-boys,
+dressed up in a great white coat, the most priggish of hats, and white
+cotton gloves. At the rate of five miles an hour was she driven about,
+and this driving was to her the amusement of life. But such an
+occupation to Clara Amedroz assisted to make life serious.
+
+In person Mrs Winterfield was tall and thin, wearing on her brow thin
+braids of false hair. She had suffered much from acute ill health, and
+her jaws were sunken, and her eyes were hollow, and there was a look of
+woe about her which seemed ever to be telling of her own sorrows in
+this world and of the sorrows of others in the world to come.
+Ill-nature was written on her face, but in this her face was a false
+face. She had the manners of a cross, peevish woman; but her manners
+also were false, and gave no proper idea of her character. But still,
+such as she was, she made life very serious to those who were called
+upon to dwell with her.
+
+I need, I hope, hardly say that a young lady such as Miss Amedroz, even
+though she had reached the age of twenty-five for at the time to which
+I am now alluding she had nearly done so and was not young of her age,
+had formed for herself no plan of life in which her aunt's money
+figured as a motive power. She had gone to Perivale when she was very
+young, because she had been told to do so, and had continued to go,
+partly from obedience, partly from habit, and partly from affection. An
+aunt's. dominion, when once well established in early years, cannot
+easily be thrown altogether aside even though a young lady have a will
+of her own. Now Clara Amedroz had a strong will of her own, and did not
+at all at any rate in these latter days belong to that school of
+divinity in which her aunt shone almost as a professor. And this
+circumstance, also, added to the seriousness of her life. But in regard
+to her aunt's money she had entertained no established hopes; and when
+her aunt opened her mind to her, on that subject, a few days before the
+arrival of the fatal news at Perivale, Clara, though she was somewhat
+surprised, was by no means disappointed. Now there was a certain
+Captain Aylmer in the question, of whom in this opening chapter it will
+be necessary to say a few words.
+
+Captain Frederic Folliott Aylmer was, in truth, the nephew of Mrs
+Winterfield, whereas Clara Amedroz was not, in truth, her niece. And
+Captain Aylmer was also Member of Parliament for the little borough of
+Perivale, returned altogether on the Low Church interest for a devotion
+to which, and for that alone, Perivale was noted among boroughs. These
+facts together added not a little to Mrs Winterfield's influence and
+professorial power in the place, and gave a dignity to the one-horse
+chaise which it might not otherwise have possessed. But Captain Aylmer
+was only the second son of his father, Sir Anthony Aylmer, who had
+married a Miss Folliott, sister of our Mrs Winterfield. On Frederic
+Aylmer his mother's estate was settled. That and Mrs Winterfield's
+property lay in the neighbourhood of Perivale; and now, on the occasion
+to which I am alluding, Mrs Winterfield thought it necessary to tell
+Clara that the property must all go together. She had thought about it,
+and had doubted about it, and had prayed about it, and now she found
+that such a disposition of it was her duty.
+
+'I am quite sure you're right, aunt,' Clara had said. She knew very
+well what had come of that provision which her father had attempted to
+make for her, and knew also how great were her father's expectations in
+regard to Mrs Winterfield's money.
+
+'I hope I am; but I have thought it right to tell you. I shall feel
+myself bound to tell Frederic. I have had many doubts, but I think I am
+right.'
+
+'I am sure you are, aunt. What would he think of me if, at some future
+time, he should have to find that I had been in his way?'
+
+'The future time will not be long now, my dear.'
+
+'I hope it may; but long or short, it is better so.'
+
+'I think it is, my dear; I think it is. I think it is my duty.'
+
+It must be understood that Captain Aylmer was member for Perivale on
+the Low Church interest, and that, therefore, when at Perivale he was
+decidedly a Low Churchman. I am not aware that the peculiarity stuck to
+him very closely at Aylmer Castle, in Yorkshire, or among his friends
+in London; but there was no hypocrisy in this, as the world goes. Women
+in such matters are absolutely false if they be not sincere; but men,
+with political views, and with much of their future prospects in
+jeopardy also, are allowed to dress themselves differently for
+different scenes. Whatever be the peculiar interest on which a man goes
+into Parliament, of course he has to live up to that in his own
+borough. Whether malt, the franchise, or teetotalism be his rallying
+point, of course he is full of it when among his constituents. But it
+is not desirable that he should be full of it also at his club. Had
+Captain Aylmer become Prime Minister, he would no doubt have made Low
+Church bishops. It was the side to which he had taken himself in that
+matter not without good reasons. And he could say a sharp word or two
+in season about vestments; he was strong against candles, and fought
+for his side fairly well. No one had good right to complain of Captain
+Aylmer as being insincere; but had his aunt known the whole history of
+her nephew's life, I doubt whether she would have made him her heir
+thinking that in doing so she was doing the best for the good cause.
+
+The whole history of her niece's life she did know, and she knew that
+Clara was not with her, heart and soul. Had Clara left the old woman in
+doubt on this subject, she would have been a hypocrite. Captain Aylmer
+did not often spend a Sunday at Perivale, but when he did, he went to
+church three times, and submitted himself to the yoke. He was thinking
+of the borough votes quite as much as of his aunt's money, and was
+carrying on his business after the fashion of men But Clara found
+herself compelled to maintain some sort of a fight, though she also
+went to church three times on Sunday. And there was another reason why
+Mrs Winterfield thought it right to mention Captain Aylmer's name to
+her niece on this occasion.
+
+'I had hoped', she said, 'that it might make no difference in what way
+my money was left.'
+
+Clara well understood what this meant, as will, probably, the reader
+also. 'I can't say but what it will make a difference,' she answered,
+smiling; 'but I shall always think that you have done right. Why should
+I stand in Captain Aylmer's way?'
+
+'I had hoped your ways might have been the same,' said the old lady,
+fretfully.
+
+'But they cannot be the same.'
+
+'No; you do not see things as he sees them. Things that are serious to
+him are, I fear, only light to you. Dear Clara, would I could see you
+more in earnest as to the only matter that is worth our earnestness.'
+Miss Amedroz said nothing as to the Captain's earnestness, though,
+perhaps, her ideas as to his ideas about religion were more correct
+than those held by Mrs Winterfield. But it would not have suited her to
+raise any argument on that subject. 'I pray for you, Clara,' continued
+the old lady, 'and will do so as long as the power of prayer is left to
+me. I hope I hope you do not cease to pray for yourself?'
+
+'I endeavour, aunt.'
+
+'It is an endeavour which, if really made, never fails.' Clara said
+nothing more, and her aunt also remained silent. Soon afterwards, the
+four-wheeled carriage, with the demure stable-boy, came to the door,
+and Clara was driven up and down through the streets of Perivale in a
+manner which was an injury to her. She knew that she was suffering an
+injustice, but it was one of which she could not make complaint. She
+submitted to her aunt, enduring the penances that were required of her;
+and, therefore, her aunt had opportunity enough to see her
+shortcomings. Mrs Winterfield did see them, and judged her accordingly.
+Captain Aylmer, being a man and a Member of Parliament, was called upon
+to bear no such penances, and, therefore, his shortcomings were not
+suspected.
+
+But, after all, what title had she ever possessed to entertain
+expectations from Mrs Winterfield? When she thought of it all in her
+room that night, she told herself that it was strange that her aunt
+should have spoken to her in such a way on such a subject. But, then,
+so much had been said to her on the matter by her father, so much, no
+doubt, had reached her aunt's ears also, the hope that her position
+with reference to the rich widow at Perivale might be beneficial to her
+had been so often discussed at Belton as a make-weight against the
+extravagances of the heir, there had already been so much of this
+mistake, that she taught herself to perceive that the communication was
+needed. 'In her honesty 'she has not chosen to leave me with false
+hopes,' said Clara to herself. And at that moment she loved her aunt
+for her honesty.
+
+Then, on the day but one following this conversation as to the destiny
+of her aunt's property, came the terrible tidings of her brother's
+death. Captain Aylmer, who had been in London at the time, hurried down
+to Perivale, and had been the first to tell Miss Amedroz what had
+happened. The words spoken between them had not been many, but Clara
+knew that Captain Aylmer had been kind to her; and when he had offered
+to accompany her to Belton, she had thanked him with a degree of
+gratitude which had almost seemed to imply more of regard between them
+than Clara would have acknowledged to exist. But in moments such as
+those, soft words may be spoken and hands may be pressed without any of
+that meaning which soft words and the grasping of hands generally carry
+with them. As far as Taunton Captain Aylmer did go with Miss Amedroz,
+and there they parted, he on his journey up to town, and she for her
+father's desolate house at Belton.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HEIR PROPOSES TO VISIT HIS COUSIN
+
+It was full summer at Belton, and the sweet scene of the new hay
+filled the porch of the old house with fragrance, as Clara sat there
+alone with her work. Immediately before the house door, between that
+and the old tower, there stood one of Farmer Stovey's hay-carts, now
+empty, with an old horse between the shafts looking as though he were
+asleep in the sun. Immediately beyond the tower the men were loading
+another cart, and the women and children were chattering as they raked
+the scattered remnants up to the rows. tinder the shadow of the old
+tower, but in sight of Clara as she sat in the porch, there lay the
+small beer-barrels of the hay-makers, and three or four rakes were
+standing erect against the old grey wall. It was now eleven o'clock,
+and Clara was waiting for her father, who was not yet out of his room.
+She had taken his breakfast to him in bed, as was her custom; for he
+had fallen into idle ways, and the luxury of his bed was, of all his
+remaining luxuries, the one that he liked the best. After a while he
+came down to her, having an open letter in his hand. Clara saw that he
+intended either to show it to her or to speak of it, and asked him
+therefore, with some tone of interest in her voice, from whom it had
+come. But Mr Amedroz was fretful at the moment, and instead of
+answering her began to complain of his tenant's ill-usage of him.
+
+'What has he got his cart there for? I haven't let him the road up to
+the hall door. I suppose he will bring his things into the parlour
+next.'
+
+'I rather like it, papa.'
+
+'Do you? I can only say that you're lucky in your tastes. I don't like
+it, I can tell you.'
+
+'Mr Stovey is out there. Shall I ask him to have the things moved
+farther off?'
+
+'No, my dear no. I must bear it, as I do all the rest of it. What does
+it matter? There'll be an end of it soon. He pays his rent, and I
+suppose he is right to do as he pleases. But I can't say that I like
+it.'
+
+'Am I to see the letter, papa?' she asked, wishing to turn his mind
+from the subject of the hay-cart.
+
+'Well, yes. I brought it for you to see; though perhaps I should be
+doing better if I burned it, and said nothing more about it. It is a
+most impudent production; and heartless very heartless.'
+
+Clara was accustomed to such complaints as these from her father.
+Everything that everybody did around him he would call heartless. The
+man pitied himself so much in his own misery, that he expected to live
+in an atmosphere of pity from others; and though the pity doubtless was
+there, he misdoubted it. He thought that Farmer Stovey was cruel in
+that he had left the hay-cart near the house, to wound his eyes by
+reminding him that he was no longer master of the ground before his own
+hall door. He thought that the women and children were cruel to chatter
+so near his ears. He almost accused his daughter of cruelty, because
+she had told him that she liked the contiguity of the hay-making. Under
+such circumstances as those which enveloped him and her, was it not
+heartless in her to like anything? It seemed to him that the whole
+world of Belton should be drowned in woe because of his misery.
+
+'Where is it from, papa?' she asked.
+
+'There, you may read it. Perhaps it is better that you should know that
+it has been written.' Then she read the letter, which was as follows
+
+'Plaistow Hall
+
+July, 186'
+
+Though she had never before seen the handwriting, she knew at once from
+whence came the letter, for she had often heard of Plaistow Hall. It
+was the name of the farm at which her distant cousin, Will Belton,
+lived, and her father had more than once been at the trouble of
+explaining to her, that though the place was called a hall, the house
+was no more than a farmhouse. He had never seen Plaistow Hall, and had
+never been in Norfolk; but so much he could take upon himself to say,
+'They call all the farms halls down there.' It was not wonderful that
+he should dislike his heir; and perhaps not unnatural that he should
+show his dislike after this fashion. Clara, when she read the address,
+looked up into her father's face. 'You know who it is now,' he said.
+And then she read the letter.
+
+'Plaistow Hall
+
+July, 186
+
+I have not written to you before since your bereavement, thinking it
+better to wait awhile; but I hope you have not taken me to be unkind in
+this, or have supposed me to be unmindful of your sorrow. Now I take up
+my pen, hoping that I may make you understand how greatly I was
+distressed by what has occurred. I believe I am now the nearest male
+relative that you have, and as such I am very anxious to be of service
+to you if it may be possible. Considering the closeness of our
+connexion, and my position in reference to the property, it seems bad
+that we should never meet. I can assure you that you would find me very
+friendly if we could manage to come together.
+
+I should think nothing of running across to Belton, if you would
+receive me at your house. I could come very well before harvest, if
+that would suit you, and would stay with you for a week. Pray give my
+kindest regards to my cousin Clara, whom I can only just remember as a
+very little girl. She was with her aunt at Perivale when I was at
+Belton as a boy. She shall find a friend in me if she wants a friend.
+
+Your affectionate cousin,
+
+W. BELTON.'
+
+Clara read the letter very slowly, so that she might make herself sure
+of its tone and bearing before she was called upon by her father to
+express her feeling respecting it. She knew that she would be expected
+to abuse it violently, and to accuse the writer of vulgarity,
+insolence, and cruelty, but she had already learned that she must not
+allow herself to accede to all her father's fantasies. For his sake,
+and for his protection, it was necessary that she should differ from
+him, and even contradict him. Were she not to do so, he would fall into
+a state of wailing and complaining that would exaggerate itself almost
+to idiotcy. And it was imperative that she herself should exercise her
+own opinion on many points, almost without reference to him. She alone
+knew how utterly destitute she would be when he should die. He, in the
+first days of his agony, had sobbed forth his remorse as to her ruin;
+but, even when doing so, he had comforted himself with the remembrance
+of Miss Winterfield's money and Mrs Winterfield's affection for his
+daughter. And the aunt, when she had declared her purpose to Clara, had
+told herself that the provision made for Clara by her father was
+sufficient. To neither of them had Clara told her own position. She
+could not inform her aunt that her father had given up to the poor
+reprobate who had destroyed himself all that had been intended for her.
+Had she done so she would have been asking her aunt for charity. Nor
+would she bring herself to add to her father's misery, by destroying
+the hopes which still supported him. She never spoke of her own
+position in regard to money, but she knew that it had become her duty
+to live a wary, watchful life, taking much upon herself in their
+impoverished household, and holding her own opinion against her
+father's when her doing so became expedient. So she finished the letter
+in silence, and did not speak at the moment when the movement of her
+eyes declared that she had completed the task.
+
+'Well?' said he.
+
+'I do not think my cousin means badly.'
+
+'You don't! I do, then. I think he means very badly. What business has
+he to write to me, talking of his position?'
+
+'I can't see anything amiss in his doing so, papa. I think he wishes to
+be friendly. The property will be his some day, and I don't see why
+that should not be mentioned, when there is occasion.'
+
+'Upon my word, Clara, you surprise me. But women never understood
+delicacy in regard to money. They have so little to do with it, and
+think so little about it, that they have no occasion for such delicacy.'
+
+Clara could not help the thought that to her mind the subject was
+present with sufficient frequency to make delicacy very desirable, if
+only it were practicable. But of this she said nothing. 'And what
+answer will you send to him, papa?' she asked.
+
+'None at all. Why should I trouble myself to write to him?'
+
+'I will take the trouble off your hands.'
+
+'And what will you say to him?'
+
+'I will ask him to come here, as he proposes.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Why not, papa? He is the heir to the property, and why should he not
+be permitted to see it? There are many things in which his co-operation
+with you might be a comfort to you. I can't tell you whether the
+tenants and people are treating you well, but he can do so; and,
+moreover, I think he means to be kind. I do not see why we should
+quarrel with our cousin because he is the heir to your property. It is
+not through any doing of his own that he is so.'
+
+This reasoning had no effect upon Mr Amedroz, but his daughter's
+resolution carried the point against him in spite of his want of
+reason. No letter was written that day, or on the next; but on the day
+following a formal note was sent off by Clara, in which Mr Belton was
+told that Mr Amedroz would be happy to receive him at Belton Castle.
+The letter was written by the daughter, but the father was responsible
+for the formality. He sat over her while she wrote it, and nearly drove
+her distracted by discussing every word and phrase. At last, Clara was
+so annoyed with her own production, that she was almost tempted to
+write another letter unknown to her father; but the formal note went.
+
+'My Dear Sir
+
+'I am desired by my father to say that he will be happy to receive you
+at Belton Castle, at the time fixed by yourself.
+
+Yours truly,
+
+CLARA AMEDROZ.'
+
+There was no more than that, but that had the desired effect; and by
+return of post there came a rejoinder saying that Will Belton would be
+at the Castle on the fifteenth of August. 'They can do without me for
+about ten days,' he said in his postscript, writing in a familiar tone,
+which did not seem to have been at all checked by the coldness of his
+cousin's note 'as our harvest will be late; but I must be back for a
+week's work before the partridges.'
+
+'Heartless! quite heartless!' Mr Amedroz said as he read this.
+'Partridges! to talk of partridges at such a time as this!'
+
+Clara, however, would not acknowledge that she agreed with her father;
+but she could not altogether restrain a feeling on her own part that
+her cousin's good humour towards her and Mr Amedroz should have been
+repressed by the tone of her letter to him. The man was to come,
+however, and she would not judge of him until he was there.
+
+In one house in the neighbourhood, and in only one, had Miss Amedroz a
+friend with whom she was intimate; and as regarded even this single
+friend, the intimacy was the effect rather of circumstances than of
+real affection. She liked Mrs Askerton, and saw her almost daily; but
+she could hardly tell herself that she loved her neighbour.
+
+In the little town of Belton, close to the church, there stood a
+pretty, small house, called Belton Cottage. It was so near the church
+that strangers always supposed it to be the parsonage; but the rectory
+stood away out in. the country, half a mile from the town, on the road
+to Redicote, and was a large house, three stories high, with grounds of
+its own, and very ugly. Here lived the old bachelor rector, seventy
+years of age, given much to long absences when he could achieve them,
+and never on good terms with his bishop. His two curates lived at
+Redicote, where there was a second church. Belton Cottage, which was
+occupied by Colonel Askerton and Mrs Askerton, was on the Amedroz
+property, and had been hired some two years since by the Colonel, who
+was then a stranger in the country and altogether unknown to the Belton
+people. But he had come there for shooting, and therefore his coming
+had been understood. Even as long ago as two years since, there had
+been neither use nor propriety in keeping the shooting for the squire's
+son, and it had been let with the cottage to Colonel Askerton. So
+Colonel Askerton had come there with his wife, and no one in the
+neighbourhood had known anything about them. Mr Amedroz, with his
+daughter, had called upon them, and gradually there had grown up an
+intimacy between Clara and Mrs Askerton. There was an opening from the
+garden of Belton Cottage into the park, so that familiar intercourse
+was easy, and Mrs Askerton was a woman who knew well how to make
+herself pleasant to such another woman as Miss Amedroz.
+
+The reader may as well know at ones that rumours prejudicial to the
+Askertons reached Belton before they had been established there for six
+months. At Taunton, which was twenty miles distant, these rumours were
+very rife, and there were people there who knew with accuracy though
+probably without a grain of truth in their accuracy every detail in the
+history of Mrs Askerton's life. And something, too, reached Clara's
+ears something from old Mr Wright, the rector, who loved scandal, and
+was very ill-natured. 'A very nice woman,' the rector had said; 'but
+she does not seem to have any belongings in particular.' 'She has got a
+husband,' Clara had replied with some little indignation, for she had
+never loved Mr Wright. 'Yes; I suppose she has got a husband.' Then
+Clara had, in her own judgment, accused the rector of lying,
+evil-speaking, and slandering, and had increased the measure of her
+cordiality to Mrs Askerton. But something more she had heard on the
+same subject at Perivale. 'Before you throw yourself into close
+intimacy with the lady, I think you should know something about her,'
+Mrs Winterfield had said to her. ' I do know something about her; I
+know that she has the manners and education of a lady, and that she is
+living affectionately with her husband, who is devoted to her. What
+more ought I to know?' 'If you really do know all that, you know a
+great deal,' Mrs Winterfield had replied.
+
+'Do you know anything against her, aunt?' Clara asked, after a pause.
+
+There was another pause before Mrs Winterfield answered. 'No, my dear;
+I cannot say that I do. But I think that young ladies, before they make
+intimate friendships, should be very sure of their friends.'
+
+'You have already acknowledged that I know a great deal about her,'
+Clara replied. And then the conversation was at an end. Clara had not
+been quite ingenuous, as she acknowledged to herself. She was aware
+that her aunt would not permit herself to repeat rumours as to the
+truth of which she had no absolute knowledge. She understood that the
+weakness of her aunt's caution was due to the old lady's sense of
+charity and dislike of slander. But Clara had buckled on her armour for
+Mrs Askerton, and was glad, therefore, to achieve her little victory.
+When we buckle on our armour in any cause, we are apt to go on buckling
+it, let the cause become as weak as it may; and Clara continued her
+intimacy with Mrs Askerton, although there was something in the lady's
+modes of speech, and something also in her modes of thinking, which did
+not quite satisfy the aspirations of Miss Amedroz as to a friend.
+
+Colonel Askerton himself was a pleasant, quiet man, who seemed to be
+contented with the life which he was leading. For six weeks in April
+and May he would go up to town, leaving Mrs Askerton at the cottage as
+to which, probably jovial, absence in the metropolis there seemed to be
+no spirit of grudging on the part of the wife. On the first of
+September a friend would come to the cottage and remain there for six
+weeks' shooting: and during the winter the Colonel and his wife always
+went to Paris for a fortnight. Such had been their life for the last
+two years; and thus so said Mrs Askerton to Clara did they intend to
+live as long as they could keep the cottage at Belton. Society at
+Belton they had none, and as they said desired none. Between them and
+Mr Wright there was only a speaking acquaintance. The married curate at
+Redicote would not let his wife call on Mrs Askerton, and the unmarried
+curate was a hard-worked, clerical hack a parochial minister at all
+times and seasons, who went to no houses except the houses of the poor,
+and who would hold communion with no man, and certainly with no woman,
+who would not put up with clerical admonitions for Sunday backslidings.
+Mr Amedroz himself neither received guests nor went as a guest to other
+men's houses. He would occasionally stand for a while at the gate of
+the Colonel's garden, and repeat the list of his own woes as long as
+his neighbour would stand there to hear it. But there was no society at
+Belton, and Clara, as far as she herself was aware, was the only person
+with whom Mrs Askerton held any social intercourse, except what she
+might have during her short annual holiday in Paris.
+
+'Of course, you are right,' she said, when Clara told her of the
+proposed coming of Mr Belton. 'If he turn out to be a good fellow, you
+will have gained a great deal. And should he be a bad, fellow, you will
+have lost nothing. In either case you will know him, and considering
+how he stands towards you, that itself is desirable.'
+
+'But if he should annoy papa?'
+
+'In your papa's condition, my dear, the coming of any one will annoy
+him. At least, he will say so; though I do not in the least doubt that
+he will like the excitement better even than you will.'
+
+'I can't say there will be much excitement to me.'
+
+'No excitement in a young man's coming into the house! Without shocking
+your propriety, allow me to say that that is impossible. Of course, he
+is coming to see whether he can't make matters all right by marrying
+you.'
+
+'That's nonsense, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'Very well. Let it be nonsense. But why shouldn't he? It's just what he
+ought to do. He hasn't got a wife; and, as far as I know, you haven't
+got a lover.'
+
+'I certainly have not got a lover.'
+
+'Our religious nephew at Perivale does not seem to be of any use.'
+
+'I wish, Mrs Askerton, you would not speak of Captain Aylmer in that
+way. I don't know any man whom I like so much, or at any rate better,
+than Captain Aylmer; but I hate the idea that no girl can become
+acquainted with an unmarried man without having her name mentioned with
+his, and having to hear ill-natured remarks of that kind.'
+
+'I hope you will learn to like this other man much better. Think how
+nice it will be to be mistress of the old place after all. And then to
+go back to the old family name! If I were you I would make up my mind
+not to let him leave the place till I had brought him to my feet.'
+
+'If you go on like that I will not speak to you about him again.'
+
+'Or rather not to my feet for gentlemen have laid aside the humble way
+of making love for the last twenty years at least; but I don't know
+whether the women haven't gained quite as much by the change as the
+men.'
+
+'As I know nothing will stop you when you once get into a vein of that
+kind, I shall go,' said Clara. 'And till this man has come and gone I
+shall not mention his name again in your presence.'
+
+'So be it,' said Mrs Askerton; 'but as I will promise to say nothing
+more about him, you need not go on his account.' But Clara had got up,
+and did leave the cottage at once.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WILL BELTON
+
+Mr Belton came to the castle, and nothing further had been said at the
+cottage about his coming. Clara had seen Mrs Askerton in the meantime
+frequently, but that lady had kept her promise almost to Clara's
+disappointment. For she though she had in truth disliked the
+proposition that her cousin could be coming with any special views with
+reference to herself had nevertheless sufficient curiosity about the
+stranger to wish to talk about him. Her father, indeed, mentioned
+Belton's name very frequently, saying something with reference to him
+every time he found himself in his daughter's presence. A dozen times
+he said that the man was heartless to come to the house at such a time,
+and he spoke of his cousin always as though the man were guilty of a
+gross injustice in being heir to the property. But not the less on that
+account did he fidget himself about the room in which Belton was to
+sleep, about the food that Belton was to eat, and especially about the
+wine that Belton was to drink. What was he to do for wine? The stock of
+wine in the cellars at Belton Castle was, no doubt, very low. The
+squire himself drank a glass or two of port daily, and had some remnant
+of his old treasures by him, which might perhaps last him his time; and
+occasionally there came small supplies of sherry from the grocer at
+Taunton; but Mr Amedroz pretended to think that Will Belton would want
+champagne and claret and he would continue to make these suggestions in
+spite of his own repeated complaints that the man was no better than an
+ordinary farmer. 'I've no doubt he'll like beer,' said Clara. 'Beer!'
+said her father, and then stopped himself, as though. he were lost in
+doubt whether it would best suit him to scorn his cousin for having so
+low a taste as that suggested on his behalf, or to ridicule his
+daughter's idea that the household difficulty admitted of so convenient
+a solution.
+
+The day of the arrival at last came, and Clara certainly was in a
+twitter, although she had steadfastly resolved that she would be in no
+twitter at all. She had told her aunt by letter of the proposed visit,
+and Mrs Winterfield had expressed her approbation, saying that she
+hoped it would lead to good results. Of what good results could her
+aunt be thinking? The one probable good result would surely. be this
+that relations so nearly connected should know each other. Why should
+there be any fuss made about such a visit? But, nevertheless, Clara,
+though she made no outward fuss, knew that inwardly she was not as calm
+about the man's coming as she would have wished herself to be.
+
+He arrived about five o'clock in a gig from Taunton. Five was the
+ordinary dinner hour at Belton, but it had been postponed till six on
+this day, in the hope that the cousin might make his appearance at any
+rate by that hour. Mr Amedroz had uttered various complaints as to the
+visitor's heartlessness in not having written to name the hour of his
+arrival, and was manifestly intending to make the most of the grievance
+should he not present himself before six but this indulgence was cut
+short by the sound of the gig wheels. Mr Amedroz and his daughter were
+sitting in a small drawing-room which looked out to the front of the
+house, and he, seated in his accustomed chair near the window, could
+see the arrival. For a moment or two he remained quiet in his chair, as
+though he would not allow so insignificant a thing as his cousin's
+coming to ruffle him but he could not maintain this dignified
+indifference, and before Belton was out of the gig he had shuffled out
+into the hall.
+
+Clara followed her father almost unconsciously, and soon found herself
+shaking hands with a big man, over six feet high, broad in the
+shoulders, large limbed, with bright quick grey eyes, a large mouth,
+teeth almost too perfect and a well-formed nose, with thick short brown
+hair and small whiskers which came half-way down his cheeks a decidedly
+handsome man with a florid face, but still, perhaps, with something of
+the promised roughness of the farmer. But a more good-humoured looking
+countenance Clara felt at once that she had never beheld.
+
+'And you are the little girl that I remember when I was a boy at Mr
+Folliott's?' he said. His voice was clear, and rather loud, but it
+sounded very pleasant in that sad old house.
+
+'Yes; I am the little girl,' said Clara smiling.
+
+'Dear, dear! and that's twenty years ago now,' said he.
+
+'But you oughtn't to remind me of that, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Oughtn't I? Why not?'
+
+'Because it shows how very old I am.'
+
+'Ah, yes to be sure. But there's nobody here that signifies. How well I
+remember this room and the old tower out there. It isn't changed a bit!'
+
+'Not to the outward eye, perhaps,' said the squire.
+
+'That's what I mean. So they're making hay still. Our hay has been all
+up these three weeks. I didn't know you ever meadowed the park.' Here
+he trod with dreadful severity upon the corns of Mr Amedroz, but he did
+not perceive it. And when the squire muttered something about a tenant,
+and the inconvenience of keeping land in his own hands, Belton would
+have gone on with the subject had not Clara changed the conversation.
+The squire complained bitterly of this to Clara when they were alone,
+saying that it was very heartless.
+
+She had a little scheme of her own a plan arranged for the saying of a
+few words to her cousin on the earliest opportunity of their being
+alone together and she contrived that this should take place within
+half an hour after his arrival, as he went through the hall up to his
+room. 'Mr Belton,' she said, 'I'm sure you will not take it amiss if I
+take a cousin's privilege at once and explain to you something of our
+way of living here. My dear father is not very strong.'
+
+'He is much altered since I saw him last.'
+
+'Oh, yes. Think of all that he has had to bear! Well, Mr Belton, the
+fact is, that we are not so well off as we used to be, and are obliged
+to live in a very quiet way. You will not mind that?'
+
+'Who? I?'
+
+'I take it very kind of you, your coming all this way to see us'
+
+'I'd have come three times the distance.'
+
+'But you must put up with us as you find us, you know. The truth is we
+are very poor.'
+
+'Well, now that's just what I wanted to know. One couldn't write and
+ask such a question; but I was sure I should find out if I came.'
+
+'You've found it out already, you see.'
+
+'As for being poor, it's a thing I don't think very much about not for
+young people. But it isn't comfortable when a man gets old. Now what I
+want to know is this; can't something be done?'
+
+'The only thing to do is to be very kind to him. He has had to let the
+park to Mr Stovey, and he doesn't like talking about it.'
+
+'But if it isn't talked about, how can it be mended?'
+
+'It can't be mended.'
+
+'We'll see about that. But I'll be kind to him; you see if I ain't. And
+I'll tell you what, I'll be kind to you too, if you'll let me. You have
+got no brother now.'
+
+'No,' said Clara; 'I have got no brother now.' Belton was looking full
+into her face, and saw that her eyes had become clouded with tears.
+
+'I will be your brother,' said he. 'You see if I don't. When I say a
+thing I mean it. I will be your brother.' And he took her hand,
+caressing it, and showing her that he was not in the least afraid of
+her. He was blunt in his bearing, saying things which her father would
+have called indelicate and heartless, as though they gave him no
+effort, and placing himself at once almost in a position of ascendency.
+This Clara had not intended. She had thought that her farmer cousin, in
+spite of the superiority of his prospects as heir to the property,
+would have acceded to her little hints with silent acquiescence; but
+instead of this he seemed prepared to take upon himself the chief part
+in the play that was to be acted between them. 'Shall it be so?' he
+said, still holding her hand.
+
+'You are very kind.'
+
+'I will be more than kind; I will love you dearly if you will let me.
+You don't suppose that I have looked you up here for nothing. Blood is
+thicker than water, and you have nobody now so near to you as I am. I
+don't see why you should be so poor, as the debts have been paid.'
+
+'Papa has had to borrow money on his life interest in the place.'
+
+'That's the mischief! Never mind. We'll see if we can't do something.
+And in the meantime don't make a stranger of me. Anything does for me.
+Lord bless you! if you were to see how I rough it sometimes! I can eat
+beans and bacon with any one; and what's more, I can go without 'em if
+I can't get 'em.'
+
+'We'd better get ready for dinner now. I always dress, because papa
+likes to see it.' This she said as a hint to her cousin that he would
+be expected to change his coat, for her father would have been annoyed
+had his guest sat down to dinner without such ceremony. Will Belton was
+not very good at taking hints; but he did understand this, and made the
+necessary change in his apparel.
+
+The evening was long and dull, and nothing occurred worthy of remark
+except the surprise manifested by Mr Amedroz when Belton called his
+daughter by her Christian name. This he did without the slightest
+hesitation, as though it were the most natural thing in the world for
+him to do. She was his cousin, and cousins of course addressed each
+other in that way. Clara's quick eye immediately saw her father's
+slight gesture of dismay, but Belton caught nothing of this. The squire
+took an early opportunity of calling him Mr Belton with some little
+peculiarity of expression; but this was altogether lost on Will, who
+five times in the next five minutes addressed 'Clara' as though they
+were already on the most intimate terms. She would have answered him in
+the same way, and would have called him Will, had she not been afraid
+of offending her father.
+
+Mr Amedroz had declared his purpose of coming down to breakfast during
+the period of his cousin's visit, and at half-past nine he was in the
+parlour. Clara had been there some time, but had not seen her cousin.
+He entered the room immediately after her father, bringing his hat with
+him in his hand, and wiping the drops of perspiration from his brow.
+'You have been out, Mr Belton,' said the squire.
+
+'All round the place, sir. Six o'clock doesn't often find me in bed,
+summer or winter. What's the use of laying in bed when one has had
+enough of sleep?'
+
+'But that's just the question,' said Clara; 'whether one has had enough
+at six o'clock.'
+
+'Women want more than men, of course. A man, if he means to do any good
+with land, must be out early. The grass will grow of itself at nights,
+but it wants looking after as soon as the daylight comes.'
+
+'I don't know that it would do much good to the grass here,' said the
+squire, mournfully.
+
+'As much here as anywhere. And indeed I've got something to say about
+that.' He had now seated himself at the breakfast-table, and was
+playing with his knife and fork. 'I think, sir, you're hardly making
+the best you can out of the park.'
+
+'We won't mind talking about it, if you please,' said the squire.
+
+'Well; of course I won't, if you don't like it; but upon my word you
+ought to look about you; you ought indeed.'
+
+'In what way do you mean?' said Clara.
+
+'If your father doesn't like to keep the land in his own hands, he
+should let it to some one who would put stock in it not go on cutting
+it year after year and putting nothing back, as this fellow will do.
+I've been talking to Stovey, and that's just what he means.'
+
+'Nobody here has got money to put stock on the land,' said the squire,
+angrily.
+
+'Then you should look for somebody somewhere else. That's all. I'll
+tell you what now, Mr Amedroz, I'll do it myself.' By this time he had
+helped himself to two large slices of cold mutton, and was eating his
+breakfast and talking with an equal amount of energy for either
+occupation.
+
+'That's out of the question,' said the squire.
+
+'I don't see why it should be out of the question. It would be better
+for you and better for me too, if this place is ever to be mine.' On
+hearing this the squire winced, but said nothing. This terrible fellow
+was so vehemently outspoken that the poor old man was absolutely unable
+to keep pace with him even to the repeating of his wish that the matter
+should be talked of no further. 'I'll tell you what I'll do, now,'
+continued Belton. 'There's altogether, outside the palings and in,
+about a hundred and fifty acres of it. I'll give you one pound two and
+sixpence an acre, and I won't cut an acre of grass inside the park no,
+nor much of it outside either only just enough to give me a little
+fodder for the cattle in winter.'
+
+'And give up Plaistow Hall?' asked Clara.
+
+'Lord love you, no. I've a matter of nine hundred acres on hand there,
+and most of it under the plough. I've counted it up, and it would just
+cost me a thousand pounds to stock this place. I should come and look
+at it twice a year or so, and I should see my money home again, if I
+didn't get any profit out of it.'
+
+Mr Amedroz was astonished. The man had only been in his house one
+night, and was proposing to take all his troubles off his hands. He did
+not relish the proposition at all. He did not like to be accused of not
+doing as well for himself as others could do for him. He did not wish
+to make any change although he remembered at the moment his anger with
+Farmer Stovey respecting the haycarts. He did not desire that the heir
+should have any immediate interest in the place. But he was not strong
+enough to meet the proposition with a direct negative. 'I couldn't get
+rid of Stovey in that way,' he said, plaintively. I've settled it all
+with Stovey already,' said Belton. 'He'll be glad enough to walk off
+with a twenty-pound note, which I'll give him. He can't make money out
+of the place. He hasn't got means to stock it, and then see the wages
+that hay-making runs away with! He'd lose by it even at what he's
+paying, and he knows it. There won't be any difficulty about Stovey.'
+
+By twelve o'clock on that day Mr Stovey had been brought into the
+house, and had resigned the land. It had been let to Mr William Belton
+at an increased rental a rental increased by nearly forty pounds per
+annum and that gentleman had already made many of his arrangements for
+entering upon his tenancy. The twenty pounds had already been paid to
+Stovey, and the transaction was complete. Mr Amedroz sat in his chair
+bewildered, dismayed and, as he himself declared shocked, quite
+shocked, at the precipitancy of the young man. It might be for the
+best. He didn't know. He didn't feel at all sure. But such hurrying in
+such a matter was, under all the circumstances of the family, to say
+the least of it, very indelicate. He was angry with himself for having
+yielded, and angry with Clara for having allowed him to do so. 'It
+doesn't signify much,' he said, at last. 'Of course he'll have it all
+to himself before long.'
+
+'But, papa, it really seems to be a much better arrangement for you.
+You'll get more money'
+
+'Money is not everything, my dear.'
+
+'But you'd sooner have Mr Belton, our own cousin, about the place, than
+Mr Stovey.'
+
+'I don't know. We shall see. The thing is done now, and there is no use
+in complaining. I must say he hasn't shown a great deal of delicacy.'
+
+On that afternoon Belton asked Clara to go out with him, and walk round
+the place. He had been again about the grounds, and had made plans, and
+counted up capabilities, and calculated his profit and losses. 'If you
+don't dislike scrambling about,' said he, 'I'll show you everything
+that I intend to do.'
+
+'But I can't have any changes made, Mr Belton,' said Mr Amedroz, with
+some affectation of dignity in his manner. 'I won't have the fences
+moved, or anything of that kind.'
+
+'Nothing shall be done, sir, that you don't approve. I'll just manage
+it all as if I was acting as your own bailiff.' 'Son,' he was going to
+say, but he remembered the fate of his cousin Charles just in time to
+prevent the use of the painful word.
+
+'I don't want to have anything done,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'Then nothing shall be done. We'll just mend a fence or two, to keep in
+the cattle, and leave other things as they are. But perhaps Clara will
+walk out with me all the same.'
+
+Clara was quite ready to walk out, and had already tied on her hat and
+taken her parasol.
+
+'Your father is a little nervous,' said he, as soon as they were beyond
+hearing of the house.
+
+'Can you wonder at it, when you remember all that he has suffered.'
+
+'I don't wonder at it in the least; and I don't wonder at his disliking
+me either.'
+
+'I don't think he dislikes you, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Oh, but he does. Of course he does. I'm the heir to the place instead
+of you. It is natural that he should dislike me. But I'll live it down.
+You see if I don't. I'll make him so fond of me, he'll always want to
+have me here. I don't mind a little dislike to begin with.'
+
+'You're a wonderful man, Mr Belton.'
+
+'I wish you wouldn't call me Mr Belton. But of course you must do as
+you please about that. If I can make him call me Will, I suppose you'll
+call me so too.'
+
+'Oh, yes; then I will.'
+
+'It don't much matter what a person is called; does it! Only one likes
+to be friendly with one's friends. I suppose you don't like my calling
+you Clara.'
+
+'Now you've begun you had better go on.'
+
+'I mean to. I make it a rule never to go back in the world. Your father
+is half sorry that he has agreed about the place; but I shan't let him
+off now. And I'll tell you what. In spite of what he says, I'll have it
+as different as possible before this time next year. 'Why, there's lots
+of timber that ought to come out of the plantation; and there's places
+where the roots want stubbing up horribly. These things always pay for
+themselves if they are properly done. Any good done in the world always
+pays.' Clara often remembered those words afterwards when she was
+thinking of her cousin's character. Any good done in the world always
+pays!
+
+'But you mustn't offend my father, even though it should do good,' she
+said.
+
+'I understand,' he answered. 'I won't tread on his toes. Where do you
+get your milk and butter?'
+
+'We buy them.'
+
+'From Stovey, I suppose.'
+
+'Yes; from Mr Stovey. It goes against the rent.'
+
+'And it ought to go against the grain too living in the country and
+paying for milk! I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a cow. It
+shall be a little present from me to you.' He said nothing of the more
+important present which this would entail upon him in the matter of the
+grass for the cow; but she understood the nature of the arrangement,
+and was anxious to prevent it.
+
+'Oh, Mr Belton, I think we'd better not attempt that,' she said.
+
+'But we will attempt it. I've pledged myself to do nothing to oppose
+your father; but I've made no such promise as to you. We'll have a cow
+before I'm many days older. What a pretty place this is! I do like
+these rocks so much, and it is such a comfort to be off the flat.'
+
+'It is pretty.'
+
+'Very pretty. You've no conception what an ugly place Plaistow is. The
+land isn't actual fen now, but it was once. And it's quite flat. And
+there is a great dike, twenty feet wide, oozing through it just oozing,
+you know; and lots of little dikes, at right angles with the big one.
+And the fields are all square. And there are no hedges and hardly a
+tree to be seen in the place.
+
+'What a picture you have drawn! I should commit suicide if I lived
+there.'
+
+'Not if you had so much to do as I have.'
+
+'And what is the house like?'
+
+'The house is good enough an old-fashioned manor-house, with high brick
+chimneys, and brick gables, tiled all over, and large square windows
+set in stone. The house is good enough, only it stands in the middle of
+a farm-yard. I said there were no trees, but there is an avenue.'
+
+'Come, that is something.'
+
+'It was an old family seat, and they used to have avenues in those
+days; but it doesn't lead up to the present hail door. It comes
+sideways up to the farm. yard; so that the whole thing must have been
+different once, and there must have been a great court-yard. In
+Elizabeth's time Plaistow Manor was rather a swell place, and belonged
+to some Roman Catholics who came to grief, and then the Howards got it.
+There's a whole history about it, only I don't care much about those
+things.'
+
+'And is it yours now?'
+
+'It's between me and my uncle, and I pay him rent for his part. He's a
+clergyman you know, and he has a living in Lincolnshire not far off.'
+
+'And do you live alone in that big house?'
+
+'There's my sister. You've heard of Mary  haven't you?'
+
+Then Clara remembered that there was a Miss Belton, a poor sickly
+creature, with a twisted spine and a hump back, as to whose welfare she
+ought to have made inquiries.
+
+'Oh yes; of course,' said Clara. 'I hope she's better than she used to
+be when we heard of her.'
+
+'She'll never be better. But then she does not become much worse. I
+think she does grow a little weaker. She's older than I am, you know
+two years older; but you would think she was quite an old woman to look
+at her.' Then, for the next half-hour, they talked about Mary Belton as
+they visited every corner of the place. Belton still had an eye to
+business as he went on talking, and Clara remarked how many sticks he
+moved as he went, how many stones he kicked on one side, and how
+invariably he noted any defect in the fences. But still he talked of
+his sister, swearing that she was as good as gold, and at last wiping
+away the tears from his eyes as he described her maladies. 'And yet I
+believe she is better off than any of us,' he said, 'because she is so
+good.' Clara began to wish that she had called him Will from the
+beginning, because she liked him so much. He was just the man to have
+for a cousin a true loving cousin, stalwart, self-confident, with a
+grain or two of tyranny in his composition as becomes a man in relation
+to his intimate female relatives; and one, moreover, with whom she
+could trust herself to be familiar without any danger of love-making!
+She saw his character clearly, and told herself that she understood it
+perfectly. He wag a jewel of a cousin, and she must begin to call him
+Will as speedily as possible.
+
+At last they came round in their walk to the gate leading into Colonel
+Askerton's garden; and here in the garden, close to the gate, they
+found Mrs Askerton. I fancy that she had been watching for them, or at
+any rate watching for Clara, so that she might know how her friend was
+carrying herself with her cousin. She came at once to the wicket, and
+there she was introduced by Clara to Mr Belton. Mr Belton, as he made
+his bow, muttered something awkwardly, and seemed to lose his self-
+possession for the moment. Mrs Askerton was very gracious to him, and
+she knew well how to be both gracious and ungracious. She talked about
+the scenery, and the charms of the old place, and the dullness of the
+people around them, and the inexpediency of looking for society in
+country places; till after awhile Mr Belton was once more at his ease.
+
+'How is Colonel Askerton?' asked Clara.
+
+'He's in-doors. Will you come and see him? He's reading a French novel,
+as usual. It's  the only thing he ever does in summer. Do you ever read
+French novels, Mr Belton?'
+
+'I read very little at all, and when I do I read English.'
+
+'Ah, you're a man who has a pursuit in life, no doubt.'
+
+'I should rather think so that is, if you mean, by a pursuit, earning
+my bread. A man has not much time for French novels with a thousand
+acres of land on his hands; even if he knew how to read French, which I
+don't.'
+
+'But you're not always at work on your farm?'
+
+'It's  pretty constant, Mrs Askerton. Then I shoot, and hunt.'
+
+'You're a sportsman?'
+
+'All men living in the country are more or less.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton shoots a great deal. He has the shooting of Belton,
+you know. He'll be delighted, I'm sure, to see you if you are here some
+time in September. But you, coming from Norfolk, would not care for
+partridge-shooting in Somersetshire.'
+
+'I don't see why it shouldn't be as good here as there.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton thinks he has got a fair head of game upon the place.'
+
+'I dare say. Game is easily kept if people knew how to set about it.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has a very good keeper, and has gone to a great deal
+of expense since he has been here.'
+
+'I'm my own head-keeper,' said Belton;' and so I will be or rather
+should be, if I had this place.'
+
+Something in the lady's tone had grated against his feelings and
+offended him; or perhaps he thought that she assumed too many of the
+airs of proprietorship because the shooting of the place had been let
+to her husband for thirty pounds a year.
+
+'I hope you don't mean to say you'll turn us out,' said Mrs Askerton,
+laughing.
+
+'I have no power to turn anybody out or in,' said he. 'I've got nothing
+to do with it.'
+
+Clara, perceiving that matters were not going quite pleasantly between
+her old and new friend, thought it best to take her departure. Belton,
+as he went, lifted his hat from his head, and Clara could not keep
+herself from thinking that he was not only very handsome, but that he
+looked very much like a gentleman, in spite of his occupation as a
+farmer.
+
+'Bye-bye, Clara,' said Mrs Askerton; 'come down and see me tomorrow,
+there's a dear. Don't forget what a dull life I have of it.' Clara said
+that she would come. And I shall be so happy to see Mr Belton if he
+will call before he leaves you.' At this Belton again raised his hat
+from his head, and muttered some word or two of civility. But this, his
+latter muttering, was different from the first, for he had altogether
+regained his presence of mind.
+
+'You didn't seem to get on very well with my friend,' said Clara,
+laughing, as soon as they had turned away from the cottage.
+
+'Well, no that is to say, not particularly well or particularly badly.
+At first I took her for somebody else I knew slightly ever so long ago,
+and I was thinking of that other person at the time.'
+
+'And what was the other person's name?'
+
+'I can't even remember that at the present moment.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton was a Miss Oliphant.'
+
+'That wasn't the other lady's name. But, independently of that, they
+can't be the same. The other lady married a Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'A Mr Berdmore!' Clara as she repeated the name felt convinced that she
+had heard it before, and that she had heard it in connexion with Mrs
+Askerton. She certainly had heard the name of Berdmore pronounced, or
+had seen it written, or had in some shape come across the name in Mrs
+Askerton's presence; or at any rate somewhere on the premises occupied
+by that lady. More than this she could not remember; but the name, as
+she had now heard it from her cousin, became at once distinctly
+connected in her memory with her friends at the cottage.
+
+'Yes,' said Belton; 'a Berdmore. I knew more of him than of her, though
+for the matter of that, I knew very little of him either. She was a
+fast-going girl, and his friends were very sorry. But I think they are
+both dead or divorced, or that they have come to grief in some way.'
+
+'And is Mrs Askerton like the fast-going lady?'
+
+'In a certain way. Not that I remember what the fast-going lady was
+like; but there was something about this woman that put me in mind of
+the other. Vigo was her name; now I recollect it a Miss Vigo. It's nine
+or ten years ago now, and I was little more than a boy.'
+
+'Her name was Oliphant.'
+
+'I don't suppose they have anything to do with each other. What riled
+me was the way she talked of the shooting. People do when they take a
+little shooting. They pay some trumpery thirty or forty pounds a year,
+and then they seem to think that it's almost the same as though they
+owned the property themselves. I've known a man talk of his manor
+because he had the shooting of a wood and a small farm round it. They
+are generally shop-keepers out of London, gin distillers, or brewers,
+or people like that.'
+
+'Why, Mr Belton, I didn't think you could be so furious!
+
+'Can't I? When my back's up, it is up! But it isn't up yet.'
+
+'And I hope it won't be up while you remain in Somersetshire.'
+
+'I won't answer for that. There's Stovey's empty cart standing just
+where it stood yesterday; and he promised he'd have it home before
+three today. My back will be up with him if he doesn't mind himself.'
+
+It was nearly six o'clock when they got back to the house, and Clara
+was surprised to find that she had been out three hours with her
+cousin. Certainly it had been very pleasant. The usual companion of her
+walks, when she had a companion, was Mrs Askerton; but Mrs Askerton did
+not like real walking. She would creep about the grounds for an hour or
+so, and even such companionship as that was better to Clara than
+absolute solitude; but now she had been carried about the place,
+getting over stiles and through gates, and wandering through the
+copses, till she was tired and hungry, and excited and happy. 'Oh,
+papa,' she said, 'we have had such a walk!'
+
+'I thought we were to have dined at five,' he replied, in a low wailing
+voice.
+
+'No, papa, indeed indeed you said six.'
+
+'That was for yesterday.'
+
+'You said we were to make it six while Mr Belton was here.'
+
+'Very well if it must be, I suppose it must be.'
+
+'You don't mean on my account,' said Will. 'I'll undertake to eat my
+dinner, sir, at any hour that you'll undertake to give it me. If
+there's a strong point about me at all, it is my appetite.'
+
+Clara, when she went to her father's room that evening, told him what
+Mr Belton had said about the shooting, knowing that her father's
+feelings would agree with those which had been expressed by her cousin.
+Mr Amedroz of course made this an occasion for further grumbling,
+suggesting that Belton wanted to get the shooting for himself as he had
+got the farm. But, nevertheless, the effect which Clara had intended
+was produced, and before she left him he had absolutely proposed that
+the shooting and the land should go together.
+
+'I'm sure that Mr Belton doesn't mean that at all,' said Clara.
+
+'I don't care what he means,' said the squire.
+
+'And it wouldn't do to treat Colonel Askerton in that way,' said Clara.
+
+'I shall treat him just as I like,' said the squire.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING
+
+A DEAR cousin, and safe against love-making! This was Clara's verdict
+respecting Will Belton, as she lay thinking of him in bed that night.
+Why that warranty against love-making should be a virtue in her eyes I
+cannot, perhaps, explain. But all young ladies are apt to talk to
+themselves in such phrases about gentlemen with whom they are thrown
+into chance intimacy as though love-making were in itself a thing
+injurious and antagonistic to happiness, instead of being, as it is,
+the very salt of life. Safe against love-making! And yet Mrs Askerton,
+her friend, had spoken of the probability of such love-making as being
+the great advantage of his coming. And there could not be a second
+opinion as to the expediency of a match between her and her cousin in a
+worldly point of view. Clara, moreover, had already perceived that he
+was a man fit to guide a wife, very good- humoured and good-tempered
+also, anxious to give pleasure to others, a man of energy and
+forethought, who would be sure to do well in the world and hold his
+head always high among his fellows as good a husband as a girl could
+have. Nevertheless, she congratulated herself in that she felt
+satisfied that he was safe against love-making! Might it be possible
+that the pressing of hands at Taunton had been so tender, and those
+last words spoken with Captain Aylmer so soft, that on his account she
+felt delighted to think that her cousin was warranted not to make love?
+
+And what did Will Belton think about his cousin, insured as he was thus
+supposed to be against the dangers of love? He, also, lay awake for
+awhile that night, thinking over his new friendship. Or rather he
+thought of it walking about his room, and looking out at the bright
+harvest moon for with him to be in bed was to be asleep. He sat himself
+down, and he walked about, and he leaned out of the window into the
+cool night air; and he made some comparisons in his mind, and certain
+calculations; and he thought of his present home, and of his sister,
+and of his future prospects as they were concerned with the old place
+at which he was now staying; and he portrayed to himself, in his mind,
+Clara's head and face and figure and feet and he resolved that she
+should be his wife. He had never seen a girl who seemed to suit him so
+well. Though he had only been with her for a day, he swore to himself
+that he knew he could love her. Nay he swore to himself that he did
+love her. Then when he had quite made up his mind, he tumbled into his
+bed and was asleep in five minutes.
+
+Miss Amedroz was a handsome young woman, tall, well-made, active, and
+full of health. She carried herself as though she thought her limbs
+were made for use, and not simply for ease upon a sofa. Her head and
+neck stood well upon her shoulders, and her waist showed none of those
+waspish proportions of which ladies used to be more proud than I
+believe them to be now, in their more advanced state of knowledge and
+taste. There was much about her in which she was like her cousin, as
+though the blood they had in common between them had given to both the
+same proportions and the same comeliness. Her hair was of a dark brown
+colour, as was his. Her eyes were somewhat darker than his, and perhaps
+not so full of constant movement; but they were equally bright, and
+possessed that quick power of expressing tenderness which belonged to
+them. Her nose was more finely cut, as was also her chin, and the oval
+of her face; but she had the same large expressive mouth, and the same
+perfection of ivory-white teeth. As has been said before, Clara
+Amedroz, who was now nearly twenty-six years of age, was not a
+young-looking woman. To the eyes of many men that would have been her
+fault; but in the eyes of Belton it was no fault. He had not made
+himself fastidious as to women by much consort with them, and he was
+disposed to think that she who was to become his wife had better be
+something more than a girl not long since taken out of the nursery. He
+was well-to-do in the world, and could send his wife out in her
+carriage, with all becoming bravery of appurtenances. And he would do
+so, too, when he should have a wife. But still he would look to his
+wife to be a useful partner to him. She should be a woman not above
+agricultural solicitude, or too proud to have a care for her cows.
+Clara, he was sure, had no false pride; and yet as he was sure also she
+was at every point such a lady as would do honour to the carriage and
+the bravery when it should be forthcoming. And then such a marriage as
+this would put an end to all the trouble which he felt in reference to
+the entail on the estate. He knew that he was to be master of Belton,
+and of course had, in that knowledge, the satisfaction which men do
+feel from the consciousness of their future prosperity. And this with
+him was enhanced by a strong sympathy with old-fashioned prejudices as
+to family. He would be Belton of Belton; and there had been Beltons of
+Belton in old days, for a longer time backwards than he was able to
+count. But still the prospect had not been without its alloy, and he
+had felt real distress at the idea of turning his cousin out of her
+father's house. Such a marriage as that he now contemplated would put
+all these things right.
+
+When he got up in the morning he was quite as keen about it as he had
+been on the previous evening and as he thought about it the more, he
+became keener and still more keen. On the previous evening, as he was
+leaning out of the window endeavouring to settle in his own mind what
+would be the proper conduct of the romance of the thing, he had
+considered that he had better not make his proposal quite at once. He
+was to remain eight days at Belton, and as eight days was not a long
+period of acquaintance, he had reflected that it might be well for him
+to lay what foundation for love it might be in his power to construct
+during his present sojourn, and then return and complete the work
+before Christmas. But as he was shaving himself, the habitual
+impatience of his nature predominated, and he became disposed to think
+that delay would be useless, and might perhaps be dangerous. It might
+be possible that Clara would be unable to give him a decisive answer so
+quickly as to enable him to return home an accepted lover; but if such
+doubt were left, such doubt would give him an excuse for a speedy
+return to Belton. He did not omit to tell himself that very probably he
+might not succeed at all. He was a man not at all apt to feel assurance
+that he could carry all before him in love. But in this matter, as in
+all others which required from him any personal effort, he prepared
+himself to do his best, leaving the consequences to follow as they
+might. When he threw his seed corn into the earth with all such due
+appliances of agricultural skill and industry as his capital and
+experience enabled him to use, he did his part towards the production
+of next year's crop; and after that he must leave it to a higher Power
+to give to him, or to withhold from him, the reward of his labour. He
+had found that, as a rule, the reward had been given when the labour
+had been honest; and he was now prepared to follow the same plan, with
+the same hopes, in this matter of his love-making.
+
+After much consideration very much consideration, a consideration which
+took him the whole time that he was brushing his hair and washing his
+teeth he resolved that he would, in the first instance, speak to Mr
+Amedroz. Not that he intended that the father should win the daughter
+for him. He had an idea that he would like to do that work for himself.
+But he thought that the old squire would be better pleased if his
+consent were asked in the first instance. The present day was Sunday,
+and he would not speak on the subject till Monday. This day he would
+devote to the work of securing his future father-in-law's good opinion;
+to that and to his prayers.
+
+And he had gained very much upon Mr Amedroz before the evening of the
+day was over. He was a man before whom difficulties seemed to yield,
+and who had his own way simply because he had become accustomed to ask
+for it to ask for it and to work for it. He had so softened the
+squire's tone of thought towards him, that the future stocking of the
+land was spoken of between them with something like energy on both
+sides; and Mr Amedroz had given his consent, without any difficulty, to
+the building of a shed for winter stall-feeding. Clara sat by
+listening, and perceived that Will Belton would soon be allowed to do
+just what he pleased with the place. Her father talked as she had not
+heard him talk since her poor brother's death, and was quite animated
+on the subject of woodcraft. 'We don't know much about timber down
+where I am,' said Will, 'just because we've got no trees.'
+
+'I'll show you your way,' said the old man. 'I've managed the timber on
+the estate myself for the last forty years.' Will Belton of course did
+not say a word as to the gross mismanagement which had been apparent
+even to him. What a cousin he was! Clara thought what a paragon among
+cousins! And then he was so manifestly safe against love-making! So
+safe, that he only cared to talk about timber, and oxen, and fences,
+and winter-forage! But it was all just as it ought to be; and if her
+father did not call him Will before long, she herself would set the way
+by doing so first. A very paragon among cousins!
+
+'What a flatterer you are,' she said to him that night.
+
+'A flatterer! I?'
+
+
+
+'Yes, you. You have flattered papa out of all his animosity already. I
+shall be jealous soon; for he'll think more of you than of me.'
+
+'I hope he'll come to think of us as being nearly equally near to him,'
+said Belton, with a tone that was half serious and half tender. Now
+that he had made up his mind, he could not keep his hand from the work
+before him an instant. But Clara had also made up her mind, and would
+not be made to think that her cousin could mean anything that was more
+than cousinly.
+
+'Upon my word,' she said, laughing, 'that is very cool on your part.'
+
+'I came here determined to be friends with him at any rate.'
+
+'And you did so without any thought of me. But you said you would be my
+brother, and I shall not forget your promise. Indeed, indeed, I cannot
+tell you how glad I am that you have come both for papa's sake and my
+own. You have done him so much good that I only dread to think that you
+are going so soon.'
+
+'I'll be back before long. I think nothing of running across here from
+Norfolk. You'll see enough of me before next summer.'
+
+Soon after breakfast on the next morning he got Mr Amedroz out into the
+grounds, on the plea of showing him the proposed site for the cattle
+shed; but not a word was said about the shed on that occasion. He went
+to work at his other task at once, and when that was well on hand the
+squire was quite unfitted for the consideration of any less important
+matter, however able to discuss it Belton might have been himself.
+
+'I've got something particular that I want to say to you, sir,' Belton
+began.
+
+Now Mr Amedroz was of opinion that his cousin had been saying something
+very particular ever since his arrival, and was rather frightened at
+this immediate prospect of a new subject.
+
+'There's nothing wrong; is there?'
+
+'No, nothing wrong at least, I hope it's not wrong. Would not it be a
+good plan, sir, if I were to marry my cousin Clara?'
+
+What a terrible young man! Mr Amedroz felt that his breath was so
+completely taken away from him that he was quite unable to speak a word
+of answer at the moment. Indeed, he was unable to move, and stood
+still, where he had been fixed by the cruel suddenness of the
+proposition made to him.
+
+'Of course I know nothing of what she may think about it,' continued
+Belton. 'I thought it best to come to you before I spoke a word to her.
+And I know that in many ways she is above me. She is better educated,
+and reads more, and all that sort of thing. And it may be that she'd
+rather marry a London man than a fellow who passes all his time in the
+country. But she couldn't get one who would love her better or treat
+her more kindly. And then as to the property; you must own it would be
+a good arrangement. You'd like to know it would go to your own child
+and your own grandchild wouldn't you, sir? And I'm not badly off,
+without looking to this place at all, and could give her every thing
+she wants. But then I don't know that she'd care to marry a farmer.'
+These last words he said in a melancholy tone, as though aware that he
+was confessing his own disgrace.
+
+The squire had listened to it all, and had not as yet said a word. And
+now, when Belton ceased, he did not know what word to speak. He was a
+man whose thoughts about women were chivalrous, and perhaps a little
+old-fashioned. Of course, when a man contemplates marriage, he could do
+nothing better, nothing more honourable, than consult the lady's father
+in the first instance. But he felt that even a father should be
+addressed on such a subject with great delicacy. There should be
+ambages in such a matter. The man who resolved to commit himself to
+such a task should come forward with apparent difficulty with great
+diffidence, and even with actual difficulty. He should keep himself
+almost hidden, as behind a mask, and should tell of his own ambition
+with doubtful, quivering voice. And the ambages should take time. He
+should approach the citadel to be taken with covered ways working his
+way slowly and painfully. But this young man, before he had been in the
+house three days, said all that he had to say without the slightest
+quaver in his voice, and evidently expected to get an answer about the
+squire's daughter as quickly as he had got it about the squire's land.
+
+'You have surprised me very much,' said the old man at last, drawing
+his breath.
+
+'I'm quite in earnest about it. Clara seems to me to be the very girl
+to make a good wife to such a one as I am. She's got everything that a
+woman ought to have By George, she has!'
+
+'She is a good girl, Mr Belton.'
+
+'She is as good as gold, every inch of her.'
+
+'But you have not known her very long, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Quite long enough for my purposes. You see I knew all about her
+beforehand who she is, and where she comes from. There's a great deal
+in that, you know.'
+
+Mr Amedroz shuddered at the expressions used. It was grievous to him to
+hear his daughter spoken of as one respecting whom some one knew who
+she was and whence she came. Such knowledge respecting the daughter of
+such a family was, as a matter of course, common to all polite persons.
+'Yes,' said Mr Amedroz, stiffly: 'you know as much as that about her,
+certainly.'
+
+'And she knows as much about me. Now the question is, whether you have
+any objection to make?'
+
+'Really, Mr Belton, you have taken me so much by surprise that I do not
+feel myself competent to answer you at once.'
+
+'Shall we say in an hour's time, sir?' An hour's time! Mr Amedroz, if
+he could have been left to his own guidance, would have thought a month
+very little for such a work.
+
+'I suppose you would wish me to see Clara first,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'Oh dear, no. I would much rather ask her myself if only I could get
+your consent to my doing so.'
+
+'And you have said nothing to her?'
+
+'Not a word.'
+
+'I am glad of that. You would have behaved badly, I think, had you done
+so while staying under my roof.'
+
+'I thought it best, at any rate, to come to you first. But as I must be
+back at Plaistow on this day week, I haven't much time to lose. So if
+you could think about it this afternoon, you know Mr Amedroz, much
+bewildered, promised that he would do his best, and eventually did
+bring himself to give an answer on the next morning. 'I have been
+thinking about this all night,' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'I'm sure I'm very much obliged to you,' said Belton, feeling rather
+ashamed of his own remissness as he remembered how soundly he had
+himself slept.
+
+'If you are quite sure of yourself'
+
+'Do you mean sure of loving her? I am as sure of that as anything.'
+
+'But men are so apt to change their fancies.'
+
+'I don't know much about my fancies; but I don't often change my
+purpose when I'm in earnest. In such a matter as this I couldn't
+change. I'll say as much as that for myself, though it may seem bold.'
+
+'Of course, in regard to money such a marriage would be advantageous to
+my child. I don't know whether you know it, but I shall have nothing to
+give her literally nothing.'
+
+'All the better, sir, as far as I am concerned. I'm not one who wants
+to be saved from working by a wife's fortune.'
+
+'But most men like to get something when they marry.'
+
+'I want to get nothing nothing, that is, in the way of money. If Clara
+becomes my wife I'll never ask you for one shilling.'
+
+'I hope her aunt will do something for her.' This the old man said in a
+wailing voice, as though the expression of such a hope was grievous to
+him.
+
+'If she becomes my wife, Mrs Winterfield will be quite at liberty to
+leave her money elsewhere.' There were old causes of dislike between Mr
+Belton and Mrs Winterfield, and even now Mrs Winterfield was almost
+offended because Mr Belton was staying at Belton Castle.
+
+'But all that is quite uncertain,' continued Mr Amedroz.
+
+'And I have your leave to speak to Clara myself?'
+
+'Well, Mr Belton; yes; I think so. I do not see why you should not
+speak to her. But I fear you are a little too precipitate. Clara has
+known you so very short a time, that you can hardly have a right to
+hope that she should learn to regard you at once as you would have her
+do.' As he heard this, Belton's face became long and melancholy. He had
+taught himself to think that he could dispense with that delay till
+Christmas which he had at first proposed to himself, and that he might
+walk into the arena at once, and perhaps win the battle in the first
+round. 'Three days is such a very short time,' said the squire.
+
+'It is short certainly,' said Belton.
+
+The father's leave was however given, and armed with that, Belton was
+resolved that he would take, at any rate, some preliminary steps in
+love-making before he returned to Plaistow. What would be the nature of
+the preliminary steps taken by such a one as him, the reader by this
+time will probably be able to surmise.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+NOT SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING
+
+'Why don't you call him Will?' Clara said to her father. This question
+was asked on the evening of that Monday on which Mr Amedroz had given
+his consent as to the marriage proposal.
+
+'Call him Will! Why should I?'
+
+'You used to do so, when he was a boy.'
+
+'Of course I did; but that is years ago. He would think it impertinent
+now.'
+
+'Indeed he would not; he would like it. He has told me so. It sounds so
+cold to him to be called Mr Belton by his relations.'
+
+The father looked at his daughter as though for a moment he also
+suspected that matters had really been arranged between her and her
+future lover without his concurrence, and before his sanction had been
+obtained. But if for a moment such a thought did cress his mind, it did
+not dwell there. He trusted Belton; but as to his daughter, he knew
+that he might be sure of her. It would be impossible with her to keep
+such a secret from him, even for half a day. And yet, how odd it was!
+Here was a man who in three days had fallen in love with his daughter;
+and here was his daughter apparently quite as ready to be in love with
+the man. How could she, who was ordinarily circumspect, and almost cold
+in her demeanour towards strangers who was from circumstances and from
+her own disposition altogether hostile to flirting intimacies how could
+this Clara have changed her nature so speedily? The squire did not
+understand it, but was prepared to believe that it was all for the
+best. 'I'll call him Will, if you like it,' said he.
+
+'Do, papa, and then I can do so also. He is such a good fellow, and I
+am so fond of him.'
+
+On the next morning Mr Amedroz did, with much awkwardness, call his
+guest by his Christian name. Clara caught her cousin's eye and smiled,
+and he also smiled. At that moment he was more in love than ever. Could
+anything be more charming than this? Immediately after breakfast he was
+going over to Redicote, to see a builder in a small way who lived
+there, and whom he proposed to employ in putting up the shed for the
+cattle; but he almost begrudged the time, so anxious was he to begin
+his suit. But his plan had been laid out and he would follow it. 'I
+think I shall be back by three o'clock,' he said to Clara, 'and then
+we'll have our walk.'
+
+'I'll be ready; and you can call for me at Mr Askerton's. I must go
+down there, and it will save you something in your walk to pick me up
+at the cottage.' And so the arrangements for the day were made.
+
+Clara had promised that she would soon call at the cottage, and was,
+indeed, rather anxious to see Mrs Askerton on her own account. What she
+had heard from her cousin as to a certain Miss Vigo of old days had
+interested her, and also what she had heard of a certain Mr Berdmore.
+It had been evident to her that her cousin had thought little about it.
+The likeness of the lady he then saw to the lady he had before known.
+had at first struck him; but when he found that the two ladies were not
+represented by one and the same person, he was satisfied, and there was
+an end of the matter for him. But it was not so with Clara. Her
+feminine mind dwelt on the matter with more earnestness than he had
+cared to entertain, and her clearer intellect saw possibilities which
+did not occur to him. But it was not till she found herself walking
+across the park to the cottage that she remembered that any inquiries
+as to her past life might be disagreeable to Mrs Askerton. She had
+thought of asking her friend plainly whether the names of Vigo and
+Berdmore had ever been familiar to her; but she reminded herself that
+there had been rumours afloat, and that there might be a mystery. Mrs
+Askerton would sometimes talk of her early life; but she would do this
+with dreamy, indistinct language, speaking of the sorrows of her
+girlhood, but not specifying their exact nature, seldom mentioning any
+names, and never referring with clear personality to those who had been
+nearest to her when she had been a child. Clara had seen her friend's
+maiden name, Mary Oliphant, written in a book, and seeing it had
+alluded to it. On that occasion Mrs Askerton had spoken of herself as
+having been an Oliphant, and thus Clara had come to know the fact. But
+now, as she made her way to the cottage, she remembered that she had
+learned nothing more than this as to Mrs Askerton's early life. Such
+being the case, she hardly knew how to ask any question about the two
+names that had been mentioned. And yet, why should she not ask such a
+question? Why should she doubt Mrs Askerton? And if she did doubt, why
+should not her doubts be solved?
+
+She found Colonel Askerton and his wife together, and she certainly
+would ask no such question in his presence. He was a slight built, wiry
+man, about fifty, with iron-grey hair and beard who seemed to have no
+trouble in life, and to desire but few pleasures. Nothing could be more
+regular than the course of his days, and nothing more idle. He
+breakfasted at eleven, smoked and read till the afternoon, when he rode
+for an hour or two; then he dined, read again, smoked again, and went
+to bed. In September and October he shot, and twice in the year, as has
+been before stated, went away to seek a little excitement elsewhere. He
+seemed to be quite contented with his lot, and was never heard to speak
+an angry word with any one. Nobody cared for him much; but then he
+troubled himself with no one's affairs. He never went to church, and
+had not eaten or drank in any house but his own since he had come to
+Belton.
+
+'Oh, Clara, you naughty girl,' said Mrs Askerton, 'why didn't you come
+yesterday? I was expecting you all day.'
+
+'I was busy. Really, we've grown to be quite industrious people since
+my cousin came.'
+
+'They tell me he's taking the land into his own hands,' said the
+colonel.
+
+'Yes, indeed; and he is going to build sheds, and buy cattle; and I
+don't know what he doesn't mean to do; so that we shall be alive again.'
+
+'I hope he won't want my shooting.'
+
+'He has shooting of his own in Norfolk,' said Clara.
+
+'Then he'll hardly care to come here for that purpose. When I heard of
+his proceedings I began to be afraid.'
+
+'I don't think he would do anything to annoy you for the world,' said
+Clara, enthusiastically. 'He's the most unselfish person I ever met.'
+
+'He'd have a perfect right to take the shooting if he liked it that is
+always supposing that he and your father agreed about it.'
+
+'They agree about everything now. He has altogether disarmed papa's
+prejudices, and it seems to be recognized that he is to have his own
+way about the place. But I don't think he'll interfere about the
+shooting.'
+
+'He won't, my dear, if you ask him not,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I'll ask him in a moment if Colonel Askerton wishes it.'
+
+'Oh dear no,' said he. 'It would be teaching the ostler to grease the
+horse's teeth. Perhaps he hasn't thought of it.'
+
+'He thinks of everything,' said Clara.
+
+'I wonder whether he's thinking of .' So far Mrs Askerton spoke, and
+then she paused. Colonel Askerton looked up at Clara with an
+ill-natured smile, and Clara felt that she blushed. Was it not cruel
+that she could not say a word in favour of a friend and a cousin a
+cousin who had promised to be a brother to her, without being treated
+with such words and such looks as these? But she was determined not to
+be put down. 'I'm quite sure of this,' she said, 'that my cousin would
+do nothing unfair or ungentlemanlike.'
+
+'There would be nothing unfair or ungentlemanlike in it. I shouldn't
+take it amiss at all but I should simply take up my bed and walk. Pray
+tell him that I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing him before he
+goes. I did call yesterday, but he was out.'
+
+'He'll be here soon. He's to come here for me.' But Colonel Askerton's
+horse was brought to the door, and he could not therefore wait to make
+Mr Belton's acquaintance on that occasion.
+
+'What a phoenix this cousin of yours is,' said Mrs Askerton, as soon as
+her husband was gone.
+
+'He is a splendid fellow he is indeed. There's so much life about him!
+He's always doing something. He says that doing good will always pay in
+the long run. Isn't that a fine doctrine?'
+
+'Quite a practical phoenix!'
+
+'It has done papa so much good! At this moment he's out somewhere,
+thinking of what is going on, instead of moping in the house. He
+couldn't bear the idea of Will's coming, and now he is already
+beginning to complain because he's going away.'
+
+'Will, indeed!'
+
+'And why not Will? He's my cousin.'
+
+'Yes ten times removed. But so much the better if he's to be anything
+more than a cousin.'
+
+'He is to be nothing more, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'You're quite sure of that?
+
+'I am quite sure of it. And I cannot understand why there should be
+such a suspicion because he and I are thrown closely together, and are
+fond of each other. Whether he is a sixth, eighth, or tenth cousin
+makes no difference. He is the nearest I have on that side; and since
+my poor brother's death he is papa's heir. It is so natural that he
+should be my friend and such a comfort that he should be such a friend
+as he is! I own it seems cruel to me that under such circumstances
+there should be any suspicion.'
+
+'Suspicion, my dear suspicion of what?'
+
+'Not that I care I or it. I am prepared to love him as if he were my
+brother. I think him one of the finest creatures I ever knew perhaps
+the finest I ever did know. His energy and good-nature together are
+just the qualities to make the best kind of man. I am proud of him as
+my friend and my cousin, and now you may suspect what you please.'
+
+'But, my dear, why should not he fall in love with you? It would be the
+most proper, and also the most convenient thing in the world.'
+
+'I hate talking of falling in love as though a woman had nothing else
+to think of whenever she sees a man.'
+
+'A woman has nothing else to think of.'
+
+'I have a great deal else. And so has he.'
+
+'It's quite out of the question on his part, then?'
+
+'Quite out of the question. I'm sure he likes me; I can see it in his
+face, and hear it in his voice, and am so happy that it is so. But it
+isn't in the way that you mean. Heaven knows that I may want a friend
+some of these days, and I feel that I may trust to him. His feelings to
+me will be always those of a brother.'
+
+'Perhaps so. I have seen that fraternal love before under similar
+circumstances, and it has always ended in the same way.'
+
+'I hope it won't end in any way between us.'
+
+'But the joke is that this suspicion, as you call it which makes you so
+indignant is simply a suggestion that a thing should happen which, of
+all things in the world, would be the best for both of you.'
+
+'But the thing won't happen, and therefore let there be an end of it. I
+hate the twaddle talk of love, whether it's about myself or about any
+one else. It makes me feel ashamed of my sex, when I find that I cannot
+talk of myself to another woman without being supposed to be either in
+love or thinking of love cither looking for it or avoiding it. When it
+comes, if it cornea prosperously, it's a very good thing. But I for one
+can do without it, and I feel myself injured when such a state of
+things is presumed to be impossible.'
+
+'It is worth any one's while to irritate you, because your indignation
+is so beautiful.'
+
+'It is not beautiful to me; for I always feel ashamed afterwards of my
+own energy. And now, if you please, we won't say anything more about Mr
+Will Belton.'
+
+'May I not talk about him, even as the enterprising cousin?
+
+'Certainly; and in any other light you please. Do you know he seemed to
+think that he had known you ever so many years ago.' Clara, as she said
+this, did not look direct at her friend's face; but still she could
+perceive that Mrs Askerton was disconcerted. There came a shade of
+paleness over her face, and a look of trouble on her brow, and for a
+moment or two she made no reply.
+
+'Did he?' she then said. 'And when was that?'
+
+'I suppose it was in London. But, after all, I believe it was not you,
+but somebody whom he remembers to have been like you. He says that the
+lady was a Miss Vigo.' As she pronounced the name, Clara turned her
+face away, feeling instinctively that it would be kind to do so.
+
+'Miss Vigo!' said Mrs Askerton at once; and there was that in the tone
+of her voice which made Clara feel that all was not right with her. 'I
+remember that there were Miss Vigos; two of them, I think. I didn't
+know that they were like me especially.'
+
+'And he says that the one he remembers married a Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'Married a Mr Berdmore!' The tone of voice was still the same, and
+there was an evident struggle, as though the woman was making a
+vehement effort to speak in her natural voice. Then Clara looked at
+her, feeling that if she abstained from doing so, the very fact of her
+so abstaining would be remarkable. There was the look of pain on Mrs
+Askerton's brow, and her cheeks were still pale, but she smiled as she
+went on speaking. 'I'm sure I'm flattered, for I remember that they
+were both considered beauties. Did he know anything more of her?
+
+'No; nothing more.'
+
+'There must have been some casual likeness I suppose.' Mrs Askerton was
+a clever woman, and had by this time almost recovered her
+self-possession. Then there came a ring at the front door, and in
+another minute Mr Belton was in the room. Mrs Askerton felt that it was
+imperative on her to make some allusion to the conversation which had
+just taken place, and dashed at the subject at once. 'Clara tells me
+that I am exactly like some old friend of yours, Mr Belton.'
+
+Then he looked at her closely as he answered her. 'I have no right to
+say that she was my friend, Mrs Askerton,' he said; 'indeed there was
+hardly what might be called an acquaintance between us; but you
+certainly are extremely like a certain Miss Vigo that I remember.'
+
+'I often wonder that one person isn't more often found to be like
+another,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'People often are like,' said he, 'but not like in such a way as to
+give rise to mistakes as to identity. Now, I should have stopped you in
+the street and called you Mrs Berdmore.'
+
+'Didn't I once see or hear the name of Berdmore in this house?' asked
+Clara.
+
+Then that look of pain returned. Mrs Askerton had succeeded in
+recovering the usual tone of her countenance, but now she was once more
+disturbed. 'I think I know the name,' said she.
+
+'I fancy that I have seen it in this house,' said Clara. 'You may more
+likely have heard it, my dear. My memory is very poor, but if I
+remember rightly, Colonel Askerton did know a Captain Berdmore a long
+while ago, before he was married; and you may probably have heard him
+mention the name.' This did not quite satisfy Clara, but she said
+nothing more about it then. If there was a mystery which Mrs Askerton
+did not wish to have explored, why should she explore it?
+
+Soon after this Clara got up to go, and Mrs Askerton, making another
+attempt to be cheerful, was almost successful. So you're going back
+into Norfolk on Saturday, Clara tells me. You are making a very short
+visit now that you're come among us.'
+
+'It is a long time for me to be away from home. Farmers can hardly ever
+dare to leave their work. But in spite of my farm, I am talking of
+coming here again about Christmas.'
+
+'But you are going to have a farming establishment here too?'
+
+'That will be nothing. Clara will look after that for me; will you
+not?' Then they went, and Belton had to consider how he would begin the
+work before him. He had some idea that too much precipitancy might do
+him an injury, but he hardly knew how to commence without coming to the
+point at once. When they were out together in the park, he went back at
+first to the subject of Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I would almost have sworn they were one and the same woman,' he said.
+
+'But you see that they are not.'
+
+'It's not only the likeness, but the voice. It so chanced that I once
+saw that Miss Vigo in some trouble. I happened to meet her in company
+with a man who was who was tipsy, in fact, and I had to relieve her.'
+
+'Dear me how disagreeable!'
+
+'It's a long time ago, and there can't be any harm in mentioning it
+now. It was the man she was going to marry, and whom she did marry.'
+
+'What the Mr Berdmore?'
+
+'Yes; he was often in that way. And there was a look about Mrs Askerton
+just now so like the look of that Miss Vigo then, that I cannot get rid
+of the idea.'
+
+'They can't be the same, as she was certainly a Miss Oliphant. And you
+hear, too, what she says.'
+
+'Yes I heard what she said. You have known her long?'
+
+'These two years.'
+
+'And intimately?
+
+'Very intimately. She is our only neighbour; and her being here has
+certainly been a great comfort to me. It is sad not having some woman
+near one that one can speak to and then, I really do like her very
+much.'
+
+'No doubt it's all right.'
+
+'Yes; it's all right,' said Clara. After that there was nothing more
+said about Mrs Askerton, and Belton began his work. They had gone from
+the cottage, across the park, away from the house, up to a high rock
+which stood boldly out of the ground, from whence could be seen the sea
+on one side, and on the other a far track of country almost away to the
+moors. And when they reached this spot they seated themselves. 'There,'
+said Clara, 'I consider this to be the prettiest spot in England.'
+
+'I haven't seen all England,' said Belton.
+
+'Don't be so matter-of-fact, Will. I say it's the prettiest in England,
+and you can't contradict me.'
+
+'And I say you're the prettiest girl in England, and you can't
+contradict me.'
+
+This annoyed Clara, and almost made her feel that her paragon of a
+cousin was not quite so perfect as she had represented him to be. 'I
+see', she said, 'that if I talk nonsense I'm to be punished.'
+
+'Is it a punishment to you to know that I think you very handsome?' he
+said, turning round and looking full into her face.
+
+'It is disagreeable to me very, to have any such subject talked about
+at all. What would you think if I began to pay you foolish personal
+compliments?'
+
+'What I say isn't foolish; and there's a great difference. Clara, I
+love you better than all the world put together.'
+
+She now looked at him; but still she did not believe it. It could not
+be that after all her boastings she should have made so gross a
+blunder. 'I hope you do love me,' she said; 'indeed, you are bound to
+do so, for you promised that you would be my brother.'
+
+'But that will not satisfy me now, Clara. Clara, I want to be your
+husband.'
+
+'Will!' she exclaimed.
+
+'Now you know it all; and if I have been too sudden, I must beg your
+pardon.'
+
+'Oh, Will, forget that you have said this. Do not go on until
+everything must be over between us.'
+
+'Why should anything be over between us? Why should it be wrong in me
+to love you?'
+
+'What will papa say?'
+
+'Mr Amedroz knows all about it already, and has given me his consent. I
+asked him directly I had made up my own mind, and he told me that I
+might go to you.'
+
+'You have asked papa? Oh dear, oh dear, what am I to do?'
+
+'Am I so odious to you then?' As he said this he got up from his seat
+and stood before her. He was a tall, well-built, handsome man, and he
+could assume a look and mien that were almost noble when he was moved
+as he was moved now.
+
+'Odious! Do you not know that I have loved you as my cousin that I have
+already learned to trust you as though you were really my brother? But
+this breaks it all.'
+
+'You cannot love me then as my wife?'
+
+'No.' She pronounced the monosyllable alone, and then he walked away
+from her as though that one little word settled the question for him,
+now and for ever. He walked away from her, perhaps a distance of two
+hundred yards, as though the interview was over, and he were leaving
+her. She, as she saw him go, wished that he would return that she might
+say some word of comfort to him. Not that she could have said the only
+word that would have comforted him. At the first blush of the thing, at
+the first sound of the address which he had made to her, she had been
+angry with him. He had disappointed her, and she was indignant. But her
+anger had already melted and turned itself to ruth. She could not but
+love him better, in that he had loved her so well; but yet she could
+not love him with the love which he desired.
+
+But he did not leave her. When he had gone from her down the hill the
+distance that has been named, he turned back and came up to her slowly.
+He had a trick of standing and walking with his thumbs fixed into the
+armholes of his waistcoat, while his large hands rested on his breast.
+He would always assume this attitude when he was assured that he was
+right in his views, and was eager to carry some point at issue. Clara
+already understood that this attitude signified his intention to be
+autocratic. He now came close up to her and again stood over her,
+before he spoke. 'My dear,' he said, 'I have been rough and hasty in
+what I have said to you, and I have to ask you to pardon my want of
+manners.'
+
+'No, no, no,' she exclaimed.
+
+'But in a matter of so much interest to us both you will not let an
+awkward manner prejudice me.'
+
+'It is not that; indeed, it is not.'
+
+'Listen to me, dearest. It is true that I promised to be your brother,
+and I will not break my word unless I break it by your own sanction. I
+did promise to be your brother, but I did not know then how fondly I
+should come to love you. Your father, when I told him of this, bade me
+not to be hasty; but I am hasty, and I haven't known how to wait. Tell
+me that I may come at Christmas for my answer, and I will not say a
+word to trouble you till then. I will be your brother, at any rate till
+Christmas.'
+
+'Be my brother always.'
+
+A black cloud crossed his brow as this request reached his ears. She
+was looking anxiously into his face, watching every turn in the
+expression of his countenance. 'Will you not let it wait till
+Christmas?' he asked.
+
+She thought it would be cruel to refuse this request, and yet she knew
+that no such waiting could be of service to him. He had been awkward in
+his love-making, and was aware of it. He should have contrived this
+period of waiting for himself; giving her no option but to wait and
+think of it. He should have made no proposal, but have left her certain
+that such proposal was coming. In such case she must have waited and if
+good could have come to him from that, he might have received it. But,
+as the question was now presented to her, it was impossible that she
+should consent to wait. To have given such consent would have been
+tantamount to receiving him as her lover. She was therefore forced to
+be cruel.
+
+'It will be of no avail to postpone my answer when I know what it must
+be. Why should there be suspense?'
+
+
+'You mean that it is impossible that you should love me?'
+
+'Not in that way, Will.'
+
+'And why not?' Then there was a pause. 'But I am a fool to ask such a
+question as that, and I should be worse than a fool were I to press it.
+It must then be considered as settled?'
+
+She got up and clung to his arm. 'Oh, Will, do not look at me like that!
+
+'It must then be considered as settled?' he repeated.
+
+'Yes, Will, yes. Pray consider it as settled.' He then sat down on the
+rock again, and she came and sat by him near to him, but not close as
+she had been before. She turned her eyes upon him, gazing on him, but
+did not speak to him; and he sat also without speaking for a while,
+with his eyes fixed upon the ground. 'I suppose we may go back to the
+house?' he said at last.
+
+'Give me your hand, Will, and tell me that you will still love me as
+your sister.'
+
+He gave her his hand. 'If you ever want a brother's care you shall have
+it from me,' he said.
+
+'But not a brother's love?'
+
+'No. How can the two go together? I shan't cease to love you because my
+love is in vain. Instead of making me happy it will make me wretched.
+That will be the only difference.'
+
+'I would give my life to make you happy, if that were possible.'
+
+'You will not give me your life in the way that I would have it.'
+
+After that they walked in silence back to the house, and when he had
+opened the front door for her, he parted from her and stood alone under
+the porch, thinking of his misfortune.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+SAFE AGAINST LOVE-MAKING ONCE AGAIN
+
+For a considerable time Belton stood under the porch of the house,
+thinking of what had happened to him, and endeavouring to steady
+himself under the blow which he had received. I do not know that he had
+been sanguine of success. Probably he had made to himself no assurances
+on the subject. But he was a man to whom failure, of itself, was
+intolerable. In any other event of life he would have told himself that
+he would not fail that he would persevere and conquer. He could imagine
+no other position as to which he could at once have been assured of
+failure, in any project on which he had set his heart. But as to this
+project it was so. He had been told that she could not love him  that
+she could never love him and he had believed her. He had made his
+attempt and had failed; and, as he thought of this, standing under the
+porch, he became convinced that life for him was altogether changed,
+and that he who had been so happy must now be a wretched man.
+
+He was still standing there when Mr Amedroz came down into the hall,
+dressed for dinner, and saw his figure through the open doors. 'Will,'
+he said, coming up to him, 'it only wants five minutes to dinner.'
+Belton started and shook himself, as though he were shaking off a
+lethargy, and declared that he was quite ready. Then he remembered that
+he would be expected to dress, and rushed upstairs, three steps at a
+time, to his own room. When he came down, Clara and her father were
+already in the dining-room, and he joined them there.
+
+Mr Amedroz, though he was not very quick in reading facts from the
+manners of those with whom he lived, had felt assured that things had
+gone wrong between Belton and his daughter. He had not as yet had a
+minute in which to speak to Clara, but he was certain that it was so.
+Indeed, it was impossible not to read terrible disappointment and deep
+grief in the young man's manner. He made no attempt to conceal it,
+though he did not speak of it. Through the whole evening, though he was
+alone for a while with the squire, and alone also for a time with
+Clara, he never mentioned or alluded to the subject of his rejection.
+But he bore himself as though he knew and they knew as though all the
+world knew that he had been rejected. And yet he did not remain silent.
+He talked of his property and of his plans, and explained how things
+were to be done in his absence. Once only was there something like an
+allusion made to his sorrow. 'But you will be here at Christmas?' said
+Mr Amedroz, in answer to something which Belton had said as to work to
+be done in his absence. 'I do not know how that may be now,' said
+Belton. And then they had all been silent.
+
+It was a terrible evening to Clara. She endeavoured to talk, but found
+it to be impossible. All the brightness of the last few days had
+disappeared, and the world seemed to her to be more sad and solemn than
+ever. She had no idea when she was refusing him that he would have
+taken it to heart as he had done. The question had come before her for
+decision so suddenly, that she had not, in fact, had time to think of
+this as she was making her answer. All she had done was to feel that
+she could not be to him what he wished her to be. And even as yet she
+had hardly asked herself why she must be so steadfast in her refusal.
+But she had refused him steadfastly, and she did not for a moment think
+of reducing the earnestness of her resolution. It seemed to be manifest
+to her, from his present manner, that he would never ask the question
+again; but she was sure, let it be asked ever so often, that it could
+not be answered in any other way.
+
+Mr Amedroz, not knowing why it was so, became cross and querulous, and
+scolded his daughter. To Belton, also, he was captious, making little
+difficulties, and answering him with petulance. This the rejected lover
+took with most extreme patience, as though such a trifling annoyance
+had no effect in adding anything to his misery. He still held his
+purpose of going on the Saturday, and was still intent on work which
+was to be done before he went; but it seemed that he was satisfied to
+do everything now as a duty, and that the enjoyment of the thing, which
+had heretofore been so conspicuous, was over.
+
+At last they separated, and Clara, as was her wont, went up to her
+father's room. 'Papa,' she said, 'what is all this about Mr Belton?'
+
+'All what, my dear? what do you mean?'
+
+'He has asked me to be to be his wife; and has told me that he came
+with your consent.'
+
+'And why shouldn't he have my consent? What is there amiss with him?
+Why shouldn't you marry him if he likes you? You seemed, I thought, to
+be very fond of him.'
+
+This surprised Clara more than anything. She could hardly have told
+herself why, but she would have thought that such a proposition from
+her cousin would have made her father angry unreasonably angry angry
+with him for presuming to have such an idea; but now it seemed that he
+was going to be angry with her for not accepting her cousin out of hand.
+
+'Yes, papa; I am fond of him; but not like that. I did not expect that
+he would think of me in that way.'
+
+'But why shouldn't he think of you? It would be a very good marriage
+for you, as far as money is concerned.'
+
+'You would not have me marry any one for that reason would you, papa?'
+
+'But you seemed to like him. Well; of course I can't make you like him.
+I meant to do for the best; and when he came to me as he did, I thought
+he was behaving very handsomely, and very much like a gentleman.'
+
+'I am sure he would do that.'
+
+'And if I could have thought that this place would be your home when I
+am gone, it would have made me very happy very happy.'
+
+She now came and stood close to him and took his hand. 'I hope, papa,
+you do not make yourself uneasy about me. I shall do very well. Fm sure
+you can't want me to go away and leave you.'
+
+'How will you do very well? I'm sure I don't know. And if your aunt
+Winterfield means to provide for you, it would only be kind in her to
+let me know it, so that I might not have the anxiety always on my mind.'
+
+Clara knew well enough what was to be the disposition of her aunt's
+property, but she could not tell her father of that now. She almost
+felt that it was her duty to do so, but she could not bring herself to
+do it. She could only beg him not to be anxious on her behalf, making
+vague assurances that she would do very well. 'And are you determined
+not to change your mind about Will?' he said at last.
+
+'I shall not change my mind about that, papa, certainly,' she answered.
+Then he turned away from her, and she saw that he was displeased.
+
+When alone, she was forced to ask herself why it was that she was so
+certain. Alas! there could in truth be no doubt on that subject in her
+own mind. When she sat down, resolved to give herself an answer, there
+was no doubt. She could not love her cousin, Will Belton, because her
+heart belonged to Captain Aylmer.
+
+But she knew that she had received nothing in exchange for her heart.
+He had been kind to her on that journey to Taunton, when the agony
+arising from her brother's death had almost crushed her. He had often
+been kind to her on days before that so kind, so soft in his manners,
+approaching so nearly to the little tenderness of incipient
+love-making, that the idea of regarding him as her lover had of
+necessity forced itself upon her. But in nothing had he gone beyond
+those tendernesses, which need not imperatively be made to mean
+anything, though they do often mean so much. It was now two years since
+she had first thought that Captain Aylmer was the most perfect
+gentleman she knew, and nearly two years since Mrs Winterfield had
+expressed to her a hope that Captain Aylmer might become her husband.
+She had replied that such a thing was impossible as any girl would have
+replied; and had in consequence treated Captain Aylmer with all the
+coolness which she had been able to assume whenever she was in company
+with him in her aunt's presence. Nor was it natural to her to be
+specially gracious to a man under such trying circumstances, even when
+no Mrs Winterfield was there to behold. And so things had gone on.
+Captain Aylmer had now and again made himself very pleasant to her at
+certain trying periods of joy or trouble almost more than pleasant. But
+nothing had come of it, and Clara had told herself that Captain Aylmer
+had no special feeling in her favour. She had told herself this, ever
+since that journey together from Perivale to Taunton; but never till
+now had she confessed to herself what was her own case.
+
+She made a comparison between the two men. Her cousin Will was, she
+thought, the more generous, the more energetic perhaps by nature, the
+man of the higher gifts. In person he was undoubtedly the superior. He
+was full of noble qualities forgetful of self, industrious, full of
+resources, a very man of men, able to command, eager in doing work for
+others' good and his own a man altogether uncontaminated by the
+coldness and selfishness of the outer world. But he was rough, awkward,
+but indifferently educated, and with few of those tastes which to Clara
+Amedroz were delightful. He could not read poetry to her, he could not
+tell her of what the world of literature was doing now or of what it
+had done in times past. He knew nothing of the inner world of worlds
+which governs the world. She doubted whether he could have told her who
+composed the existing cabinet, or have given the name of a single
+bishop beyond the see in which his own parish was situated. But Captain
+Aylmer knew everybody, and had read everything, and understood, as
+though by instinct, all the movements of the world in which he lived.
+
+But what mattered any such comparison? Even though she should be able
+to prove to herself beyond the shadow of a doubt that her cousin Will
+was of the two the fitter to be loved the one more worthy of her heart
+no such proof could alter her position. Love does not go by worth. She
+did not love her cousin as she must love any man to whom she could give
+her hand and, alas! she did love that other man.
+
+On this night I doubt whether Belton did slumber with that solidity of
+repose which was usual to him. At any rate, before he came down in the
+morning he had found time for sufficient thought, and had brought
+himself to a resolution. He would not give up the battle as lost. To
+his thinking there was something weak and almost mean in abandoning any
+project which he had set before himself. He had been awkward, and he
+exaggerated to himself his own awkwardness. He had been hasty, and had
+gone about his task with inconsiderate precipitancy. It might be that
+he had thus destroyed all his chance of success. But, as he said to
+himself, 'he would never say die, as long as there was a puff of breath
+left in him.' He would not mope, and hang down his head, and wear the
+willow. Such a state of things would ill suit either the roughness or
+the readiness of his life. No! He would bear Like a man the
+disappointment which had on this occasion befallen him, and would
+return at Christmas and once more try his fortune.
+
+At breakfast, therefore, the cloud had passed from his brow. When he
+came in he found Clara alone in the room, and he simply shook hands
+with her after his ordinary fashion. He said nothing of yesterday, and
+almost succeeded in looking as though yesterday had been in no wise
+memorable. She was not so much at her ease, but she also received some
+comfort from his demeanour. Mr Amedroz came down almost immediately,
+and Belton soon took an opportunity of saying that he would be back at
+Christmas if Mr Amedroz would receive him.
+
+'Certainly,' said the squire. 'I thought it had been all settled.'
+
+'So it was till I said a word yesterday which foolishly seemed to
+unsettle it. But I have thought it over again, and I find that I can
+manage it.'
+
+'We shall be so glad to have you!' said Clara.
+
+'And I shall be equally glad to come. They are already at work, sir,
+about the sheds.'
+
+'Yes; I saw the carts full of bricks go by,' said the squire,
+querulously. 'I didn't know there was to be any brickwork. You said you
+would have it made of deal slabs with oak posts.'
+
+'You must have a foundation, sir. I propose to carry the brickwork a
+foot and a half above the ground.'
+
+'I suppose you know best. Only that kind of thing is so very ugly.'
+
+'If you find it to be ugly after it is done, it shall be pulled down
+again.'
+
+'No it can never come down again.'
+
+'It can and it shall, if you don't like it. I never think anything of
+changes like that.'
+
+'I think they'll be very pretty!' said Clara.
+
+'I dare say,' said the squire,' but at any rate it won't make much
+difference to me. I shan't be here long to see them.'
+
+This was rather melancholy; but Belton bore up even against this,
+speaking cheery words and expressing bright hopes so that it seemed,
+both to Clara and her father, that he had in a great measure overcome
+the disappointment of the preceding day. It was probable that he was a
+man not prone to be deeply sensitive in such matters for any long
+period. The period now had certainly not been long, and yet Will Belton
+was alive again.
+
+Immediately after breakfast there occurred a little incident which was
+not without its effect upon them all. There came up on the drive
+immediately before the front door, under the custody of a boy, a cow.
+It was an Alderney cow, and any man or woman at all understanding cows
+would at once have perceived that this cow was perfect in her kind. Her
+eyes were mild, and soft, and bright. Her legs were like the legs of a
+deer; and in her whole gait and demeanour she almost gave the lie to
+her own name, asserting herself to have sprung from some more noble
+origin among the woods, than maybe supposed to be the origin of the
+ordinary domestic cow a useful animal, but heavy in its appearance, and
+seen with more pleasure at some little distance than at close quarters.
+But this cow was graceful in its movements, and almost tempted one to
+regard her as the far-off descendant of the elk or the antelope.
+
+'What's that?' said Mr Amedroz, who, having no cows of his own, was not
+pleased to see one brought up in that way before his hail door.
+'There's somebody's cow come here.'
+
+Clara understood it in a moment; but she was pained, and said nothing.
+Had the cow come without any such scene as that of yesterday, she would
+have welcomed the animal with all cordiality, and would have sworn to
+her cousin that the cow should be cherished for his sake. But after
+what had passed it was different. How was she to take any present from
+him now?
+
+But Belton faced the difficulty without any bashfulness or apparent
+regret. 'I told you I would give you a cow,' said he 'and here she is.'
+
+'What can she want with a cow?' said Mr Amedroz.
+
+'I am sure she wants one very much. At any rate she won't refuse the
+present from me; will you, Clara?'
+
+What could she say? 'Not if papa will allow me to keep it.'
+
+'But we've no place to put it!' said the squire. 'We haven't got grass
+for it!'
+
+'There's plenty of grass,' said Belton. 'Come, Mr Amedroz; I've made a
+point of getting this little creature for Clara, and you mustn't stand
+in the way of my gratification.' Of course he was successful, and of
+course Clara thanked him with tears in her eyes.
+
+The next two days passed by without anything special to mark them, and
+then the cousin was to go. During the period of his visit he did not
+see Colonel Askerton, nor did he again see Mrs Askerton. He went to the
+cottage once, with the special object of returning the colonel's call;
+but the master was out, and he was not specially invited in to see the
+mistress. He said nothing more to Clara about her friends, but he
+thought of the matter more than once, as he was going about the place,
+and became aware that he would like to ascertain whether there was a
+mystery, and if so, what was its nature. He knew that he did not like
+Mrs Askerton, and he felt also that Mrs Askerton did not like him. This
+was, as he thought, unfortunate; for might it not be the case, that in
+the one matter which was to him of so much importance, Mrs Askerton
+might have considerable influence over Clara?
+
+During these days nothing special was said between him and Clara. The
+last evening passed over without anything to brighten it or to make it
+memorable. Mr Amedroz, in his passive, but gently querulous way, was
+sorry that Belton was going to leave him, as his cousin had been the
+creation of some new excitement for him, but he said nothing on the
+subject; and when the time for going to bed had come, he bade his guest
+farewell with some languid allusion to the pleasure which he would have
+in seeing him again at Christmas. Belton was to start very early in the
+morning before six, and of course he was prepared to take leave also of
+Clara. But she told him very gently, so gently that her father did not
+hear it, that she would be up to give him a cup of coffee before he
+went.
+
+'Oh no,' he said.
+
+'But I shall. I won't have you go without seeing you out of the door.'
+
+And on the following morning she was up before him. She hardly
+understood, herself, why she was doing this. She knew that it should be
+her object to avoid any further special conversation on that subject
+which they discussed up among the rocks. She knew that she could give
+him no comfort, and that he could give none to her. It would seem that
+he was willing to let the remembrance of the scene pass away, so that
+it should be as though it had never been; and surely it was not for her
+to disturb so salutary an arrangement! But yet she was up to bid him
+God speed as he went. She could not bear,. so she excused the matter to
+herself she could not bear to think that he should regard her as
+ungrateful. She knew all that he had done for them. She had perceived
+that the taking of the land, the building of the sheds, the life which
+he had contrived in so short a time to throw into the old place, had
+all come from a desire on his part to do good to those in whose way he
+stood by family arrangements made almost before his birth; and she
+longed to say to him one word of thanks. And had he not told her once
+in the heat of his disappointment; for then at that moment, as Clara
+had said to herself, she supposed that he must have been in some
+measure disappointed had he not even then told her that when she wanted
+a brother's care, a brother's care should be given to her by him? Was
+she not therefore~ bound to do for him what she would do for a brother?
+
+She, with her own hands, brought the coffee into the little breakfast
+parlour, and handed the cup into his hands. The gig, which had come
+overnight from Taunton, was not yet at the door, and there was a minute
+or two during which they must speak to each other. Who has not seen
+some such girl when she has come down early, without the full
+completeness of her morning toilet, and yet nicer, fresher, prettier to
+the eye of him who is so favoured, than she has ever been in more
+formal attire? And what man who has been so favoured has not loved her
+who has so favoured him, even though he may not previously have been
+enamoured as deeply as poor Will Belton?
+
+'This is so good of you,' he said.
+
+'I wish I knew how to be good to you,' she answered not meaning to
+trench upon dangerous ground, but feeling, as the words came from her,
+that she had done so. 'You have been so good to us, so very good to
+papa, that we owe you everything. I am so grateful to you for saying
+that you will come back at Christmas.'
+
+He had resolved that he would refrain from further love-making till the
+winter; but he found it very hard to refrain when so addressed. To take
+her in his arms, and kiss her twenty times, and swear that he would
+never let her go to claim her at once savagely as his own, that was the
+line of conduct to which temptation prompted him. How could she look at
+him so sweetly, how could she stand before him, ministering to him with
+all her pretty maidenly charms brought so close to him, without
+intending that he should love her? But he did refrain. 'Blood is
+thicker than water,' said he. 'That's the real reason why I first came.'
+
+'I understand that quite, and it is that feeling that makes you so
+good. But I'm afraid you are spending a great deal of money here and
+all for our sakes.'
+
+'Not at all. I shall get my money back again. And if I didn't, what
+then? I've plenty of money. it is not money that I want.'
+
+She could not ask him what it was that he did want, and she was obliged
+therefore to begin again. 'Papa will look forward so to the winter now.'
+
+'And so shall I.'
+
+'But you must come for longer then you won't go away at the end of a
+week? Say that you won't.'
+
+'I'll see about it. I can't tell quite yet. You'll write me a line to
+say when the shed is finished, won't you?'
+
+'That I will, and I'll tell you how Bessy goes on.' Bessy was the cow.
+'I will be so very fond of her. She'll come to me for apples already.'
+
+Belton thought that he would go to her, wherever she might be, even if
+he were to get no apples. 'It's all cupboard love with them,' he said.
+'I'll tell you what I'll do when I come, I'll bring you a dog that will
+follow you without thinking of apples.' Then the gig was heard on the
+gravel before the door, and Belton was forced to go. For a moment he
+reflected whether, as her cousin, it was not his duty to kiss her. It
+was a matter as to which he had doubt as is the case with many male
+cousins; but ultimately he resolved that if he kissed her at all he
+would not kiss her in that light, and so he again refrained. 'Goodbye,'
+he said, putting out his great hand to her.
+
+'Good-bye, Will, and God bless you.' I almost think he might have
+kissed her, asking himself no questions as to the light in which it was
+done.
+
+As he turned from her he saw the tears in her eyes; and as he sat in
+the gig, thinking of them, other tears came into his own. By heaven, he
+would have her yet! He was a man who had not read much of romance. To
+him all the imagined mysteries of passion had not been made common by
+the perusal of legions of love stories but still he knew enough of the
+game to be aware that women had been won in spite, as it were, of their
+own teeth. He knew that he could not now run away with her, taking her
+off by force; but still he might conquer her will by his own. As he
+remembered the tears in her eyes, and the tone of her voice, and the
+pressure of her hand, and the gratitude that had become tender in its
+expression, he could not hut think that he would be wise to love her
+still. Wise or foolish, he did love her still; and it should not be
+owing to fault of his if she did not become his wife. As he drove along
+he saw little of the Quantock hills, little of the rich Somersetshire
+pastures, little of the early beauty of the August morning. He saw
+nothing but her eyes, moistened with bright tears, and before he
+reached Taunton he had rebuked himself with many revilings in that he
+had parted from her and not kissed her.
+
+Clara stood at the door watching the gig till it was out of sight
+watching it as well as her tears would allow. What a grand cousin he
+was! Had it not been a pity a thousand pities that that grievous
+episode should have come to mar the brotherly love, the sisterly
+confidence, which might otherwise have been so perfect between them?
+But perhaps it might all be well yet. Clara knew, or thought that she
+knew, that men and women differed in their appreciation of love. She,
+having once loved, could not change. Of that she was sure. Her love
+might be fortunate or unfortunate. It might be returned, or it might
+simply be her own, to destroy all hope of happiness for her on earth.
+But whether it were this or that, whether productive of good or evil,
+the love itself could not be changed. But with men she thought it might
+be different. Her cousin, doubtless, had been sincere in the full
+sincerity of his heart when he made his offer. And had she accepted it
+had she been able to accept it she believed that he would have loved
+her truly and constantly. Such was his nature. But she also believed
+that love with him, unrequited love, would have no enduring effect, and
+that he had already resolved, with equal courage and wisdom, to tread
+this short-lived passion out beneath his feet. One night had sufficed
+to him for that treading out. As she thought of this the tears ran
+plentifully down her cheek; and going again to her room she remained
+there crying till it was time for her to wipe away the marks of her
+weeping, that she might go to her father.
+
+But she was very glad that Will bore it so well very glad! Her cousin
+was safe against love-making once again.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ GOES TO PERIVALE
+
+It had been settled for some time past that Miss Amedroz was to go to
+Perivale for a few days in November. Indeed it seemed to be a
+recognized fact in her life that she was to make the journey from
+Belton to Perivale and back very often, as there prevailed an idea that
+she owed a divided duty. This was in some degree hard upon her, as she
+had very little gratification in these visits to her aunt. Had there
+been any intention on the part of Mrs Winterfield to provide for her,
+the thing would have been intelligible according to the usual
+arrangements which are made in the world on such matters; but Mrs
+Winterfield had scarcely a right to call upon her niece for dutiful
+attendance after having settled it with her own conscience that her
+property was all to go to her nephew. But Clara entertained no thought
+of rebelling, and had agreed to make the accustomed journey in
+November, travelling then, as she did on all such journeys, at her
+aunt's expense.
+
+Two things only occurred to disturb her tranquillity before she went,
+and they were not of much violence. Mr Wright, the clergyman, called at
+Belton Castle, and in the course of conversation with Mr Amedroz
+renewed one of those ill-natured rumours which had before been spread
+about Mrs Askerton. Clara did not see him, but she heard an account of
+it all from her father.
+
+'Does it mean, papa,' she said, speaking almost with anger, 'that you
+want me to give up Mrs Askerton?'
+
+'How can you be so unkind as to ask me such a question?' he replied.
+'You know how I hate to be bothered. I tell you what I hear, and then
+you can decide for yourself.'
+
+'But that isn't quite fair either, papa. That man comes here'
+
+'That man, as you call him, is the rector of the parish, and I've known
+him for forty years.'
+
+'And have never liked him, papa.'
+
+'I don't know much about liking anybody, my dear. Nobody likes me, and
+so why should I trouble myself?'
+
+'But, papa, it all amounts to this that somebody has said that the
+Askertons are not Askertons at all, but ought to be called something
+else. Now we know that he served as Captain and Major Askerton for
+seven years in India and in fact it all means nothing. If I know
+anything, I know that he is Colonel Askerton.'
+
+'But do you know that she is his wife? That is what Mr Wright asks. I
+don't say anything. I think it's very indelicate talking about such
+things.'
+
+'If I am asked whether I have seen her marriage certificate, certainly
+I have not; nor probably did you ever do so as to any lady that you
+ever knew. But I know that she is her husband's wife, as we all of us
+know things of that sort. I know she was in India with him. I've seen
+things of hers marked with her name that she has had at least ten
+years.'
+
+'I don't know anything about it, my dear,' said Mr Amedroz, angrily.
+
+'But Mr Wright ought to know something about it before he says such
+things. And then this that he's saying now isn't the same that he said
+before.'
+
+'I don't know what he said before.'
+
+'He said they were both of them using a feigned name.'
+
+'It's nothing to me what name they use. I know I wish they hadn't come
+here, if I'm to be troubled about them in this way first by Wright and
+then by you.'
+
+'They have been very good tenants, papa.'
+
+'You needn't tell me that, Clara, and remind me about the shooting when
+you know how unhappy it makes me.'
+
+After this Clara said nothing more, and simply determined that Mr
+Wright and his gossip should have no effect upon her intimacy with Mrs
+Askerton. But not the less did she continue to remember what her cousin
+had said about Miss Vigo.
+
+And she had been ruffled a second time by certain observations which
+Mrs Askerton made to her respecting her cousin or rather by little
+words which were dropped on various occasions. It was very clear that
+Mrs Askerton did not like Mr Belton, and that she wished to prejudice
+Clara against him. 'It's a pity he shouldn't be a lover of yours,' the
+lady said, 'because it would be such a fine instance of Beauty and the
+Beast.' It will of course be understood that Mrs Askerton had never
+been told of the offer that had been made.
+
+'You don't mean to say that he's not a handsome man,' said Clara.
+
+'I never observe whether a man is handsome or not; but I can see very
+well whether he knows what to do with his arms and legs, or whether he
+has the proper use of his voice before ladies.' Clara remembered a word
+or two spoken by her cousin to herself, in speaking which he had seemed
+to have a very proper use of his voice. 'I know when a man is at ease
+like a gentleman, and when he is awkward like a'
+
+'Like a what?' said Clara. 'Finish what you've got to say.'
+
+'Like a ploughboy, I was going to say,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I declare I think you have a spite against him, because he said you
+were like some Miss Vigo,' replied Clara, sharply. Mrs Askerton was on
+that occasion silenced, and she said nothing more about Mr Belton till
+after Clara had returned from Perivale.
+
+The journey itself from Belton to Perivale was always a nuisance, and
+was more so now than usual, as it was made in the disagreeable month of
+November. There was kept at the little inn at Redicote an old fly-so
+called which habitually made the journey to the Taunton
+railway-station, under the conduct of an old grey horse and an older
+and greyer driver, whenever any of the old ladies of the neighbourhood
+were minded to leave their homes. This vehicle usually travelled at the
+rate of five miles an hour; but the old grey driver was never content
+to have time allowed to him for the transit calculated upon such a rate
+of speed. Accidents might happen, and why should he be made, as he
+would plaintively ask, to drive the poor beast out of its skin? He was
+consequently always at Belton a full hour before the time, and though
+Clara was well aware of all this, she could not help herself. Her
+father was fussy and impatient, the man was fussy and impatient; and
+there was nothing for her but to go. On the present occasion she was
+taken off in this way the full sixty minutes too soon, and after four
+dreary hours spent upon the road, found herself landed at the Taunton
+station, with a terrible gulf of time to be passed before she could
+again proceed on her journey.
+
+One little accident had occurred to her. The old horse, while trotting
+leisurely along the level high road, had contrived to tumble down.
+Clara did not think very much of this, as the same thing had happened
+with her before; but, even with an hour or more to spare, there arises
+a question whether under such circumstances the train can be saved. But
+the grey old man reassured her. 'Now, miss,' said he, coming to the
+window, while he left his horse recumbent and apparently comfortable on
+the road, 'where'd you have been now, zure, if I hadn't a few minutes
+in hand for you?' Then he walked off to some neighbouring cottage, and
+having obtained assistance, succeeded in putting his beast again upon
+his legs. After that he looked once more in at the window. 'Who's right
+now, I wonder?' he said, with an air of triumph. And when he came to
+her for his guerdon at Taunton, he was evidently cross in not having it
+increased because of the accident.
+
+That hour at the Taunton station was terrible to her. I know of no
+hours more terrible than those so passed. The minutes will not go away,
+and utterly fail in making good their claim to be called winged. A man
+walks up and down the platform, and in that way obtains something of
+the advantage of exercise; but a woman finds herself bound to sit still
+within the dreary dullness of the waiting- room. There are, perhaps,
+people who under such circumstances can read, but they are few in
+number. The mind altogether declines to be active, whereas the body is
+seized by a spirit of restlessness to which delay and tranquillity are
+loathsome. The advertisements on the walls are examined, the map of
+some new Eden is studied some Eden in which an irregular pond and a
+church are surrounded by a multiplicity of regular villas and shrubs
+till the student feels that no consideration of health or economy would
+induce him to live there. Then the porters come in and out, till each
+porter has made himself odious to the sight. Everything is hideous,
+dirty, and disagreeable; and the mind wanders away, to consider why
+station-masters do not more frequently commit suicide. Clara Amedroz
+had already got beyond this stage, and was beginning to think of
+herself rather than of the station-master, when at last there sounded,
+close to her ears, the bell of promise, and she knew that the train was
+at hand.
+
+At Taunton there branched away from the main line that line which was
+to take her to Perivale, and therefore she was able to take her own
+place quietly in the carriage when she found that the down- train from
+London was at hand. This she did, and could then watch with equanimity,
+while the travellers from the other train went through the penance of
+changing their seats. But she had not been so watching for many seconds
+when she saw Captain Frederic Aylmer appear upon the platform.
+Immediately she sank back into her corner and watched no more. Of
+course he was going to Perivale; but why had not her aunt told her that
+she was to meet him? Of course she would be staying in the same house
+with him, and her present small attempt to avoid him would thus be
+futile. The attempt was made; but nevertheless she was probably pleased
+when she found that it was made in vain. He came at once to the
+carriage in which she was sitting, and had packed his coats, and
+dressing-bag, and desk about the carriage before he had discovered who
+was his fellow-traveller 'How do you do, Captain Aylmer?' she said, as
+he was about to take his seat.
+
+'Miss Amedroz! Dear me; how very odd! I had not the slightest
+expectation of meeting you here. The pleasure is of course the greater.'
+
+'Nor I of seeing you. Mrs Winterfield has not mentioned to me that you
+were coming to Perivale.'
+
+'I didn't know it myself till the day before yesterday. I'm going to
+give an account of my stewardship to the good-natured Perivalians who
+sent me to Parliament. I'm to dine with the Mayor tomorrow, and as some
+big-wig has come in his way who is going to dine with him also, the
+thing has been got up in a hurry. But I'm delighted to find that you
+are to be with us.'
+
+'I generally go to my aunt about this time of the year.'
+
+'It is very good-natured of you.' Then he asked after her father, and
+she told him of Mr Belton's visit, telling him nothing as the reader
+will hardly require to be told of Mr Belton's offer. And so, by
+degrees, they fell into close and intimate conversation.
+
+'I am so glad, for your, father's sake!' said the captain, with
+sympathetic voice, speaking still of Mr Belton's visit.
+
+
+
+'That's what I feel, of course.'
+
+'I is just as it should be, as he stands in that position to the
+property. And so he is a nice sort of fellow, is he?
+
+
+
+'Nice is no word for him. He is perfect!'
+
+'Dear me! This is terrible! You remember that they hated some old Greek
+patriot when they could find no fault in him?'
+
+'I'll defy you to hate my cousin Will.'
+
+'What sort of looking man is he?'
+
+'Extremely handsome at least I should say so.'
+
+'Then I certainly must hate him. And clever?'
+
+'Well not what you would call clever. He is very clever about fields
+and cattle.'
+
+'Come, there is some relief in that.'
+
+'But you must not mistake me. He is clever; and then there's a way
+about him of doing everything just as he likes it, which is wonderful.
+You feel quite sure that he'll become master of everything.'
+
+'But I do not feel at all sure that I should like him better for that
+
+'But he doesn't meddle in things that he doesn't understand. And then
+he is so generous! His spending all that money down there is only done
+because he thinks it will make the place pleasanter to papa.'
+
+'Has he got plenty of money?'
+
+'Oh, plenty! At least, I think so. He says that he has.'
+
+'The idea of any man owning that he had got plenty of money! What a
+happy mortal! And then to be handsome, and omnipotent, and to
+understand cattle and fields! One would strive to emulate him rather
+than envy him, had not one learned to acknowledge that it is not given
+to every one to get to Corinth.'
+
+'You may laugh at him, but you'd like him if you knew him.'
+
+'One never can be sure of that from a lady's account of a man. When a
+man talks to me about another man, I can generally tell whether I
+should like him or not particularly if I know the man well who is
+giving the description; but it is quite different when a woman is the
+describer.'
+
+'You mean that you won't take my word?'
+
+'We see with different eyes in such matters. I have no doubt your
+cousin is a worthy man and as prosperous a gentleman as the Thane of
+Cawdor in his prosperous days but probably if he and I came together we
+shouldn't have a word to say to each other.'
+
+Clara almost hated Captain Aylmer for speaking as he did, and yet she
+knew that it was true. Will Belton was not an educated man, and were
+they two to meet in her presence the captain and the farmer she felt
+that she might have to blush for her cousin. But yet he was the better
+man of the two. She knew that he was the better man of the two, though
+she knew also that she could not love him as she loved the other.
+
+Then they changed the subject of their conversation, and discussed Mrs
+Winterfield, as they had often done before. Captain Aylmer had said
+that he should return to London on the Saturday, the present day being
+Tuesday, and Clara accused him of escaping always from the real hard
+work of his position. 'I observe that you never stay a Sunday at
+Perivale,' she said.
+
+'Well not often. Why should I? Sunday is just the day that people like
+to be at home.'
+
+'I should have thought it would not have made much difference to a
+bachelor in that way.'
+
+'But Sunday is a day that one specially likes to pass after one's own
+fashion.'
+
+'Exactly and therefore you don't stay with my aunt. I understand it all
+completely.'
+
+'Now you mean to be ill-natured!'
+
+'I mean to say that I don't like Sundays at Perivale at all, and that I
+should do just as you do if I had the power. But women women, that is,
+of my age are such slaves! We are forced to give an obedience for which
+we can see no cause, and for which we can understand no necessity. I
+couldn't tell my aunt that I meant to go away on Saturday.'
+
+'You have no business which makes imperative calls upon your time.'
+
+'That means that I can't plead pretended excuses. But the true reason
+is that we are dependent.'
+
+'There is something in that, I suppose.'
+
+'Not that I am dependent on her. But my position generally is
+dependent, and I cannot assist myself.'
+
+Captain Aylmer found it difficult to make any answer to this, feeling
+the subject to be one which could hardly be discussed between him and
+Miss Amedroz. He not unnaturally looked to be the heir of his aunt's
+property, and any provision made out of that property for Clara would
+so far lessen that which would come to him. For anything that he knew,
+Mrs Winterfield might leave everything she possessed to her niece. The
+old lady had not been open and candid to him whom she meant to favour
+in her will, as she had been to her to whom no such favour was to be
+shown. But Captain Aylmer did know, with tolerable accuracy, what was
+the state of affairs at Belton, and was aware that Miss Amedroz had no
+prospect of maintenance on which to depend, unless she could depend on
+her aunt. She was now pleading that she was not dependent on that lady,
+and Captain Aylmer felt that she was wrong. He was a man of the world,
+and was by no means inclined to abandon any right that was his own; but
+it seemed to him that he was almost bound to say some word to show that
+in his opinion Clara should hold herself bound to comply with her
+aunt's requirements.
+
+'Dependence is a disagreeable word,' he said; and one never quite knows
+what it means.'
+
+'If you were a woman you'd know. It means that I must stay at Perivale
+on Sundays, while you can go up to London or down to Yorkshire. That's
+what it means.'
+
+'What you do mean, I think, is this that you owe a duty to your aunt,
+the performance of which is not altogether agreeable. Nevertheless it
+would be foolish in you to omit it.'
+
+'It isn't that not that at all. It would not be foolish, not in your
+sense of the word, but it would be wrong. My aunt has been kind to me,
+and therefore I am bound to her for this service. But she is kind to
+you also, and yet you are not bound. That's why I complain. You sail
+always under false pretences, and yet you think you do your duty. You
+have to see your lawyer which means going to your club; or to attend to
+your tenants which means hunting and shooting.'
+
+'I haven't got any tenants.'
+
+'You know very well that you could remain over Sunday without doing any
+harm to anybody only you don't like going to church three times, and
+you don't like hearing my aunt read a sermon afterwards. Why shouldn't
+you stay, and I go to the club?'
+
+'With all my heart, if you can manage it.'
+
+'But I can't; we ain't allowed to have clubs, or shooting, or to have
+our own way in anything, putting forward little pretences about
+lawyers.'
+
+'Come, I'll stay if you'll ask me.'
+
+'I'm sure I won't do that. In the first place you'd go to sleep, and
+then she would be offended; and I don't know that your sufferings would
+make mine any lighter. I'm not prepared to alter the ways of the world,
+but feel myself entitled to grumble at them sometimes.'
+
+Mrs Winterfield inhabited a large brick house in the centre of the
+town. It had a long frontage to the street; for there was not only the
+house itself, with its three square windows on each side of the door,
+and its seven windows over that, and again its seven windows in the
+upper story but the end of the coach-house also abutted on the street,
+on which was the family clock, quite as much respected in Perivale as
+was the town-clock; and between the coach-house and the mansion there
+was the broad entrance into the yard, and the entrance also to the back
+door. No Perivalian ever presumed to doubt that Mrs Winterfield's house
+was the most important house in the town. Nor did any stranger doubt it
+on looking at the frontage. But then it was in all respects a town
+house to the eye that is, an English town house, being as ugly and as
+respectable as unlimited bricks and mortar could make it. Immediately
+opposite to Mrs Winterfield lived the leading doctor and a retired
+builder, so that the lady's eye was not hurt by any sign of a shop. The
+shops, indeed, came within a very few yards of her on either side; but
+as the neighbouring shops on each side were her own property, this was
+not unbearable. To me, had I lived there, the incipient growth of grass
+through some of the stones which formed the margin of the road would
+have been altogether unendurable. There is no sign of coming decay
+which is so melancholy to the eye as any which tells of a decrease in
+the throng of men. Of men or horses there was never any throng now in
+that end of Perivale. That street had formed part of the main line of
+road from Salisbury to Taunton, and coaches, wagons, and
+posting-carriages had been frequent on it; but now, alas lit was
+deserted. Even the omnibuses from the railway-station never came there
+unless they were ordered to call at Mrs Winterfield's door. For Mrs
+Winterfield herself, this desolation had, I think, a certain melancholy
+attraction. It suited her tone of mind and her religious views that she
+should be thus daily reminded that things of this world were passing
+away and going to destruction. She liked to have ocular proof that
+grass was growing in the highways under mortal feet, and that it was no
+longer worth man's while to renew human flags in human streets. She was
+drawing near to the pavements which would ever be trodden by myriads of
+bright sandals, and which yet would never be worn, and would be carried
+to those jewelled causeways on which no weed could find a spot for its
+useless growth.
+
+Behind the house there was a square prim garden, arranged in
+parallelograms, tree answering to tree at every corner, round which it
+was still her delight to creep when the weather permitted. Poor Clara!
+How much advice she had received during these creepings, and how often
+had she listened to inquiries as to the schooling of the gardener's
+children. Mrs Winterfield was always unhappy about her gardener.
+Serious footmen are very plentiful, and even coachmen are to be found
+who, at a certain rate of extra payment, will be punctual at prayer
+time, and will promise to read good little books; but gardeners, as a
+class, are a profane people, who think themselves entitled to claim
+liberty of conscience, and who will not submit to the domestic
+despotism of a serious Sunday. They live in cottages by themselves, and
+choose to have an opinion of their own on church matters. Mrs
+Winterfield was aware that she ought to bid high for such a gardener as
+she wanted. A man must be paid well who will submit to daily inquiries
+as to the spiritual welfare of himself, his wife, and family. But even
+though she did bid high, and though she paid generously, no gardener
+would stop with her. One conscientious man attempted to bargain for
+freedom from religion during the six unimportant days of the week,
+being strong, and willing therefore to give up his day of rest; but
+such liberty could not be allowed to him, and he also went. 'He
+couldn't stop,' he said, 'in justice to the greenhouses, when missus
+was so constant down upon him about his sprittual backsliding. And
+after all, where did he backslide? It was only a pipe of tobacco with
+the babby in his arms, instead of that darned evening lecture.'
+
+Poor Mrs Winterfield! She had been strong in her youth, and had herself
+sat through evening lectures with a fortitude which other people cannot
+attain. And she was strong too in her age, with the strength of a
+martyr, submitting herself with patience to wearinesses which are
+insupportable to those who have none of the martyr spirit. The sermons
+of Perivale were neither bright, nor eloquent, nor encouraging. All the
+old vicar or the young curate could tell she had heard hundreds of
+times. She knew it all by heart, and could have preached their sermons
+to them better than they could preach them to her. It was impossible
+that she could learn anything from them: and yet she would sit there
+thrice a day, suffering from cold in winter, from cough in spring, from
+heat in summer, and from rheumatism in autumn; and now that her doctor
+had forbidden her to go more than twice, recommending her to go only
+once, she really thought that she regarded the prohibition as a
+grievance. Indeed, to such as her, that expectation of the jewelled
+causeway, and of the perfect pavement that shall never be worn, must be
+everything. But if she was right right as to herself and others then
+why has the world been made so pleasant? Why is the fruit of the earth
+so sweet; and the trees why are they so green; and the mountains so
+full of glory? Why are women so lovely? and why is it that the activity
+of man's mind is the only sure forerunner of man's progress? In
+Listening thrice a day to outpourings from the clergyman at Perivale
+there certainly was no activity of mind.
+
+Now, in these days, Mrs Winterfield was near to her reward. That she
+had ensured that I cannot doubt. She had fed the poor, and filled the
+young full with religious teachings perhaps not wisely, and in her own
+way only too well, but yet as her judgment had directed her. She had
+cared little for herself forgiving injuries done to her, and not
+forgiving those only which she thought were done to the Lord. She had
+lived her life somewhat as the martyr lived, who stood for years on his
+pillar unmoved, while his nails grew through his flesh. So had she
+stood, doing, I fear, but little positive good with her large means but
+thinking nothing of her own comfort here, in comparison with the
+comfort of herself and others in the world to which she was going.
+
+On this occasion her nephew and niece reached her together; the prim
+boy, with the white cotton gloves and the low four-wheeled carriage,
+having been sent down to meet Clara. For Mrs Winterfield was a lady who
+thought it unbecoming that her niece though only an adopted niece
+should come to her door in an omnibus. Captain Aylmer had driven the
+four-wheeled carriage from the station, dispossessing the boy, and the
+luggage had been confided to the public conveyance.
+
+'It is very fortunate that you should come together,' said Mrs
+Winterfield. 'I didn't know when to expect you, Fred. Indeed, you never
+say at what hour you'll come.'
+
+'I think it safer to allow myself a little margin, aunt, because one
+has so many things to do.'
+
+'I suppose it is so with a gentleman,' said Mrs Winterfield. After
+which Clara looked at Captain Aylmer, but did not betray any of her
+suspicions. 'But I knew Clara would come by this train,' continued the
+old lady; 'so I sent Tom to meet her. Ladies always can be punctual;
+they can do that at any rate.' Mrs Winterfield was one of those women
+who have always believed that their own sex is in every respect
+inferior to the other.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+CAPTAIN AYLMER MEETS HIS CONSTITUENTS
+
+On the first evening of their visit Captain Aylmer was very attentive
+to his aunt. He was quite alive to the propriety of such attentions,
+and to their expediency; and Clara was amused as she watched him while
+he sat by her side, by the hour together, answering little questions
+and making little remarks suited to the temperament of the old lady's
+mind. She, herself, was hardly called upon to join in the conversation
+on that evening, and as she sat and listened, she could not but think
+that Will Belton would have been less adroit, but that he would also
+have been more straightforward. And yet why should not Captain Aylmer
+talk to his mat? Will Belton would also have talked to his aunt if he
+had one, but then he would have talked his own talk, and not his aunt's
+talk. Clara could hardly make up her mind whether Captain Aylmer was or
+was not a sincere man. On the following day Aylmer was out all the
+morning, paying visits among his constituents, and at three o'clock he
+was to make his speech in the town-hall. Special places in the gallery
+were to be kept for Mrs Winterfield and her niece, and the old woman
+was quite resolved that she would be there. As the day advanced she
+became very fidgety, and at length she was quite alive to the perils of
+having to climb up the town-hall stairs; but she persevered, and at ten
+minutes before three she was seated in her place.
+
+'I suppose they will begin with prayer,' she said to Clara. Clara, who
+knew nothing of the manner in which things were done at such meetings,
+said that she supposed so. A town councillor's wife who sat on the
+other side of Mrs Winterfield here took the liberty of explaining that
+as the captain was going to talk politics there would be no prayers.
+'But they have prayers in the Houses of Parliament,' said Mrs
+Winterfield, with much anger. To this the town councillor's wife, who
+was almost silenced by the great lady's wrath, said that indeed she did
+not know. After this Mrs Winterfield continued to hope for the best,
+till the platform was filled and the proceedings had commenced. Then
+she declared the present men of Perivale to be a godless set, and
+expressed herself very sorry that her nephew had ever had anything to
+do with them. 'No good can come of it, my dear,' she said. Clara from
+the beginning had feared that no good would come of her aunt's visit to
+the town-hall.
+
+The business was put on foot at once, and with some little flourishing
+at the commencement, Captain Aylmer made his speech the same speech
+which we have all heard and read so often, specially adapted to the
+meridian of Perivale. He was a Conservative, and of course he told his
+hearers that a good time was coming; that he and his family were really
+about to buckle themselves to the work, and that Perivale would hear
+things that would surprise it. The malt tax was to go, and the farmers
+were to have free trade in beer the arguments from the other side
+having come beautifully round in their appointed circle and old England
+was to be old England once again. He did the thing tolerably well, as
+such gentlemen usually do, and Perivale was contented with its Member,
+with the exception of one Perivalian. To Mrs Winterfield, sitting up
+there and listening with all her ears, it seemed that he had hitherto
+omitted all allusion to any subject that was worthy of mention. At last
+he said some word about the marriage and divorce court, condemning the
+iniquity of the present law, to which Perivale had opposed itself
+violently by petition and general meetings; and upon hearing this Mrs
+Winterfield had thumped with her umbrella, and faintly cheered him with
+her weak old voice. But the surrounding Perivalians had heard the
+cheer, and it was repeated backward and forwards through the room, till
+the Member's aunt thought that it might be her nephew's mission to
+annul that godless Act of Parliament and restore the matrimonial bonds
+of England to their old rigidity. When Captain Aylmer came out to hand
+her up to her little carriage, she patted him, and thanked him, and
+encouraged him; and on her way home she congratulated herself to Clara
+that she should have such a nephew to leave behind in her place.
+
+Captain Aylmer was dining with the Mayor on that evening, and Mrs
+Winterfield was therefore able to indulge herself in talking about him.
+'I don't see much of young men, of course,' she said; 'but I do not
+even hear of any that are like him.' Again Clara thought of her cousin
+Will. Will was not at all like Frederic Aylmer; but was he not better?
+And yet, as she thought thus, she remembered that she had refused her
+cousin Will because she loved that very Frederic Aylmer whom her mind
+was thus condemning.
+
+'I'm sure he does his duty as a Member of Parliament very well,' said
+Clara.
+
+'That alone would not be much; but when that is joined to so much that
+is better, it is a great deal. I am told that very few of the men in
+the House now are believers at all.'
+
+'Oh, aunt!'
+
+'It is terrible to think of, my dear.'
+
+'But, aunt; they have to take some oath, or something of that sort, to
+show that they are Christians.'
+
+'Not now, my dear. They've done away with all that since we had Jew
+members. An atheist can go into Parliament now; and I'm told that most
+of them are that, or nearly as bad. I can remember when no Papist could
+sit in Parliament. But they seem to me to be doing away with
+everything. It's a great comfort to me that Frederic is what he is.'
+
+'I'm sure it must be, aunt.'
+
+Then there was a pause, during which, however, Mrs Winterfield gave no
+sign that the conversation was to be considered as being over. Clara
+knew her aunt's ways so well, that she was sure something more was
+coming, and therefore waited patiently, without any thought of taking
+up her book. 'I was speaking to him about you yesterday,' Mrs
+Winterfield said at last.
+
+'That would not interest him very much.'
+
+'Why not? Do you suppose he is not interested in those I love? Indeed,
+it did interest him; and he told me what I did not know before, and
+what you ought to have told me.'
+
+Clara now blushed, she knew not why, and became agitated. 'I don't know
+that I have kept anything from you that I ought to have told,' she said.
+
+'He says that the provision made for you by your father has all been
+squandered.'
+
+'If he used that word he has been very unkind,' said Clara, angrily.
+
+'I don't know what word he used, but he was not unkind at all; he never
+is. I think he was very generous.
+
+'I do not want his generosity, aunt,'
+
+'That is nonsense, my dear. If he has told me the truth, what have you
+to depend on?'
+
+'I don't want to depend on anything. I hate hearing about it.'
+
+'Clara, I wonder you can talk in that way. If you were only seventeen
+it would be very foolish; but at your age it is inexcusable. When I am
+gone, and your father is gone, who is to provide for you? Will your
+cousin do it Mr Belton, who is to have the property?'
+
+'Yes, he would if I would let him of course I would not let him. But,
+aunt, pray do not go on. I would sooner have to starve than talk about
+it at all.'
+
+There was another pause; but Clara again knew that the conversation was
+not over; and she knew also that it would be vain for her to endeavour
+to begin another subject. Nor could she think of anything else to say,
+so much was she agitated.
+
+'What makes you suppose that Mr Belton would be so liberal?' asked Mrs
+Winterfield.
+
+'I don't know. I can't say. He is the nearest relation I shall have;
+and of all the people I ever knew he is the best, and the most
+generous, and the least selfish. When he came to us papa was quite
+hostile to him disliking his very name; but when the time came, papa
+could not bear to think of his going, because he had been so good.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Well, aunt.'
+
+'I hope you know my affection for you.'
+
+'Of course I do, aunt; and I hope you trust mine for you also.'
+
+'Is there anything between you and Mr Belton besides cousinship?'
+
+'Nothing.'
+
+'Because if I thought that, my trouble would of course be at an end.'
+
+'There is nothing but pray do not lot me be a trouble to you.' Clara,
+for a moment, almost resolved to tell her aunt the whole truth; but she
+remembered that she would be treating her cousin badly if she told the
+story of his rejection.
+
+There was another short period of silence, and then Mrs Winterfield
+went on. 'Frederic thinks that I should make some provision for you by
+will. That, of course, is the same as though he offered to do it
+himself. I told him that it would be so, and I read him my will last
+night. He said that that made no difference, and recommended me to add
+a codicil. I asked him how much I ought to give you, and he said
+fifteen hundred pounds. There will be as much as that after burying me
+without burden to the estate. You must acknowledge that he has been
+very generous.'
+
+But Clara, in her heart, did not at all thank Captain Aylmer for his
+generosity. She would have had everything from him, or nothing. It was
+grievous to her to think that she should owe to him a bare pittance to
+keep her out of the workhouse to him who had twice seemed to be on the
+point of asking her to share everything with him. She did not love her
+cousin Will as she loved him; but her cousin Will's assurance to her
+that he would treat her with a brother's care was sweeter to her by far
+than Frederic Aylmer's well-balanced counsel to his aunt on her behalf.
+In her present mood, too, she wanted no one to have fore. thought for
+her; she desired no provision; for her, in the discomfiture of heart,
+there was consolation in the feeling that when she should find herself
+alone in the world, she would have been ill-treated by her friends all
+round her. There was a charm in the prospect of her desolation of which
+she did not wish to be robbed by the assurance of some seventy pounds a
+year, to be given to her by Captain Frederic Aylmer. To be robbed of
+one's grievance is the last and foulest wrong a wrong under which the
+most enduring temper will at last yield and become soured by which the
+strongest back will be broken. 'Well, my dear,' continued Mrs
+Winterfield, when Clara made no response to this appeal for praise.
+
+'It is so hard for me to say anything about it, aunt. What can I say
+but that I don't want to be a burden to any one?'
+
+'That is a position which very few women can attain, that is, very few
+single women.'
+
+'I think it would be well if all single women were strangled by the
+time they are thirty,' said Clara with a fierce energy which absolutely
+frightened her aunt.
+
+'Clara! how can you say anything so wicked so abominably wicked?'
+
+'Anything would be better than being twitted in this way. How can I
+help it that I am not a man and able to work for my bread? But I am not
+above being a housemaid, and so Captain Aylmer shall find. I'd sooner
+be a housemaid, with nothing but my wages, than take the money which
+you say he is to give me. It will be of no use, aunt, for I shall not
+take it.'
+
+'It is I that am to leave it to you. It is not to be a present from
+Frederic.'
+
+'It is the same thing, aunt. He says you are to do it; and you told me
+just now that it was to come out of his pocket.'
+
+'I should have done it myself long ago, had you told me all the truth
+about your father's affairs.'
+
+'How was I to tell you? I would sooner have bitten my tongue out. But I
+will tell you the truth now. If I had known that all this was to be
+said to me about money, and that our poverty was to be talked over
+between you and Captain Aylmer, I would not have come to Perivale. I
+would rather that you should be angry with me and think that I had
+forgotten you.'
+
+'You would not say that, Clara, if you remembered that this will
+probably be your last visit to me.'
+
+'No, no; it will not be the last. But do not talk about these things.
+And it will be so much better that I should be here when he is not
+here.'
+
+
+
+'I had hoped that when I died you might both be with me together as
+husband and wife.'
+
+'Such hopes never come to anything.'
+
+'I still think that he would wish it.'
+
+'That is nonsense, aunt. it is indeed, for neither of us wish it.' A
+lie on such a subject from a woman under such circumstances is hardly
+to be considered a lie at all. It is spoken with no mean object, and is
+the only bulwark which the woman has ready at her need to cover her own
+weakness.
+
+'From what he said yesterday,' continued Mrs Winterfield, 'I think it
+is your own fault.'
+
+'Pray pray do not talk in that way. It cannot be matter of any fault
+that two people do not want to marry each other.'
+
+'Of course I asked him no positive question. It would be indelicate
+even in me to have done that. But he spoke as though he thought very
+highly of you.'
+
+'No doubt he does. And so do I of Mr Possitt.'
+
+'Mr Possitt is a very excellent young man,' said Mrs Winterfield,
+gravely. Mr Possitt was, indeed, her favourite curate of Perivale, and
+always dined at the house on Sundays between services, when Mrs
+Winter-field was very particular in seeing that he took two glasses of
+her best port wine to support him. 'But Mr Possitt has nothing but his
+curacy.'
+
+'There is no danger, aunt, I can assure you.'
+
+'I don't know what you call danger; but Frederic seemed to think that
+you are always sharp with him. You don't want to quarrel with him, I
+hope, because I love him better than any one in the world?'
+
+'Oh, aunt, what cruel things you say to me without thinking of them!'
+
+'I do not mean to be cruel, but I will say nothing more about him. As I
+told you before that I had not thought it expedient to leave away any
+portion of my little property from Frederic believing, as I did then,
+that the money intended for you by your father was still remaining it
+is best that you should now know that I have at last learnt the truth,
+and that I will at once see my lawyer about making the change.'
+
+'Dear aunt, of course I thank you.'
+
+'I want no thanks, Clara. I humbly strive to do what I believe to be my
+duty. I have never felt myself to be more than a steward of my money.
+That I have often failed in my stewardship I know well for in what
+duties do we not all fail?' Then she gently laid herself back in her
+arm-chair, closing her eyes, while she kept fast clasped in her hands
+the little book of daily devotion which she had been striving to read
+when the conversation had been commenced. Clara knew then that nothing
+more was to be said, and that she was not at present to interrupt her
+aunt. From her posture, and the closing of her eyelids, Mrs Winterfield
+might have been judged to be asleep; but Clara could see the gentle
+motion of her lips, and was aware that her aunt was solacing herself
+with prayer.
+
+Clara was angry with herself, and angry with all the world. She knew
+that the old lady who was sitting then before her was very good; and
+that all this that had now been said had come from pure goodness, and a
+desire that strict duty might be done; and Clara was angry with herself
+in that she had not been more ready with her thanks and more
+demonstrative with her love and gratitude. Mrs Winterfield was
+affectionate as well as good, and her niece's coldness, as the niece
+well knew, had hurt her sorely. But still what could Clara have done or
+said? She told herself that it was beyond her power to burst out into
+loud praises of Captain Aylmer; and of such nature was the gratitude
+which Mrs Winterfield had desired. She was not grateful to Captain
+Aylmer, and wanted nothing that was to come from his generosity. And
+then her mind went away to that other portion of her aunt's discourse.
+Could it be possible that this man was in truth attached to her, and
+was repelled simply by her own manner? She was aware that she had
+fallen into a habit of fighting with him, of sparring against him with
+words about indifferent things, and calling his conduct in question in
+a manner half playful and half serious. Could it be the truth that she
+was thus robbing herself of that which would be to her as to herself
+she had frankly declared the one treasure which she would desire?
+Twice, as has been said before, words had seemed to tremble on his lips
+which might have settled the question for her for ever; and on both
+occasions, as she knew, she herself had helped to laugh off the
+precious word that had been coming. But had he been thoroughly in
+earnest in earnest as she would have him to be  no laugh would have
+deterred him from his purpose. Could she have laughed Will Belton out
+of his declaration?
+
+At last the lips ceased to move, and she knew that her aunt was in
+truth asleep. The poor old lady hardly ever slept at night; but nature,
+claiming something of its due, would give her rest such as this in her
+arm-chair by the fire-side. They were sitting in a large double
+drawing-room upstairs, in which there were, as was customary with Mrs
+Winterfield in winter, two fires; and the candles were in the
+back-room, while the two ladies sat in that looking out into the
+street. This Mrs Winterfield did to save her eyes from the candles, and
+yet to be within reach of light if it were wanted. And Clara also sat
+motionless in the dark, careful not to disturb her aunt, and desirous
+of being with her when she should awake. Captain Aylmer bad declared
+his purpose of being home early from the Mayor's dinner, and the ladies
+were to wait for his arrival before tea was brought to them. Clara was
+herself almost asleep when the door was opened, and Captain Aylmer
+entered the room.
+
+'H  sh!' she said, rising gently from her chair, and putting up her
+finger. He saw her by the dull light of the fire, and closed the door
+without a sound. Clara then crept into the back-room and he followed
+her with a noiseless step. ' She did not sleep at all last night,' said
+Clara; 'and now the unusual excitement of the day has fatigued her, and
+I think it is better not to wake her.' The rooms were large, and they
+were able to place themselves at such a distance from the sleeper that
+their low words could hardly disturb her.
+
+'Was she very tired when she got home? 'he asked.
+
+'Not very. She has been talking much since that.'
+
+'Has she spoken about her will to you?'
+
+'Yes she has.'
+
+'I thought she would.' Then he was silent, as though he expected that
+she would speak again on that matter. But she had no wish to discuss
+her aunt's will with him, and therefore, to break the silence, asked
+him some trifling question. 'Are you not home earlier than you
+expected?
+
+'It was very dull, and there was nothing more to be said. I did come
+away early, and perhaps have given affront. I hope you will accept the
+compliment implied.'
+
+'Your aunt will, when she wakes. She will be delighted to find you
+here.'
+
+'I am awake,' said Mrs Winterfield. 'I heard Frederic come in. It is
+very good of him to come so soon. Clara, my dear, we will have tea.'
+
+During tea, Captain Aylmer was called upon to give an account of the
+Mayor's feast how the rector had said grace before dinner, and Mr
+Possitt had done so after dinner, and how the soup had been uneatable.
+'Dear me!' said Mrs Winterfield. 'And yet his wife was housekeeper
+formerly in a family that lived very well!' The Mrs Winterfields of
+this world allow themselves little spiteful pleasures of this kind,
+repenting of them, no doubt, in those frequent moments in which they
+talk to their friends of their own terrible vilenesses. Captain Aylmer
+then explained that his own health had been drunk, and his aunt desired
+to know whether, in returning thanks, he had been able to say anything
+further against that wicked Divorce Act of Parliament. This her nephew
+was constrained to answer with a negative, and so the conversation was
+carried on till tea was over. She was very anxious to hear every word
+that he could be made to utter as to his own doings in Parliament, and
+as to his doings in Perivale, and hung upon him with that wondrous
+affection which old people with warm hearts feel for those whom they
+have selected as their favourites. Clara saw it all, and knew that her
+aunt was almost doting.
+
+'I think I'll go up to bed now, my dears,' said Mrs Winterfield, when
+she had taken her cup of tea. 'I am tired with those weary stairs in
+the Town-hall, and I shall be better in my own room.' Clara offered to
+go with her, but this attendance her aunt declined as she did always.
+So the bell was rung, and the old maid. servant walked off with her
+mistress, and Miss Amedroz and Captain Aylmer were left together.
+
+'I don't think she will last long,' said Captain Aylmer, soon after the
+door was closed.
+
+'I should be sorry to believe that; but she is certainly much altered.'
+
+'She has great courage to keep her up and a feeling that she should not
+give way, but do her duty to the last. In spite of all that, however, I
+can see how changed she is since the summer. Have you ever thought how
+sad it will be if she should be alone when the day comes?'
+
+'She has Martha, who is more to her now than any one else unless it is
+you.'
+
+'You could not remain with her over Christmas, I suppose?'
+
+'Who, I? What would my father do? Papa is as old, or nearly as old, as
+my aunt.'
+
+'But he is strong.'
+
+'He is very lonely. He would be more lonely than she is, for he has no
+such servant as Martha to be with him. Women can do better than men, I
+think, when they come to my aunt's age.'
+
+>From this they got into a conversation as to the character of the lady
+with whom they were both so nearly connected, and, in spite of all that
+Clara could do to prevent it, continual references were made by Captain
+Aylmer to her money and will, and the need of an addition to that will
+on Clara's behalf. At last she was driven to speak out. 'Captain
+Aylmer,' she said, 'the subject is so distasteful to me, that I must
+ask you not to speak about it.'
+
+'In my position I am driven to think about it.'
+
+'I cannot, of course, help your thoughts; but I can assure you that
+they are unnecessary.'
+
+'It seems to me so hard that there should be such a gulf between you
+and me.' This he said after he had been silent for a while; and as he
+spoke he looked away from her at the fire.
+
+'I don't know that there is any particular gulf,' she replied.
+
+'Yes, there is. And it is you that make it. Whenever I attempt to speak
+to you as a friend you draw yourself off from me, and shut yourself up.
+I know that it is not jealousy.'
+
+'Jealousy, Captain Aylmer!'
+
+'Jealousy with my aunt, I mean.'
+
+'No, indeed.'
+
+'You are infinitely too proud for that; but I am sure that a stranger
+seeing it would think that it was so.'
+
+'I don't know what it is that I do or that I ought not to do. But all
+my life everything that I have done at Perivale has always been wrong.'
+
+'It would have been so natural that you and I should be friends.'
+
+'If we are enemies, Captain Aylmer, I don't know it.'
+
+'But if ever I venture to speak of your future life you always repel me
+as though you were determined to let me know that it should not be a
+matter of care to me.'
+
+'That is exactly what I am determined to let you know. You are, or will
+be, a rich man, and you have everything the world can give you. I am,
+or shall be, a very poor woman.'
+
+'Is that a reason why I should not be interested in your welfare?'
+
+'Yes the best reason in the world. We are not related to each other,
+though we have a common connexion in dear Mrs Winterfield. And nothing,
+to my idea, can be more objectionable than any sort of dependence from
+a woman of my age on a man of yours there being no real tie of blood
+between them. I have spoken very plainly, Captain Aylmer, for you have
+made me do it.'
+
+'Very plainly,' he said.
+
+'If I have said anything to offend you, I beg your pardon; but I was
+driven to explain myself.'
+
+Then she got up and took her bed-candle in her hand.
+
+'You have not offended me,' he said, as he also rose.
+
+'Good-night, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+He took her hand and kept it. 'Say that we are friends.'
+
+'Why should we not be friends?'
+
+'There is no reason on my part why we should not be the dearest
+friends,' he said. 'Were it not that I am so utterly without
+encouragement, I should say the very dearest.' He still held her hand,
+and was looking into her face as he spoke. For a moment she stood
+there, bearing his gaze, as though she expected some further words to
+be spoken. Then she withdrew her hand, and again saying, in a clear
+voice, 'Good-night, Captain Aylmer,' she left the room.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+CAPTAIN AYLMER'S PROMISE TO HIS AUNT
+
+What had Captain Aylmer meant by telling her that they might be the
+dearest friends by saying so much as that, and then saying no more? Of
+course Clara asked herself that question as soon as she was alone in
+her bedroom, after leaving Captain Aylmer below. And she made two
+answers to herself two answers which were altogether distinct and
+contradictory one of the other. At first she decided that he had said
+so much and no more because he was deceitful because it suited his
+vanity to raise hopes which he had no intention of fulfilling because
+he was fond of saying soft things which were intended to have no
+meaning. This was her first answer to herself. But in her second she
+accused herself as much as before she had accused him. She had been
+cold to him, unfriendly, and harsh. As her aunt had told her, she spoke
+sharp words to him, and repulsed the kindness which he offered her.
+What right had she to expect from him a declaration of love when she
+was studious to stop him at every avenue by which he might approach it?
+A little management on her side would, she almost knew, make things
+right. But then the idea of any such management distressed her nay,
+more, disgusted her. The management, if any were necessary, must come
+from him. And it was manifest enough that if he had any strong wishes
+in this matter he was not a good manager. Her cousin, Will Belton, knew
+how to manage much better.
+
+On the next morning, however, all her thoughts respecting Captain
+Aylmer were dissipated by tidings which Martha brought to her bedside.
+Her aunt was ill. Martha was afraid that her mistress was very ill. She
+did not dare to send specially for the doctor on her own
+responsibility, as Mrs Winterfield had strong and peculiar feelings
+about doctors' visits, and had on this very morning declined to be so
+visited. On the next day the doctor would come in the usual course of
+things, for she had submitted for some years back to such periodical
+visitings; but she had desired that nothing might be done out of the
+common way. Martha, however, declared that if she were alone with her
+mistress the doctor would be sent for; and she now petitioned for aid
+from Clara. Clara was, of course, by her aunt's bedside in a few
+minutes, and in a few minutes more the doctor from the other side of
+the way was there also.
+
+It was ten o'clock before Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz met at
+breakfast, and they had before that been together in Mrs Winterfield's
+room. The doctor had told Captain Aylmer that his aunt was very ill
+very ill, dangerously ill. She had been wrong to go into such a place
+as the cold, unaired Town-hall, and that, too, in the month of
+November; and the fatigue had also been too much for her. Mrs
+Winterfield, too, had admitted to Clara that she know herself to be
+very ill. 'I felt it coming on me last night,' she said, 'when I was
+talking to you; and I felt it still more strongly when I left you after
+tea. I have lived long enough. God's will be done.' At that moment,
+when she said she had lived long enough, she forgot her intention with
+reference to her will. But she remembered it before Clara had left the
+room. 'Tell Frederic', she said, 'to send at once for Mr Palmer.' Now
+Clara knew that Mr Palmer was the attorney, and resolved that she would
+give no such message to Captain Aylmer. But Mrs Winterfield sent for
+her nephew, who had just left her, and herself gave her orders to him.
+In the course of the morning there came tidings from the attorney's
+office that Mr Palmer was away from Perivale, that he would be back on
+the morrow, and that he would of course wait on Mrs Winterfield
+immediately on his return.
+
+Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz discussed nothing but their aunt's
+state of health that morning over the breakfast-table. Of course, under
+such circumstances in the house, there was no further immediate
+reference made to that offer of dearest friendship. It was clear to
+them both that the doctor did not expect that Mrs Winterfield would
+again leave her bed; and it was clear to Clara also that her aunt was
+of the same opinion.
+
+'I shall hardly be able to go home now,' she said.
+
+'It will be kind of you if you can remain.'
+
+'And you?'
+
+'I shall remain over the Sunday. If by that time she is at all better,
+I will run up to town and come down again before the end of the week. I
+know you don't believe it, but a man really has some things which he
+must do.'
+
+'I don't disbelieve you, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'But you must write to me daily if I do go.'
+
+To this Clara made no objection and she must write also to some one
+else. She must let her cousin know how little chance there was that she
+would be at home at Christmas, explaining to him at the same time that
+his visit to her father would on that account be all the more welcome.
+
+'Are you going to her now?' he asked, as Clara got up immediately after
+breakfast. 'I shall be in the house all the morning, and if you want me
+you will of course send for me.'
+
+'She may perhaps like to see you.'
+
+'I will come up every now and again. I would remain there altogether,
+only I should be in the way.' Then he got a newspaper and made himself
+comfortable over the fire, while she went up to her weary task in her
+aunt's room.
+
+Neither on that day nor on the next did the lawyer come, and on the
+following morning all earthly troubles were over with Mrs Winterfield.
+It was early on the Sunday morning that she died, and late on the
+Saturday evening Mr Palmer had sent up to say that he had been detained
+at Taunton, but that he would wait on Mrs Winterfield early on the
+Monday morning. On the Friday the poor lady had said much on the
+subject, but had been comforted by an assurance from her nephew that
+the arrangement should be carried out exactly as she wished it, whether
+the codicil was or was not added to the will. To Clara she said nothing
+more on the subject, nor at such a time did Captain Aylmer feel that he
+could offer her any assurance on the matter. But Clara knew that the
+will was not altered; and though at the time she was not thinking much
+about money, she had, nevertheless, very clearly made up her own mind
+as to her own conduct. Nothing should induce her to take a present of
+fifteen hundred pounds or, indeed, of as many pence from Captain
+Aylmer. During those hours of sickness in the house they had been much
+thrown together, and no one could have been kinder or more gentle to
+her than he had been. He had come to call her Clara, as people will do
+when joined together in such duties, and had been very pleasant as well
+as affectionate in his manner with her. It had seemed to her that he
+also wished to take upon himself the cares and love of an adopted
+brother. But as an adopted brother she would have nothing to do with
+him. The two men whom she liked best in the world would assume each the
+wrong place; and between them both she felt that she would be left
+friendless.
+
+On the Saturday afternoon they had both surmised how it was going to be
+with Mrs Winterfield, and Captain Aylmer had told Mr Palmer that he
+feared his coming on the Monday would be useless. He explained also
+what was required, and declared that he would be at once ready to make
+good the deficiency in the will Mr Palmer seemed to think that this
+would be better even than the making of a codicil in the last moments
+of the lady's life; and, therefore, he and Captain Aylmer were at rest
+on that subject.
+
+During the greater part of the Saturday night both Clara and Captain
+Aylmer remained with their aunt; and once when the morning was almost
+there, and the last hour was near at hand, she had said a word or two
+which both of them had understood, in which she implored her darling
+Frederic to take a brother's care of Clara Amedroz. Even in that moment
+Clara had repudiated the legacy, feeling sure in her heart that
+Frederic Aylmer was aware what was the nature of the care which he
+ought to owe, if he would consent to owe any care to her. He promised
+his aunt that he would do as she desired him, and it was impossible
+that Clara should then, aloud, repudiate the compact. But she said
+nothing, merely allowing her hand to rest with his beneath the thin,
+dry hand of the dying woman. To her aunt, however, when for a moment
+they were alone together, she showed all possible affection, with
+thanks and tears, and warm kisses, and prayers for forgiveness as to
+all those matters in which she had offended. 'My pretty one my dear,'
+said the old woman, raising her hand on to the head of the crouching
+girl, who was hiding her moist eyes on the bed. Never during her life
+had her aunt appeared to her in so loving a mood as now, when she was
+leaving it. Then, with some eager impassioned words, in which she
+pronounced her ideas of what should be the religious duties of a woman,
+Mrs Winterfield bade farewell to her niece. After that, she had a
+longer interview with her nephew, and then it seemed that all worldly
+cares were over with her.
+
+The Sunday was passed in all that blackness of funeral grief which is
+absolutely necessary on such occasions. It cannot be said that either
+Clara or Captain Aylmer were stricken with any of that agony of woe
+which is produced on us by the death of those whom we have loved so
+well that we cannot bring ourselves to submit to part with them. They
+were both truly sorry for their aunt, in the common parlance of the
+world; but their sorrow was of that modified sort which does not numb
+the heart and make the surviving sufferer feel that there never can be
+a remedy. Nevertheless, it demanded sad countenances, few words, and
+those spoken hardly above a whisper; an absence of all amusement and
+almost of all employment, and a full surrender to the trappings of woe.
+They two were living together without other companion in the big house
+sitting down together to dinner and to tea; but on this day hardly a
+dozen words were spoken between them, and those dozen were spoken with
+no purport. On the Monday Captain Aylmer gave orders for the funeral,
+and then went away to London, undertaking to be back on the day before
+the last ceremony. Clara was rather glad that he should be gone, though
+she feared the solitude of the big house. She was glad that he should
+be gone, as she found it impossible to talk to him with ease to
+herself. She knew that he was about to assume some position as
+protector or quasi guardian over her in conformity with her aunt's
+express wish, and she was quite resolved that she would submit to no
+such guardianship from his hands. That being so, the shorter period
+there might be for any such discussion the better.
+
+The funeral was to take place on the Saturday, and during the four days
+that intervened she received two visits from Mr Possitt. Mr Possitt was
+very discreet in what he said, and Clara was angry with herself for not
+allowing his words to have any avail with her. She told herself that
+they were commonplace; but she told herself, also, after his first
+visit, that she had no right to expect anything else but commonplace
+words. How often are men found who can speak words on such occasions
+that are not commonplaces that really stir the soul, and bring true
+comfort to the listener? The humble listener may receive comfort even
+from commonplace words; but Clara was not humble, and rebuked herself
+for her own pride. On the second occasion of his coming she did
+endeavour to receive him with a meek heart, and to accept what he said
+with an obedient spirit. But the struggle within her bosom was hard,
+and when he bade her to kneel and pray with him, she doubted for a
+moment between rebellion and hypocrisy. But she had determined to be
+meek, and so hypocrisy carried the hour.
+
+What would a clergyman say on such an occasion if the object of his
+solicitude were to decline the offer, remarking that prayer at that
+moment did not seem to be opportune; and that, moreover, he, the person
+thus invited, would like, first of all, to know what was to be the
+special object of the proposed prayer, if he found that he could, at
+the spur of the moment, bring himself at all into a fitting mood for
+the task? Of him who would decline, without argument, the clergyman
+would opine that he was simply a reprobate. Of him who would propose to
+accompany an hypothetical acceptance with certain stipulations, he
+would say to himself that he was a stiff-necked wrestler against grace,
+whose condition was worse than that of the reprobate. Men and women,
+conscious that they will be thus judged, submit to the hypocrisy, and
+go down upon their knees unprepared, making no effort, doing nothing
+while they are there, allowing their consciences to be eased if they
+can only feel themselves numbed into some ceremonial awe by the
+occasion. So it was with Clara, when Mr Possitt, with easy piety, went
+through the formula of his devotion, hardly ever having realized to
+himself the fact that of all works in which man can engage himself,
+that of prayer is the most difficult.
+
+'It is a sad loss to me,' said Mr Possitt, as he sat for half an hour
+with Clara, after she had thus submitted herself. Mr Possitt was a
+weakly, pale-faced little man, who worked so hard in the parish that on
+every day, Sundays included, he went to bed as tired in all his bones
+as a day labourer from the fields 'a very great loss. There are not
+many now who understand what a clergyman has to go through, as our dear
+friend did.' If he was mindful of his two glasses of port wine on
+Sundays, who could blame him?
+
+'She was a very kind woman, Mr Possitt.'
+
+'Yes, indeed and so thoughtful! That she will have an exceeding great
+reward, who can doubt? Since I knew her she always lived as a saint
+upon earth. I suppose there's nothing known as to who will live in this
+house, Miss Amedroz?'
+
+'Nothing I should think.'
+
+'Captain Aylmer won't keep it in his own hands?'
+
+'I cannot tell in the least; but as he is obliged to live in London
+because of Parliament, and goes to Yorkshire always in the autumn, he
+can hardly want it.
+
+'I suppose not. But it will be a sad loss a sad loss to have this house
+empty. Ah I shall never forget her kindness to me. Do you know, Miss
+Amedroz,' and as he told his little secret he became beautifully
+confidential 'do you know, she always used to send me ten guineas at
+Christmas to help me along. She understood, as well as any one, how
+hard it is for a gentleman to live on seventy pounds a year. You will
+not wonder that I should feel that I've had a loss.' It is hard for a
+gentleman to live upon seventy pounds a year; and it is very hard, too,
+for a lady to live upon nothing a year, which lot in life fate seemed
+to have in store for Miss Amedroz.
+
+On the Friday evening Captain Aylmer came back, and Clara was in truth
+glad to see him. Her aunt's death had been now far enough back to admit
+of her telling Martha that she would not dine till Captain Aylmer had
+come, and to allow her to think somewhat of his comfort. People must
+eat and drink even when the grim monarch is in the house; and it is a
+relief when they first dare to do so with some attention to the
+comforts which are ordinarily so important to them. For themselves
+alone women seldom care to exercise much trouble in this direction; but
+the presence of a man at once excuses and renders necessary the
+ceremony of a dinner. So Clara prepared for the arrival, and greeted
+the corner with some returning pleasantness of manner. And he, too, was
+pleasant with her, telling her of his plans, and speaking to her as
+though she were one of those whom it was natural that he should
+endeavour to interest in his future welfare.
+
+'When I come back tomorrow,' he said, 'the will must be opened and
+read. It had better be done here.' They were sitting over the fire in
+the dining-room, after dinner, and Clara knew that the coming back to
+which he alluded was his return from the funeral. But she made no
+answer to this, as she wished to say nothing about her aunt's will.
+'And after that,' he continued, 'you had better let me take you out.'
+
+'I am very well,' she said. 'I do not want any special taking out.'
+
+'But you have been confined to the house a whole week.'
+
+'Women are accustomed to that, and do not feel it as you would.
+However, I will walk with you if you'll take me.'
+
+'Of course I'll take you. And then we must settle our future plans.
+Have you fixed upon any day yet for returning? Of course, the longer
+you stay, the kinder you will be.'
+
+'I can do no good to any one by staying.'
+
+'You do good to me but I suppose I'm nobody. I wish I could tell what
+to do about this house. Dear, good old woman! I know she would have
+wished that I should keep it in my own hands, with some idea of living
+here at some future time but of course I shall never live here.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'Would you like it yourself?'
+
+'I am not Member of Parliament for Perivale, and should not be the
+leading person in the town. You would be a sort of king here; and then,
+some day, you will have your mother's property as well as your aunt's;
+and you would be near to your own tenants.'
+
+'But that does not answer my question. Could you bring yourself to live
+here even if it were your own?'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'Because it is so deadly dull because it has no attraction whatever
+because of all lives it is the one you would like the least. No one
+should live in a provincial town but they who make their money by doing
+so.'
+
+'And what are the wives and daughters of such people to do and
+especially their widows? I have no doubt I could live here very happily
+if I had anybody near me that I liked. I should not wish to have to
+depend altogether on Mr Possitt for society.'
+
+'And you would find him about the best.'
+
+'Mr Possitt has been with me twice whilst you were away, and he, too,
+asked what you meant to do about the house.'
+
+'And what did you say?'
+
+'What could I say? Of course I said I did not know. I suppose he was
+meditating whether you would live here and ask him to dinner on
+Sundays!'
+
+'Mr Possitt is a very good sort of man,' said the captain, gravely for
+Captain Aylmer, in the carrying out of his principles, always spoke
+seriously of everything connected with the Church in Perivale.
+
+'And quite worthy to be asked to dinner on Sundays,' said Clara. 'But I
+did not give him any hope. How could I? Of course I knew that you would
+not live here, though I did not tell him so.'
+
+'No; I don't suppose I shall. But I see very plainly that you think I
+ought to do so.'
+
+'I've the old-fashioned idea as to a man's living near to his own
+property; that is all. No doubt it was good for other people in
+Perivale, besides Mr Possitt, that my dear aunt lived here; and if the
+house is shut up, or let to some stranger, they will feel her loss the
+more. But I don't know that you are bound to sacrifice yourself to
+them.'
+
+'If I were to marry,' said Captain Aylmer, very slowly and in a low
+voice, 'of course I should have to think of my wife's wishes.'
+
+'But if your wife, when she accepted you, knew that you were living
+here, she would hardly take upon herself to demand that you should give
+up your residence.'
+
+'She might find it very dull.'
+
+'She would make her own calculations as to that before she accepted
+you.'
+
+'No doubt but I can't fancy any woman taking a man who was tied by his
+leg to Perivale. What do people do who live in Perivale?'
+
+'Earn their bread.'
+
+'Yes that's just what I said. But I shouldn't earn mine here.'
+
+'I have the feeling I spoke of very strongly about papa's place,' said
+Clara, changing the conversation suddenly. 'I very often think of the
+future fate of Belton Castle when papa shall have gone. My cousin has
+got his house at Plaistow, and I don't suppose he'd live there.'
+
+'And where will you go?' he asked.
+
+As soon as she had spoken, Clara regretted her own imprudence in having
+ventured to speak upon her own affairs. She had been well pleased to
+hear him talk of his plans, and had been quite resolved not to talk of
+her own. But now, by her own speech, she had sot him to make inquiries
+as to her future life. She did not at first answer the question; but he
+repeated it. 'And where will you live yourself?'
+
+'I hope I may not have to think of that for some time to come yet.'
+
+'It is impossible to help thinking of such things.'
+
+'I can assure you that I haven't thought about it; but I suppose I
+shall endeavour to to I don't know what I shall endeavour to do.'
+
+'Will you come and live at Perivale?'
+
+'Why here more than anywhere else?
+
+'In this house I mean.'
+
+'That would suit me admirably would it not? I'm afraid Mr Possitt would
+not find me a good neighbour. To tell the truth, I think that any lady
+who lives here alone ought to be older than I am. The Penvalians would
+not show to a young woman that sort of respect which they have always
+felt for this house.'
+
+'I didn't mean alone,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+Then Clara got up and made some excuse for leaving him, and there was
+nothing more said between them nothing, at least, of moment, on that
+evening. She had become uneasy when he asked her whether she would like
+to live in his house at Perivale. But afterwards, when he suggested
+that she was to have some companion with her there, she felt herself
+compelled to put an end to the conversation. And yet she knew that this
+was always the way, both with him and with herself. He would say things
+which would seem to promise that in another minute he would be at her
+feet, and then he would go no farther. And she, when she heard those
+words though in truth size would have had him at her feet if she could
+would draw away, and recede, and forbid him as it were to go on. But
+Clara continued to make her comparisons, and knew well that her cousin
+Will would have gone on in spite of any such forbiddings.
+
+On that night, however, when she was alone, she could console herself
+with thinking how right she had been. In that front bedroom, the door
+of which was opposite to her own, with closed shutters, in the terrible
+solemnity of lifeless humanity, was still lying the body of her aunt!
+What would she have thought of herself if at such a moment she could
+have listened to words of love, and promised herself as a wife while
+such an inmate was in the house? She little knew that he, within that
+same room, had pledged himself, to her who was now lying there waiting
+for her last removal had pledged himself, just seven days since, to
+make the offer which, when he was talking to her, she was always half
+hoping and half fearing!
+
+He could have meant nothing else when he told her that he had not
+intended to suggest that she should live there alone in that great
+house at Perivale. She could not hinder herself from thinking of this,
+unfit as was the present moment for any such thoughts. How was it
+possible that she should not speculate on the subject, let her
+resolutions against any such speculation be ever so strong? She had
+confessed to herself that she loved the man, and what else could she
+wish but that he also should love her? But there came upon her some
+faint suspicion some glimpse of what was almost a dream  that he might
+possibly in this matter be guided rather by duty than by love. It might
+be that he would feel himself constrained to offer his hand to her
+constrained by the peculiarity of his position towards her. If so
+should she discover that such were his motives there would be no doubt
+as to the nature of her answer.
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+SHOWING HOW CAPTAIN AYLMER KEPT HIS PROMISE
+
+The next day was necessarily very sad. Clara had declared her
+determination to follow her aunt to the churchyard, and did so,
+together with Martha, the old servant. There were three or four
+mourning coaches, as family friends came over from Taunton, one or two
+of whom were to be present at the reading of the will. How melancholy
+was the occasion, and how well the work was done; how substantial and
+yet how solemn was the luncheon, spread after the funeral for the
+gentlemen; and how the will was read, without a word of remark, by Mr
+Palmer, need hardly be told here. The will contained certain
+substantial legacies to servants the amount to that old handmaid Martha
+being so great as to produce a fit of fainting, after which the old
+handmaid declared that if ever there was, by any chance, an angel of
+light upon the earth, it was her late mistress; and yet Martha had had
+her troubles with her mistress; and there was a legacy of two hundred
+pounds to the gentleman who was called upon to act as co-executor with
+Captain Aylmer. Other clause in the will there was none, except that
+one substantial clause which bequeathed to her well-beloved nephew,
+Frederic Folliott Aylmer, everything of which the testatrix died
+possessed. The will had been made at some moment in which Clara's
+spirit of independence had offended her aunt, and her name was not
+mentioned. That nothing should have been left to Clara was the one
+thing that surprised the relatives from Taunton who were present. The
+relatives from Taunton, to give them their due, expected nothing for
+themselves; but as there had been great doubt as to the proportions in
+which the property would be divided between the nephew and adopted
+niece, there was aroused a considerable excitement as to the omission
+of the name of Miss Amedroz an excitement which was not altogether
+unpleasant. When people complain of some cruel shame, which does not
+affect themselves personally, the complaint is generally accompanied by
+an unexpressed and unconscious feeling of satisfaction.
+
+On the present occasion, when the will had been read and refolded,
+Captain Aylmer, who was standing on the rug near the fire, spoke a few
+words. His aunt, he said, had desired to add a codicil to the will, of
+the nature of which Mr Palmer was well aware. She had expressed her
+intention to leave fifteen hundred pounds to her niece, Miss Amedroz;
+but death had come upon her too quickly to enable her to perform her
+purpose. Of this intention on the part of Mrs Winterfield, Mr Palmer
+was as well aware as himself; and he mentioned the subject now, merely
+with the object of saying that, as a matter of course, the legacy to
+Miss Amedroz was as good as though the codicil had been completed. On
+such a question as that there could arise no question as to legal
+right; but he understood that the legal claim of Miss Amedroz, under
+such circumstances, was as void as his own. It was therefore no affair
+of generosity on his part. Then there was a little buzz of satisfaction
+on the part of those present, and the meeting was broken up.
+
+A certain old Mrs. Folliott, who was cousin to everybody concerned, had
+come over from Taunton to see how things were going. She had always
+been at variance with Mrs Winterfield, being a woman who loved cards
+and supper parties, and who had throughout her life stabled her horses
+in stalls very different to those used by the lady of Perivale. Now
+this Mrs Folliott was the first to tell Clara of the will. Clara. of
+course, was altogether indifferent. She had known for months past that
+her aunt had intended to leave nothing to her, and her only hope had
+been that she might be left free from any commiseration or remark on
+the subject. But Mrs Folliott, with sundry shakings of the head, told
+her how her aunt had omitted to name her and then told her also of
+Captain Aylmer's generosity. 'We all did think, my dear,' said Mrs
+Folliott, 'that she would have done better than that for you, or at any
+rate that she would not have left you dependent on him.' Captain
+Aylmer's horses were also supposed to be stabled in strictly Low Church
+stalls, and were therefore regarded by Mrs Folliott with much dislike.
+
+'I and my aunt understood each other perfectly,' said Clara.
+
+'I dare say. But if so, you really were the only person that did
+understand her. No doubt what she did was quite right, seeing that she
+was a saint; but we sinners would have thought it very wicked to have
+made such a will, and then to have trusted to the generosity of another
+person after we were dead.'
+
+'But there is no question of trusting to any one's generosity, Mrs
+Folliott.'
+
+'He need not pay you a shilling, you know, unless he likes it.'
+
+'And he will not be asked to pay me a shilling.'
+
+'I don't suppose he will go back after what he has said publicly.'
+
+'My dear Mrs Folliott,' said Clara earnestly, 'pray do not let us talk
+about it. it is quite unnecessary. I never expected any of my aunt's
+property, and knew all along that it was to go to Captain Aylmer who,
+indeed, was Mrs Winterfield's heir naturally. Mrs Winterfield was not
+really my aunt, and I had no claim on her.'
+
+'But everybody understood that she was to provide for you.'
+
+'As I was not one of the everybodies myself, it will not signify.' Then
+Mrs Folliott retreated, having, as she thought, performed her duty to
+Clara, and contented herself henceforth with abusing Mrs Winterfield's
+will in her own social circles at Taunton.
+
+On the evening of that day, when all the visitors were gone and the
+house was again quiet, Captain Aylmer thought it expedient to explain
+to Clara the nature of his aunt's will, and the manner in which she
+would be allowed to inherit under it the amount of money which her aunt
+had intended to bequeath to her. When she became impatient and objected
+to listen to him, he argued with her, pointing out to her that this was
+a matter of business to which it was now absolutely necessary that she
+should attend. 'It may be the case,' he said, 'and, indeed, I hope it
+will, that no essential difference will be made by it except that it
+will gratify you to know how careful she was of your interests in her
+last moments. But you are bound in duty to learn your own position; and
+I, as her executor, am bound to explain it to you. But perhaps you
+would rather discuss it with Mr Palmer.'
+
+'Oh no save me from that.'
+
+'You must understand, then, that I shall pay over to you the sum of
+fifteen hundred pounds as soon as the will has been proved.'
+
+'I understand nothing of the kind. I know very well that if I were to
+take it, I should be accepting a present from you, and to that I cannot
+consent.'
+
+'But, Clara'
+
+'It is no good, Captain Aylmer. Though I don't pretend to understand
+much about law, I do know that I can have no claim to anything that is
+not put into the will; and I won't have what I could not claim. My mind
+is quite made up, and I hops I mayn't be annoyed about it. Nothing is
+more disagreeable than having to discuss money matters.'
+
+Perhaps Captain Aylmer thought that the having no money matters to
+discuss might be even more disagreeable. 'Well,' he said, 'I can only
+ask you to consult any friend whom you can trust upon the matter. Ask
+your father, or Mr Belton, and I have no doubt that either of them will
+tell you that you are as much entitled to the legacy as though it had
+been written in the will.'
+
+'On such a matter, Captain Aylmer, I don't want to ask anybody. You
+can't pay me the money unless I choose to take it, and I certainly
+shall not do that.' Upon hearing this he smiled, assuming, as Clara
+fancied that he was sometimes wont to do, a look of quiet superiority;
+and then, for that time, he allowed the subject to be dropped between
+them.
+
+But Clara knew that she must discuss it at length with her father, and
+the fear of that discussion made her unhappy. She had already written
+to say that she would return home on the day but one after the funeral,
+and had told Captain Aylmer of her purpose. So very prudent a man as he
+of course could not think it right that a young lady should remain with
+him, in his house, as his visitor; and to her decision on this point he
+had made no objection. She now heartily wished that she had named the
+day after the funeral, and that she had not been deterred by her
+dislike of making a Sunday journey. She dreaded this day, and would
+have been very thankful if he would have left her and gone back to
+London. But he intended, he said, to remain at Perivale throughout the
+next week, and she must endure the day as best she might be able. She
+wished that it were possible to ask Mr Possitt to his accustomed
+dinner; but she did not dare to make the proposition to the master of
+the house. Though Captain Aylmer had declared Mr Possitt to be a very
+worthy man, Clara surmised that he would not be anxious to commence
+that practice of a Sabbatical dinner so soon after his aunt's decease.
+The day, after all, would be but one day, and Clara schooled herself
+into a resolution to bear it with good humour.
+
+Captain Aylmer had made a positive promise to his aunt on her deathbed
+that he would ask Clara Amedroz to be his wife, and be had no more idea
+of breaking his word than he had of resigning the whole property which
+had been left to him. Whether Clara would accept him he had much doubt.
+He was a man by no means brilliant, not naturally self-confident, nor
+was he, perhaps, to be credited with the possession of high principles
+of the finest sort; but he was clever, in the ordinary sense of the
+word, knowing his own interest, knowing, too, that that interest
+depended on other things besides money; and ha was a just man,
+according to the ordinary rules of justice in the world. Not for the
+first time, when he was sitting by the bedside of his dying aunt, had
+he thought of asking Clara to marry him. Though he had never hitherto
+resolved that he would do so though he had never till then brought
+himself absolutely to determine that he would take so important a step
+he had pondered over it often, and was aware that he was very fond of
+Clara. He was, in truth, as much in love with her as it was in his
+nature to be in love. He was not a man to break his heart for a girl
+nor even to make a strong fight for a wife, as Belton was prepared to
+do. If refused once, he might probably ask again having some idea that
+a first refusal was not always intended to mean much and he might
+possibly make a third attempt, prompted by some further calculation of
+the same nature. But it might be doubted whether, on the first, second,
+or third occasion, he would throw much passion into his words; and
+those who knew him well would hardly expect to see him die of a broken
+heart, should he ultimately be unsuccessful.
+
+When he had first thought of marrying Miss Amedroz he had imagined that
+she would have shared with him his aunt's property, and indeed such had
+been his belief up to the days of the last illness of Mrs Winterfield.
+The match therefore had recommended itself to him as being prudent as
+well as pleasant; and though his aunt had never hitherto pressed the
+matter upon him, he had understood what her wishes were. When she first
+told him, three or four days before her death, that her property was
+left altogether to him, and then, on hearing how totally her niece was
+without hope of provision from her father, had expressed her desire to
+give a sum of money to Clara, she had spoken plainly of her desire but
+she had not on that occasion asked him for any promise. But afterwards,
+when she knew that she was dying, she had questioned him as to his own
+feelings, and he, in his anxiety to gratify her in her last wishes, had
+given her the promise which she was so anxious to hear. He made no
+difficulty in doing so. It was his own wish as well as hers. In a money
+point of view he might no doubt now do better; but then money was not
+everything. He was very fond of Clara, and felt that if she would
+accept him he would be proud of his wife. She was well born and well
+educated, and it was the proper sort of thing for him to do. No doubt
+he had some idea, seeing how things had now arranged themselves, that
+he would be giving much more than he would get; and perhaps the manner
+of his offer might be affected by that consideration; but not on that
+account did he feel at all sure that he would be accepted. Clara
+Amedroz was a proud girl perhaps too proud. Indeed, it was her fault.
+If her pride now interfered with her future fortune in life, it should
+be her fault, not his. He would do his duty to her and to his aunt he
+would do it perseveringly and kindly; and then, if she refused him, the
+fault would not be his.
+
+Such, I think, was the state of Captain Aylmer's mind when he got up on
+the Sunday morning, resolving that he would on that day make good his
+promise. And it must be remembered, on his behalf, that he would have
+prepared himself for his task with more animation if he had hitherto
+received warmer encouragement. He had felt himself to be repulsed in
+the little efforts which he had already made to please the lady, and
+had no idea whatever as to the true state of her feelings. Had he known
+what she knew, he would, I think, have been animated enough, and gone
+to his task as happy and thriving a lover as any. But he was a man
+somewhat diffident of himself, though sufficiently conscious of the
+value of the worldly advantages which he possessed and he was, perhaps,
+a little afraid of Clara, giving her credit for an intellect superior
+to his own.
+
+
+
+He had promised to walk with her on the Saturday after the reading of
+the will, intending to take her out through the gardens down to a farm,
+now belonging to himself, which lay at the back of the town, and which
+was held by an old widow who had been senior in life to her late
+landlady; but no such walk had been possible, as it was dark before the
+last of the visitors from Taunton had gone. At breakfast on Sunday he
+again proposed the walk, offering to take her immediately after
+luncheon. 'I suppose you will not go to church?' he said.
+
+'Not today. I could hardly bring myself to do it today.'
+
+'I think you are right. I shall go. A man can always do these things
+sooner than a lady can. But you will come out afterwards?' To this she
+assented, and then she was left alone throughout the morning. The walk
+she did not mind. That she and Captain Aylmer should walk together was
+all very well. They might probably have done so had Mrs Winterfield
+been still alive. It was the long evening afterwards that she dreaded
+the long winter evening, in which she would have to sit with him as his
+guest, and with him only. She could not pass these hours without
+talking to him, and she felt that she could not talk to him naturally
+and easily. It would, however, be but for once, and she would bear it.
+
+They went together down to the house of Mrs Partridge, the tenant, and
+made their kindly speeches to the old woman. Mrs Partridge already knew
+that Captain Aylmer was to be her landlord, but having hitherto seen
+more of Miss Amedroz than of the captain, and having always regarded
+her landlady's niece as being connected irrevocably with the property,
+she addressed them as though the estate were a joint affair.
+
+'I shan't be here to trouble you long that I shan't, Miss Clara,' said
+the old woman.
+
+'I am sure Captain Aylmer would be very sorry to lose you,' replied
+Clara, speaking loud, and close to the poor woman's ear, for she was
+deaf.
+
+'I never looked to live after she was gone, Miss Clara never. No more I
+didn't. Deary deary! And I suppose you'll be living at the big house
+now; won't ye?'
+
+'The big house belongs to Captain Aylmer, Mrs Partridge.' She was
+driven to bawl out her words, and by no means liked the task. Then
+Captain Aylmer said something, but his speech was altogether lost.
+
+'Oh it belongs to the captain, do it? They told me that was the way of
+the will; but I suppose it's all one.'
+
+'Yes; it's all one,' said Captain Aylmer, gaily.
+
+'It's not exactly all one, as you call it,' said Clara, attempting to
+laugh, but still shouting at the top of her voice.
+
+'Ah I don't understand; but I hope you'll both live there together and
+I hope you'll be as good to the poor as she that is gone. Well, well; I
+didn't ever think that I should be still here, while she is lying under
+the stones up in the old church!'
+
+Captain Aylmer had determined that he would ask his question on the way
+back from the farm, and now resolved that he might as well begin with
+some allusion to Mrs Partridge's words about the house. The afternoon
+was bright and cold, and the lane down to the farmhouse had been dried
+by the wind, so that the day was pleasant for walking. 'We might as
+well go on to the bridge,' he said, as they left the farmyard. 'I
+always think that Perivale church looks better from Creevy bridge than
+any other point.' Perivale church stood high in the centre of the town,
+on an eminence, and was graced with a spire which was declared by the
+Perivalians to be preferable to that of Salisbury in proportion, though
+it was acknowledged to be somewhat inferior to it in height. The little
+river Creevy, which ran through a portion of the suburbs of the town,
+and which, as there seen, was hardly more than a ditch, then sloped
+away behind Creevy Grange, as the farm of Mrs Partridge was called, and
+was crossed by a small wooden bridge, from which there was a view, not
+only of the church, but of all that side of the hill on which Mrs
+Winterfield's large brick house stood conspicuously.
+
+So they walked down to Creevy bridge, and, when there, stood leaning on
+the parapet and looking back upon the town.
+
+'How well I know every house and spot in the place as I see them from
+here,' he said.
+
+'A good many of the houses are your own or will be some day; and
+therefore you should know them.'
+
+'I remember, when I used to be here as a boy fishing, I always thought
+Aunt Winterfield's house was the biggest house in the county.'
+
+'It can't be nearly so large as your father's house in Yorkshire.'
+
+'No; certainly it is not. Aylmer Park is a large place; but the house
+does not stretch itself out so wide as that; nor does it stand on the
+side of a hill so as to show out its proportions with so much
+ostentation. The coach-house and the stables, and the old brewhouse,
+seem to come half way down the hill. And when I was a boy I had much
+more respect for my aunt's red-brick house in Perivale than I had for
+Aylmer Park.'
+
+'And now it's your own.'
+
+'Yes; now it's my own and all my respect for it is gone. I used to
+think the Creevy the best river in England for fish; but I wouldn't
+give a sixpence now for all the perch I ever caught in it.'
+
+'Perhaps your taste for perch is gone also.'
+
+'Yes; and my taste for jam. I never believed in the store-room at
+Aylmer Park as I did in my aunt's store-room here.'
+
+'I don't doubt but what it is full now.'
+
+'I dare say; but I shall never have the curiosity even to inquire. Ah,
+dear I wish I knew what to do about the house.'
+
+'You won't sell it, I suppose?'
+
+'Not if I could either live in it, or let it. It would be wrong to let
+it stand idle.'
+
+'But you need not decide quite at once.'
+
+'That's just what I want to do. I want to decide at once.'
+
+'Then I'm sure I cannot advise you. It seems to me very unlikely that
+you should come and live here by yourself. It isn't like a
+country-house exactly.'
+
+'I shan't live there by myself certainly. You heard what Mrs Partridge
+said just now.'
+
+'What did Mrs Partridge say?'
+
+'She wanted to know whether it belonged to both of us, and whether it
+was not all one. Shall it be all one, Clara?'
+
+She was leaning over the rail of the bridge as he spoke, with her eyes
+fixed on the slowly moving water. When she heard his words she raised
+her face and looked full upon him. She was in some sort prepared for
+the moment, though it would be untrue to say that she had now expected
+it. Unconsciously she had made some resolve that if ever the question
+were put to her by him, she would not be taken altogether off her
+guard; and now that the question was put to her, she was able to
+maintain her composure. Her first feeling was one of triumph as it must
+be in such a position to any woman who has already acknowledged to
+herself that she loves the man who then asks her to be his wife. She
+looked up into Captain Aylmer's face and his eye almost quailed beneath
+hers. Even should he be triumphant, he was not perfectly assured that
+his triumph would be a success.
+
+'Shall what be all one?' she asked.
+
+'Shall it be in your house and my house? Can you tell me that you will
+love me and be my wife?' Again she looked at him, and he repeated his
+question. 'Clara, can you love me well enough to take me for your
+husband?'
+
+'I can,' she said. Why should she hesitate, and play the coy girl, and
+pretend to any doubts in her mind which did not exist there? She did
+love him, and had so told herself with much earnestness. To him, while
+his words had been doubtful while he had simply played at making love
+to her, she had given no hint of the state of her affections. She had
+so carried herself before him as to make him doubt whether success
+could be possible for him. But now why should she hesitate now? It was
+as she had hoped or as she bad hardly dared to hope. He did love her.
+'I can,' she said; and then, before he could speak again, she repeated
+her words with more emphasis. 'Indeed I can; with all my heart.'
+
+As regarded herself, she was quite equal to the occasion; but had she
+known more of the inner feelings of men and women in general, she would
+have been slower to show her own. What is there that any man desires
+any man or any woman that does not lose half its value when it is found
+to be easy of access and easy of possession? Wine is valued by its
+price, not its flavour. Open your doors freely to Jones and Smith, and
+Jones and Smith will not care to enter them. Shut your doors obdurately
+against the same gentlemen, and they will use all their little
+diplomacy to effect an entrance. Captain Aylmer, when he heard the
+hearty tone of the girl's answer, already began almost to doubt whether
+it was wise on his part to devote the innermost bin of his cellar to
+wine that was so cheap.
+
+Not that he had any idea of receding. Principle, if not love, prevented
+that. 'Then the question about the house is decided,' he said, giving
+his hand to Clara as he spoke.
+
+'I don't care a bit about the house now,' she answered.
+
+'That's unkind.'
+
+'I am thinking so much more of you of you and of myself. What does an
+old house matter?'
+
+'It's in very good repair,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'You must not laugh at me,' she said; and in truth he was not laughing
+at her. 'What I mean is that anything about a house is indifferent to
+me now. It is as though I had got all that I want in the world. Is it
+wrong of me to say so?'
+
+'Oh, dear, no not wrong at all. How can it be wrong?' He did not tell
+her that he also had got all he wanted; but his lack of enthusiasm in
+this respect did not surprise her, or at first even vex her. She had
+always known him to be a man careful of his words knowing their value
+not speaking with hurried rashness as would her dear cousin Will. And
+she doubted whether, after all, such hurried words mean as much as
+words which are slower and calmer. After all his heat in love and
+consequent disappointment, Will Belton had left her apparently well
+contented. His fervour had been short-lived. She loved her cousin
+dearly, and was so very glad that his fervour had been short-lived!
+
+'When you asked me, I could but tell you the truth,' she said, smiling
+at him.
+
+The truth is very well, but he would have liked it better had the truth
+come to him by slower degrees. When his aunt had told him to marry
+Clara Amedroz, he had been at once reconciled to the order by a feeling
+on his own part that the conquest of Clara would not be too facile. She
+was a woman of value, not to be snapped up easily or by any one. So he
+had thought then; but he began to fancy now that he had been wrong in
+that opinion.
+
+The walk back to the house was not of itself very exciting, though to
+Clara it was a short period of unalloyed bliss. No doubt had then come
+upon her to cloud her happiness, and she was 'wrapped up in measureless
+content.' It was well that they should both be silent at such a moment.
+Only yesterday had been buried their dear old friend the friend who had
+brought them together, and been so anxious for their future happiness!
+And Clara Amedroz was not a young girl, prone to jump out of her shoes
+with elation because she had got a lover. She could be steadily happy
+without many immediate words about her happiness. When they reached the
+house, and were once more together in the drawing-room, she again gave
+him her hand, and was the first to speak. And you; are you contented?'
+she asked. Who does not know the smile of triumph with which a girl
+asks such a question at such a moment as that?
+
+'Contented? well yes; I think I am,' he said.
+
+But even those words did not move her to doubt. 'If you are,' she
+said,' I am. And now I will leave you till dinner, that you may think
+over what you have done.'
+
+'I had thought about it before, you know,' he replied. Then he stooped
+over her and kissed her. It was the first time he had done so; but his
+kiss was as cold and proper as though they had been man and wife for
+years! But it sufficed for her, and she went to her room as happy as a
+queen.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MISS AMEDROZ IS TOO CANDID BY HALE
+
+Clara, when she left her accepted lover in the drawing-room and went
+up to her own chamber, had two hours for consideration before she would
+see him again and she had two hours for enjoyment. She was very happy.
+She thoroughly believed in the man who was to be her husband, feeling
+confident that he possessed those qualities which she thought to be
+most necessary for her married happiness. She had quizzed him at times,
+pretending to make it matter of accusation against him that his life
+was not in truth all that his aunt believed it to be but had it been
+more what Mrs Winterfield would have wished, it would have been less to
+Clara's taste. She liked his position in the world; she liked the
+feeling that he was a man of influence; perhaps she liked to think that
+to some extent he was a man of fashion. He was not handsome, but he
+looked always like a gentleman. He was well educated, given to reading,
+prudent, steady in his habits, a man likely to rise in the world; and
+she loved him. I fear the reader by this time may have begun to think
+that her love should never have been given to such a man. To this
+accusation I will make no plea at present, but I will ask the
+complainant whether such men are not always loved. Much is said of the
+rashness of women in giving away their hearts wildly; but the charge
+when made generally is, I think, an unjust one. I am more often
+astonished by the prudence of girls than by their recklessness. A woman
+of thirty will often love well and not wisely; but the girls of twenty
+seem to me to like propriety of demeanour, decency of outward life, and
+a competence. It is, of course, good that it should be so; but if it is
+so, they should not also claim a general character for generous and
+passionate indiscretion, asserting as their motto that Love shall still
+be Lord of All. Clara was more than twenty; but she was not yet so far
+advanced in age as to have lost her taste for decency of demeanour and
+propriety of life. A Member of Parliament, with a small house near
+Eaton Square, with a moderate income, and a liking for committees, who
+would write a pamphlet once every two years, and read Dante critically
+during the recess, was, to her, the model for a husband. For such a one
+she would read his blue books, copy his pamphlets, and learn his
+translations by heart. She would be safe in the hands of such a man,
+and would know nothing of the miseries which her brother bad
+encountered. Her model may not appear, when thus described, to be a
+very noble one; but I think it is the model most approved among ladies
+of her class in England.
+
+She made up her mind on various points during those two hours of
+solitude. In the first place, she would of course keep her purpose of
+returning home on the following day. It was not probable that Captain
+Aylmer would ask her to change it; but let him ask ever so much it must
+not be changed. She must at once have the pleasure of telling her
+father that all his trouble about her would now be over; and then,
+there was the consideration that her further sojourn in the house, with
+Captain Aylmer as her lover, would hardly be more proper than it would
+have been bad he not occupied that position. And what was she to say if
+he pressed her as to the time of their marriage? Her aunt's death would
+of course be a sufficient reason why it should be delayed for some few
+months; and, upon the whole, she thought it would be best to postpone
+it till the next session of Parliament should have nearly expired. But
+she would be prepared to yield to Captain Aylmer, should he name any
+time after Easter. It was clearly his intention to keep up the house in
+Perivale as his country residence. She did not like Perivale or the
+house, but she would say nothing against such am arrangement. Indeed,
+with what face could she do so? She was going to bring nothing to the
+common account absolutely nothing but herself! As she thought of this
+her love grew warmer, and she hardly knew how sufficiently to testify
+to herself her own gratitude and affection.
+
+She became conscious, as she was preparing herself for dinner, of some
+special attention to her toilet. She was more than ordinarily careful
+with her hair, and felt herself to be aware of an anxiety to look her
+best. She had now been for some time so accustomed to dress herself in
+black, that in that respect her aunt's death had made no difference to
+her. Deep mourning had ceased from habit to impress her with any
+special feeling of funereal solemnity. But something about herself, or
+in the room, at last struck her with awe, bidding her remember how
+death had of late been busy among those who had been her dearest and
+nearest friends; and she sat down, almost frightened at her own
+heartlessness, in that she was allowing herself to be happy at such a
+time. Her aunt had been carried away to her grave only yesterday, and
+her brother's death had occurred under circumstances of peculiar
+distress within the year and yet she was happy, triumphant almost lost
+in the joy of her own position! She remained for a while in her chair,
+with her black dress hanging across her lap, as she argued with herself
+as to her own state of mind. Was it a sign of a hard heart within her,
+that she could be happy at such a time? Ought the memory of her poor
+brother to have such an effect upon her as to make any joy of spirits
+impossible to her? Should she at the present moment be so crushed by
+her aunt's demise, as to be incapable of congratulating herself upon
+her own success? Should she have told him, when he asked her that
+question upon the bridge, that there could be no marrying or giving in
+marriage between them, no talking on such a subject in days so full of
+sorrow as these? I do not know that she quite succeeded in recognizing
+it as a truth that sorrow should be allowed to bar out no joy that it
+does not bar out of absolute necessity by its own weight, without
+reference to conventional ideas; that sorrow should never, under any
+circumstances, be nursed into activity, as though it were a thing in
+itself divine or praiseworthy. I do not know that she followed out her
+arguments till she had taught herself that it is the Love that is
+divine the Love which, when outraged by death or other severance,
+produces that sorrow which man would control if he were strong enough,
+but which he cannot control by reason of the weakness of his humanity.
+I doubt whether so much as this made itself plain to her, as she sat
+there before her toilet table, with her sombre dress hanging from her
+hands on to the ground. But something of the strength of such reasoning
+was hers. Knowing herself to be full of joy, she would not struggle to
+make herself believe that it behoved her to be unhappy. She told
+herself that she was doing what was good for others as well as for
+herself what would be very good for her father, and what should be
+good, if it might be within her power to make it so, for him who was to
+be her husband. The blackness of the cloud of her brother's death would
+never altogether pass away from her. It had tended, as she knew well,
+to make her serious, grave, and old, in spite of her own efforts to the
+contrary. The cloud had been so black with her that it had nearly lost
+for her the prize which was now her own. But she told herself that that
+blackness was an injury to her, and not a benefit, and that it had now
+become a duty to her for his sake, if not for her own to dispel its
+shadows rather than encourage them. She would go down to him full of
+joy, though not full of mirth, and would confess to him frankly, that
+in receiving the assurance of his love, she had received everything
+that had seemed to have any value for her in the world.
+
+Hitherto she had been independent she had specially been careful to
+show to him her resolve to be independent of him. Now she would put
+aside all that, and let him know that she recognized in him her lord
+and master as well as husband. To her father had been left no strength
+on which she could lean, and she had been forced therefore to trust to
+her own strength. Now she would be dependent on him who was to be her
+husband. As heretofore she had rejected his offers of assistance almost
+with disdain, so now would she accept them without scruple, looking to
+him to be her guide in all things, putting from her that carping spirit
+in which she had been wont to judge of his actions, and believing in
+him as a wife should believe in her husband.
+
+Such were the resolutions which Clara made in the first hour of
+solitude which came to her after her engagement; and they would have
+been wise resolutions but for this flaw that the stronger was
+submitting itself to the weaker, the greater to the less, the more
+honest to the less honest, that which was nearly true to that which was
+in great part false. The theory of man and wife that special theory in
+accordance with which the wife is to bend herself in loving submission
+before her husband is very beautiful; and would be good altogether if
+it could only be arranged that the husband should be the stronger and
+the greater of the two. The theory is based upon that hypothesis and
+the hypothesis sometimes fails of confirmation. In ordinary marriages
+the vessel rights itself, and the stronger and the greater takes the
+lead, whether clothed in petticoats, or in coat, waistcoat, and
+trousers; but there sometimes comes a terrible shipwreck, when the
+woman before marriage has filled herself full with ideas of submission,
+and then finds that her golden. headed god has got an iron body and
+feet of clay.
+
+Captain Aylmer, when he was left alone, had also something to think
+about; and as there were two hours left for such thought before he
+would again meet Clara, and as he had nothing else with which to occupy
+himself during those two hours, he again strolled down to the bridge on
+which be had made his offer. He strolled down there, thinking that he
+was thinking, but hardly giving much mind to his thoughts, which he
+allowed to run away with themselves as they listed. Of course he was
+going to be married. That was a thing settled. And he was perfectly
+satisfied with himself in that he had done nothing in a hurry, and
+could accuse himself of no folly even if he had no great cause for
+triumph. He had been long thinking that he should like to have Clara
+Amedroz for his wife long thinking that he would ask her to marry him;
+and having for months indulged such thoughts, he could not take blame
+to himself for having made to his aunt that deathbed promise which she
+had exacted. At the moment in which she asked him the question he was
+himself anxious to do the thing she desired of him. How then could be
+have refused her? And, having given the promise, it was a matter of
+course with him to fulfil it. He was a man who would have never
+respected himself again would have hated himself for ever, had he
+failed to keep a promise from which no living being could absolve him.
+He had been right therefore to make the promise, and having made it,
+had been right to keep it, and to do the thing at once. And Clara was
+very good and very wise, and sometimes looked very well, and would
+never disgrace him; and as she was in worldly matters to receive much
+and give nothing, she would probably be willing to make herself
+amenable to any arrangements as to their future mode of life which he
+might propose. In respect of this matter he was probably thinking of
+lodgings for himself in London during the parliamentary session, while
+she remained alone in the big red house upon which his eyes were fixed
+at the time. There was much of convenience in all this, which might
+perhaps atone to him for the sacrifice which he was undoubtedly making
+of himself. Had marriage simply been of itself a thing desirable, he
+could doubtless have disposed of himself to better advantage. His
+prospects, present fortune, and general position were so favourable,
+that he might have dared to lift his expectations, in regard both to
+wealth and rank, very high. The Aylmers were a considerable people, and
+he, though a younger brother, bad much more than a younger brother's
+portion. His seat in Parliament was safe; his position in society was
+excellent and secure; he was exactly so placed that marriage with a
+fortune was the only thing wanting to put the finishing coping-stone to
+his edifice that, and perhaps also the useful glory of having some Lady
+Mary or Lady Emily at the top of his table. Lady Emily Aylmer? Yes it
+would have sounded better, and there was a certain Lady Emily who might
+have suited. Now, as some slight regrets stole upon him gently, he
+failed to remember that this Lady Emily had not a shilling in the world.
+
+Yes; some faint regrets did steal upon him, though he went on telling
+himself that he had acted rightly. His stars, which were generally very
+good to him, had not perhaps on this occasion been as good as usual. No
+doubt he had to a certain degree become encumbered with Clara Amedroz.
+Had not the direct and immediate leap with which she had come into his
+arms shown him somewhat too plainly that one word of his mouth tending
+towards matrimony had been regarded by her as being too valuable to be
+lost? The fruit that falls easily from the tree, though it is ever the
+best, is never valued by the gardener. Let him have well-nigh broken
+his neck in gathering it, unripe and crude, from the small topmost
+boughs of the branching tree, and the pippin will be esteemed by him as
+invaluable. On that morning, as Captain Aylmer had walked home from
+church, he had doubted much what would be Clara's answer to him. Then
+the pippin was at the end of the dangerous bough. Now it had fallen to
+his feet, and he did not scruple to tell himself that it was his and
+always might have been his as a matter of course. Well, the apple had
+come of a good kind, and, though there might be specks upon it, though
+it might not be fit for any special glory of show or pride of place
+among the dessert service, still it should be garnered and used, and no
+doubt would be a very good apple for eating. Having so concluded,
+Captain Aylmer returned to the house, washed his hands, changed his
+boots, and went down to the drawing-room just as dinner was ready.
+
+She came up to him almost radiant with joy, and put her hand upon his
+arm. 'Martha did not know but what you were here,' she said, 'and told
+them to put dinner on the table.'
+
+'I hope I have not kept you waiting.'
+
+'Oh, dear, no. And what if you did? Ladies never care about things
+getting cold. It is gentlemen only who have feelings in such matters as
+that.'
+
+'I don't know that there is much difference; but, however ' Then they
+were in the dining-room, and as the servant remained there during
+dinner, there was nothing in their conversation worth repeating. After
+dinner they still remained down-stairs, seating themselves on the two
+sides of the fire, Clara having fully resolved that she would not on
+such an evening as this leave Captain Aylmer to drink his glass of port
+wine by himself.
+
+'I suppose I may stay with you, mayn't I?' she said.
+
+'Oh, dear, yes; I'm sure I'm very much obliged. I'm not at all wedded
+to solitude.' Then there was a slight pause.
+
+'That's lucky,' she said 'as you have made up your mind to be wedded in
+another sort of way.' Her voice as she spoke was very low, but there
+was a gentle ring of restrained joyousness in it which ought to have
+gone at once to his heart and made him supremely blessed for the time.
+
+'Well yes,' he answered. 'We are in for it now, both of us are we not?
+I hope you have no misgivings about it, Clara.'
+
+'Who? I? I have misgivings! No, indeed. I have no misgivings, Frederic;
+no doubts, no scruples, no alloy in my happiness. With me it is all as
+I would have it be. Ah; you haven't understood why it has been that I
+have seemed to be harsh to you when we have met.'
+
+'No, I have not,' said he. This was true; but it is true also that it
+would have been well that he should be kept in his ignorance. She was
+minded, however, to tell him everything, and therefore she went on.
+
+'I don't know how to tell you; and yet, circumstanced as we are now, it
+seems that I ought to tell you everything.'
+
+'Yes, certainly; I think that,' said Aylmer. He was one of those men
+who consider themselves entitled to see, hear, and know every little
+detail of a woman's conduct, as a consequence of the circumstances of
+his engagement, and who consider themselves shorn of their privilege if
+anything be kept back. If any gentleman had said a soft word to Clara
+eight years ago, that soft word ought to be repeated to him now. lam
+afraid that these particular gentlemen sometimes hear some fibs; and I
+often wonder that their own early passages in the tournays of love do
+not warn them that it must be so. When James has sat deliciously
+through all the moonlit night with his arm round Mary's waist and
+afterwards sees Mary led to the altar by John, does it not occur to him
+that some John may have also sat with his arm round Anna's waist that
+Anna whom he is leading to the altar? These things should not be
+inquired into too curiously; but the curiosity of some men on such
+matters has no end. For the most part, women like telling only they do
+not choose to be pressed beyond their own modes of utterance. 'I should
+like to know that I have your full confidence,' said he.
+
+'You have got my full confidence,' she replied.
+
+'I mean that you should tell me anything that there is to be told.'
+
+'It was only this, that I had learned to love you before I thought that
+my love would be returned.'
+
+'Oh was that it?' said Captain Aylmer, in a tone which seemed to imply
+something like disappointment.
+
+'Yes. Fred; that was It. And how could I, under such circumstances,
+trust myself to be gentle with you, or to look to you for assistance?
+How could I guess then all that I know now?'
+
+'Of course you couldn't.'
+
+'And therefore I was driven to be harsh. My aunt used to speak to me
+about it.'
+
+'I don't wonder at that, for she was very anxious that we should be
+married.'
+
+Clara for a moment felt herself to be uncomfortable as she heard these
+words, half perceiving that they implied some instigation on the part
+of Mrs Winterfield. Could it be that Captain Aylmer's offer had been
+made in obedience to a promise? 'Did you know of her anxiety?' she
+asked.
+
+'Well yes; that is to say, I guessed it. It was natural enough that the
+same idea should come to her and to me too. Of course, seeing us so
+much thrown together, she could not but think of our being married as a
+chance upon the cards.'
+
+'She used to tell me that I was harsh to you abrupt, she called it. But
+what could I do? I'll tell you, Fred, how I first found out that I
+really cared for you. What I tell you now is of course a secret; and I
+should speak of it to no one under any circumstances but those which
+unite us two together. My Cousin Will, when he was at Belton, made me
+an offer.'
+
+'He did, did he? You did not tell me that when you were saying all
+those fine things in his praise in the railway carriage.'
+
+Of course I did not. Why should I? I wasn't bound to tell you my
+secrets then, sir.'
+
+'But did he absolutely offer to you?'
+
+'Is there anything so wonderful in that? But, wonderful or not, he did.'
+
+'And you refused him?'
+
+'I refused him certainly.'
+
+'It wouldn't have been a bad match, if all that you say about his
+property is true.'
+
+'If you come to that, it would have been a very good match; and perhaps
+you think I was silly to decline it?'
+
+'I don't say that.'
+
+'Papa thought so but, then, I couldn't tell papa the whole truth, as I
+can tell it to you now, Captain Aylmer. I couldn't tell dear papa that
+my heart was not my own to give to my Cousin Will; nor could I give
+Will any such reason. Poor Will! I could only say to him bluntly that I
+wouldn't have him.'
+
+'And you would, if it hadn't been hadn't been for me.'
+
+'Nay, Fred; there you tax me too far. What might have come of my heart
+if you hadn't fallen in my way, who can say? I love Will Belton dearly,
+and hope that you may do so'
+
+'I must see him first.'
+
+'Of course but, as I was saying, I doubt whether, under any
+circumstances, he would have been the man I should have chosen for a
+husband. But as it was it was impossible. Now you know it all, and I
+think that I have been very frank with you.'
+
+'Oh! very frank.' He would not take her little jokes, nor understand
+her little prettinesses. That he was a man not prone to joking she knew
+well, but still it went against the grain with her to find that be was
+so very hard in his replies to her attempts.
+
+It was not easy for Clara to carry on the conversation after this, so
+she proposed that they should go upstairs into the drawing-room. Such a
+change even as that would throw them into a different way of talking,
+and prevent the necessity of any further immediate allusion to Will
+Belton. For Clara was aware, though she hardly knew why, that her
+frankness to her future husband had hardly been successful, and she
+regretted that she had on this occasion mentioned her cousin's name.
+They went upstairs and again sat themselves in chairs over the fire;
+but for a while conversation did not seem to come to them freely. Clara
+felt that it was now Captain Aylmer's turn to begin, and Captain Aylmer
+felt that he wished he could read the newspaper. He had nothing in
+particular that he desired to say to his lady-love. That morning, as he
+was shaving himself, he had something to say that was very particular
+as to which he was at that moment so nervous, that he had cut himself
+slightly through the trembling of his hand. But that had now been said,
+and he was nervous no longer. That had now been said, and the thing
+settled so easily, that he wondered at his own nervousness. He did not
+know that there was anything that required much further immediate
+speech. Clara had thought somewhat of the time which might be proposed
+for their marriage, making some little resolves, with which the reader
+is already acquainted; but no ideas of this kind presented themselves
+to Captain Aylmer. He had asked his cousin to be his wife, thereby
+making good his promise to his aunt. There could be no further
+necessity for pressing haste. Sufficient for the day is the evil
+thereof.
+
+It is not to be supposed that the thriving lover actually spoke to
+himself in such language as that or that he confessed to himself that
+Clara Amedroz was an evil to him rather than a blessing. But his
+feelings were already so far tending in that direction, that he was by
+no means disposed to make any further promise, or to engage himself in
+closer connexion with matrimony by the mention of any special day.
+Clara, finding that her companion would not talk without encouragement
+from her, had to begin again, and asked all those natural questions
+about his family, his brother, his sister, his home habits, and the old
+house in Yorkshire, the answers to which must be so full of interest to
+her. But even on these subjects he was dry, and in-disposed to answer
+with the full copiousness of free communication which she desired. And
+at last there came a question and an answer a word or two on one side,
+and then a word or two on the other, from which Clara got a wound which
+was very sore to her.
+
+'I have always pictured to myself,' she said 'your mother as a woman
+who has been very handsome.'
+
+'She is still a handsome woman, though she is over sixty.'
+
+'Tall, I suppose?'
+
+'Yes, tall, and with something of of what shall I say dignity, about
+her.'
+
+'She is not grand, I hope?'
+
+'I don't know what you call grand.'
+
+'Not grand in a bad sense I'm sure she is not that. But there are some
+ladies who seem to stand so high above the level of ordinary females as
+to make us who are ordinary quite afraid of them.'
+
+'My mother is certainly not ordinary,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'And I am,' said Clara, laughing. 'I wonder what she'll say to me or,
+rather, what she will think of me.' Then there was a moment's silence,
+after which Clara, still laughing, went on. 'I see, Fred, that you have
+not a word of encouragement to give me about your mother.'
+
+'She is rather particular,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+Then Clara drew herself up, and ceased to laugh. She had called herself
+ordinary with that half- insincere depreciation of self which is common
+to all of us when we speak of our own attributes, but which we by no
+means intend that they who hear us shall accept as strictly true, or
+shall re-echo as their own approved opinions. But in this instance
+Captain Aylmer, though he had not quite done that, had done almost as
+bad.
+
+'Then I suppose I had better keep out of her way,' said Clara, by no
+means laughing as she spoke.
+
+'Of course when we are married you must go and see her.'
+
+'You do not, at any rate, promise me a very agreeable visit, Fred. But
+I dare say I shall survive it. After all, it is you that I am to marry,
+and not your mother; and as long as you are not majestic to me, I need
+not care for her majesty.'
+
+'I don't know what you mean by majesty.'
+
+'You must confess that you speak of her as of something very terrible.'
+
+'I say that she is particular and so she is. And as my respect for her
+opinion is equal to my affection for her person, I hope that you will
+make a great effort to gain her esteem.'
+
+'I never make any efforts of that kind. If esteem doesn't come without
+efforts it isn't worth having.'
+
+'There I disagree with you altogether but I especially disagree with
+you as you are speaking about my mother, and about a lady who is to
+become your own mother-in-law. I trust that you will make such efforts,
+and that you will make them successfully. Lady Aylmer is not a woman
+who will give you her heart at once, simply because you have become her
+son's wife. She will judge you by your own qualities and will not
+scruple to condemn you should she see cause.'
+
+Then there was a longer silence, and Clara's heart was almost in
+rebellion even on this, the first day of her engagement. But she
+quelled her high spirit, and said no further word about Lady Aylmer.
+Nor did she speak again till she had enabled herself to smile as she
+spoke.
+
+'Well, Fred,' she said, putting her hand upon his arm, 'I'll do my
+best, and woman can do no more. And now I'll say good-night, for I must
+pack for tomorrow's journey before I go to bed.' Then he kissed her
+with a cold, chilling kiss and she left him for the night.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ RETURNS HOME
+
+Clara was to start by a train leaving Perivale at eight on the
+following morning, and therefore there was not much time for
+conversation before she went. During the night she had endeavoured so
+to school herself as to banish from her breast all feelings of anger
+against her lover, and of regret as regarded herself. Probably, as she
+told herself, she had made more of what he had said than he had
+intended that she should do; and then, was it not natural that he
+should think much of his mother, and feel anxious as to the way in
+which she might receive his wife. As to that feeling of anger on her
+own part, she did get quit of it; but the regret was not to be so
+easily removed. It was not only what Captain Aylmer had said about his
+mother that clung to her, doing much to quench her joy; but there had
+been a coldness in his tone to her throughout the evening which she
+recognized almost unconsciously, and which made her heart heavy in
+spite of the joy which she repeatedly told herself ought to be her own.
+And she also felt though she was not clearly aware that she did so that
+his manner towards her had become less affectionate, less like that of
+a lover, since the honest tale she had told him of her own early love
+for him. She should have been less honest, and more discreet; less
+bold, and more like in her words to the ordinary run of women. She had
+known this as she was packing last night, and she told herself that it
+was so as she was dressing on this her last morning at Perivale. That
+frankness of hers had not been successful, and she regretted that she
+had not imposed on herself some little reticence or even a little of
+that coy pretence of indifference which is so often used by ladies when
+they are wooed. She had been boldly honest, and had found her honesty
+to be bad policy. She thought, at least, that she had found its policy
+to be bad. Whether in truth it may not have been very good have been
+the best policy in the world tending to give her the first true
+intimation which she had ever yet received of the real character of the
+man who was now so much to her that is altogether another question.
+
+But it was clearly her duty to make the best of her present
+circumstances, and she went down-stairs with a smiling face and with
+pleasant words on her tongue. When she entered the breakfast-room
+Captain Aylmer was there; but Martha was there also, and her pleasant
+words were received indifferently in the presence of the servant. When
+the old woman was gone, Captain Aylmer assumed a grave face, and began
+a serious little speech which he had prepared. But he broke down in the
+utterance of it, and was saying things very different from what he had
+intended before he had completed it.
+
+'Clara,' he began, 'what occurred between us yesterday is a source of
+great satisfaction to me.'
+
+'I am glad of that, Frederick,' said she, trying to be a little less
+serious than her lover.
+
+'Of very great satisfaction,' he continued; 'and I cannot but think
+that we were justified by the circumstances of our position in
+forgetting for a time the sad solemnity of the occasion. When I
+remember that it was but the day before yesterday that I followed my
+dear old aunt to the grave, I am astonished to think that yesterday I
+should have made an offer of marriage.'
+
+What could be the good of his talking in this strain? Clara, too, had
+had her own misgivings on the same subject little qualms of conscience
+that had come to her as she remembered her old friend in the silent
+watches of the night; but such thoughts were for the silent watches,
+and not for open expression in the broad daylight. But he had paused,
+and she must say something.
+
+'One's excuse to oneself is this that she would have wished it so.'
+
+'Exactly. She would have wished it. Indeed she did wish it, and
+therefore ' He paused in what he was saying, and felt himself to be on
+difficult ground. Her eye was full upon him, and she waited for a
+moment or two as though expecting that he would finish his words. But
+as he did not go on, she finished them for him.
+
+'And therefore you sacrificed your own feelings.' Her heart was
+becoming sore, and she was unable to restrain the utterance of her
+sarcasm.
+
+'Just so,' said he; 'or, rather, not exactly that. I don't mean that I
+am sacrificed; for, of course, as I have just now said, nothing as
+regards myself can be more satisfactory. But yesterday should have been
+a solemn day to us; and as it was not'
+
+'I thought it very solemn.'
+
+'What I mean is that I find an excuse in remembering that I was doing
+what she asked me to do.'
+
+'What she asked you to do, Fred?'
+
+'What I had promised, I mean.'
+
+'What you had promised? I did not hear that before.' These last words
+were spoken in a very low voice, but they went direct to Captain
+Aylmer's ears.
+
+'But you have heard me declare,' he said, 'that as regards myself
+nothing could be more satisfactory.'
+
+'Fred,' she said, 'listen to me for a moment. You and I engaged
+ourselves to each other yesterday as man and wife.'
+
+'Of course we did.'
+
+'Listen to me, dear Fred. In doing that there was nothing in my mind
+unbefitting the sadness of the day. Even in death we must think of
+life, and if it were well for you and me that we should be together it
+would surely have been but a foolish ceremony between us to have
+abstained from telling each other that it would be so because my aunt
+had died last week. But it may be, and I think it is the case, that the
+feelings arising from her death have made us both too precipitate.'
+
+'I don't understand how that can be.'
+
+'You have been anxious to keep a promise made to her, without
+considering sufficiently whether in doing so you would secure your own
+happiness; and I'
+
+'I don't know about you, but as regards myself I must be considered to
+be the best judge.'
+
+'And I have been too much in a hurry in believing that which I wished
+to believe.'
+
+'What do you mean by all this, Clara?'
+
+'I mean that our engagement shall be at an end; not necessarily so for
+always. But that as an engagement binding us both, it shall for the
+present cease to exist. You shall be again free'
+
+'But I don't choose to be free.'
+
+'When you think of it you will find it best that it should be so. You
+have performed your promise honestly, even though at a sacrifice to
+yourself. Luckily for you for both of us, I should say the full truth
+has come out; and we can consider quietly what will be best for us to
+do, independently of that promise. We will part, therefore, as dear
+friends but not as engaged to each other as man and wife.'
+
+'But we are engaged, and I will not hear of its being broken.'
+
+'A lady's word, Fred, is always the most potential before marriage; and
+you must therefore yield to me in this matter. I am sure your judgment
+will approve of my decision when you think of it. There shall be no
+engagement between us. I shall consider myself quite free free to do as
+I please altogether; and you, of course, will be free also.'
+
+'If you please, of course it must be so.'
+
+'I do please, Fred.'
+
+'And yesterday, then, is to go for nothing.'
+
+'Not exactly. It cannot go for nothing with me. I told you too many of
+my secrets for that. But nothing that was done or said yesterday is to
+be held as binding upon either of us.'
+
+'And you made up your mind to that last night?'
+
+'It is at any rate made up to that now. Come I shall have to go without
+my breakfast if I do not eat it at once. Will you have your tea now, or
+wait and take it comfortably when I am gone?'
+
+Captain Aylmer breakfasted with her, and took her to the station, and
+saw her off with all possible courtesy and attention, and then he
+walked back by himself to his own great house in Perivale. Not a word
+more had been said between him and Clara as to their engagement, and he
+recognized it as a fact that he was no longer bound to her as her
+future husband. Indeed, he had no power of not recognizing the fact, so
+decided had been her language, and so imperious her manner It had been
+of no avail that he had said that the engagement should stand. She had
+told him that her voice was to be the more potential, and he had felt
+that it was so. Well might it not be best for him that it should be so?
+He had kept his promise to his aunt, and bad done all that lay in his
+power to make Clara Amedroz his wife. If she chose to rebel against her
+own good fortune simply because he spoke to her a few words which
+seemed to him to be fitting, might it not be well for him to take her
+at her word?
+
+Such were his first thoughts; but as the day wore on with him,
+something more generous in his nature came to his aid, and something
+also that was akin to real love. Now that she was no longer his own, he
+again felt a desire to have her. Now that there would be again
+something to be done in winning her, he was again stirred by a man's
+desire to do that something. He ought not to have told her of the
+promise. He was aware that what he had said on that point had been
+dropped by him accidentally, and that Clara's resolution after that had
+not been unnatural. He would, therefore, give her another chance, and
+resolved before he went to bed that night that he would allow a
+fortnight to pass away, and would then write to her, renewing his offer
+with all the strongest declarations of affection which he would be
+enabled to make.
+
+Clara on her way home was not well satisfied with herself or with her
+position. She had had great joy, during the few hours of joy which had
+been hers, in thinking of the comfort which her news would give to her
+father. He would be released from all further trouble on her account by
+the tidings which she would convey to him by the tidings which she had
+intended to convey to him. But now the story which she would have to
+tell would by no means be comfortable. She would have to explain to him
+that her aunt had left no provision for her, and that would be the
+beginning and the end of her story. As for those conversations about
+the fifteen hundred pounds of them she would say nothing. When she
+reflected on what had taken place between herself and Captain Aylmer
+she was more resolved than ever that she would not touch any portion of
+that money or of any money that should come from him. Nor would she
+tell her father anything of the marriage engagement which had been made
+on one day and unmade on the next. Why should she add to his distress
+by showing him what good things might have been hers had she only had
+the wit to keep them? No; she would tell her father simply of the will,
+and then comfort him in his affliction as best she might.
+
+As regarded her position with Captain Aylmer, the more she thought of
+it the more sure she became that everything was over in that quarter.
+She had, indeed, told him that such need not necessarily be the case
+but this she had done in her desire at the moment to mitigate the
+apparent authoritativeness of her own decision, rather than with any
+idea of leaving the matter open for further consideration. She was sure
+that Captain Aylmer would be glad of a means of escape, and that he
+would not again place himself in the jeopardy which the promise exacted
+from him by his aunt had made so nearly fatal to him. And for herself,
+though she still loved the man so loved him that she lay back in the
+corner of her carriage weeping behind her veil as she thought of what
+she had lost still she would not take him, though he should again press
+his suit upon her with all the ardour at his command. No, indeed. No
+man should ever be made to regard her as a burden imposed upon him by
+an extorted promise! What! let a man sacrifice himself to a sense of
+duty on her behalf! And then she repeated the odious words to herself,
+till she came to think that it had fallen from his lips and not from
+her own.
+
+In writing to her father from Perivale, she had merely told him of Mrs
+Winterfield's death and of her own intended return. At the Taunton
+station she met the well-known old fly and the well-known old driver,
+and was taken home in the accustomed manner. As she drew nearer to
+Belton the sense of her distress became stronger and stronger, till at
+last she almost feared to meet her father. What could she say to him
+when he should repeat to her, as be would be sure to do, his
+lamentation as to her future poverty?
+
+On arriving at the house she learned that he was upstairs in his
+bedroom. He had been ill, the servant said, and though he was not now
+in bed, he had not come down-stairs. So she ran up to his room, and
+finding him seated in an old arm-chair by the fire-side, knelt down at
+his feet, as she took his hand and asked him as to his health.
+
+'What has Mrs Winterfield done for you in her will?' These were the
+first words he spoke to her.
+
+'Never mind about wills now, papa. I want you to tell me of yourself.'
+
+'Nonsense, Clara. Answer my question.'
+
+'Oh, papa, I wish you would not think so much about money for me.'
+
+'Not think about it? Why am I not to think about it? What else have I
+got to think of? Tell me at once, Clara, what she has done. You ought
+to have written to me directly the will was made known.'
+
+There was no help for her, and the terrible word must be spoken. 'She
+has left her property to Captain Aylmer, papa; and I must say that I
+think she is right.'
+
+'You do not mean everything?'
+
+'She has provided for her servants.'
+
+'And has made no provision for you?'
+
+'No, papa.'
+
+'Do you mean to tell me that she has left you nothing absolutely
+nothing?' The old man's manner was altogether altered as he asked the
+question; and there came over his face so unusual a look of energy of
+the energy of anger that Clara was frightened, and knew not how to
+answer him with that tone of authority which she was accustomed to use
+when she found it necessary to exercise control over him. 'Do you mean
+to say that there is nothing nothing?' And as he repeated the question
+he pushed her away from his knees and stood up with an effort, leaning
+against the back of his chair.
+
+'Dear papa, do not let this distress you.'
+
+'But is it so? Is there in truth nothing?'
+
+'Nothing, papa. Remember that she was not really my aunt.'
+
+'Nonsense, child! nonsense! How can you talk such trash to me as that?
+And then you tell me not to distress myself! I am to know that you will
+be a beggar in a year or two probably in a few months and that is not
+to distress me! She has been a wicked woman!'
+
+'Oh, papa, do not say that.'
+
+'A wicked woman. A very wicked woman. It is always so with those who
+pretend to be more religious than their neighbours. She has been a very
+wicked woman, alluring you into her house with false hopes.'
+
+'No, papa no; I must contradict you. She had given me no grounds for
+such hope.'
+
+'I say she had even though she may not have made a promise. I say she
+had. Did not everybody think that you were to have her money?'
+
+'I don't know what people may have thought. Nobody has had any right to
+think about it at all.'
+
+'That is nonsense, Clara. You know that I expected it that you expected
+it yourself.'
+
+'No no, no!'
+
+'Clara how can you tell me that?'
+
+'Papa, I knew that she intended to leave me nothing. She told me so
+when I was there in the spring.'
+
+'She told you so?'
+
+'Yes, papa. She told me that Frederic Aylmer was to have all her
+property. She explained to me everything that she meant to do, and I
+thought that she was right.'
+
+'And why was not I told when you came home?'
+
+'Dear papa!'
+
+'Dear papa, indeed. What is the meaning of dear papa? Why have I been
+deceived?'
+
+'What good could I do by telling you? You could not change it.'
+
+'You have been very undutiful; and as for her, her wickedness and
+cruelty shock me shock me. They do, indeed. That she should have known
+your position, and had you with her always and then have made such a
+will as that! Quite heartless! She must have been quite heartless.'
+
+Clara now began to find that she must in justice to her aunt's memory
+tell her father something more. And yet it would be very difficult to
+tell him anything that would not bring greater affliction upon him, and
+would not also lead her into deeper trouble. Should it come to pass
+that her aunt's intention with reference to the fifteen hundred pounds
+was mentioned, she would be subjected to an endless persecution as to
+the duty of accepting that money from Captain Aylmer. But her present
+feelings would have made her much prefer to beg her bread upon the
+roads than accept her late lover's generosity. And then again, how
+could she explain to her father Mrs Winterfield's mistake about her own
+position without seeming to accuse her father of having robbed her? But
+nevertheless she must say something, as Mr Amedroz continued to apply
+that epithet of heartless to Mrs Winterfield, going on with it in a low
+droning tone, that was more injurious to Clara's ears than the first
+full energy of his anger.
+
+'Heartless quite heartless shockingly heartless shockingly heartless!'
+
+'The truth is, papa,' Clara said at last, 'that when my aunt told me
+about her will, she did not know but what I had some adequate provision
+from my own family.'
+
+'Oh, Clara!'
+
+'That is the truth, papa for she explained the whole thing to me. I
+could not tell her that she was mistaken, and thus ask for her money.'
+
+'But she knew everything about that poor wretched boy.' And now the
+father dropped back into his chair, and buried his face in his hands.
+
+When he did this Clara again knelt at his feet. She felt that she had
+been cruel, and that she had defended her aunt at the cost of her own
+father. She had, as it were, thrown in his teeth his own imprudence,
+and twitted him with the injuries which he had done to her. 'Papa,' she
+said, 'dear papa, do not think about it at all. What is the use? After
+all, money is not everything. I care nothing for money. If you will
+only agree to banish the subject altogether, we shall be so
+comfortable.'
+
+'How is it to be banished?'
+
+'At any rate we need not speak of it. Why should we talk on a subject
+which is simply uncomfortable, and which we cannot mend?'
+
+'Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!' And now he swayed himself backwards and
+forwards in his chair, bewailing his own condition and hers, and his
+past imprudence, while the tears ran down his checks. She still knelt
+there at his feet, looking up into his face with loving, beseeching
+eyes, praying him to be comforted, and declaring that all would still
+be well if he would only forget the subject, or, at any rate, cease to
+speak of it. But still he went on wailing, complaining of his lot as a
+child complains, and refusing all consolation. 'Yes; I know,' said he,
+'it has all been my fault. But how could I help it? What was I to do?'
+
+'Papa, nobody has said that anything was your fault; nobody has thought
+so.'
+
+'I never spent anything on myself never, never; and yet and yet and yet
+!'
+
+'Look at it with more courage, papa. After all, what harm will it be if
+I should have to go out and earn my own bread like any other young
+woman? I am not afraid.'
+
+At last he wept himself into an apathetic tranquillity, as though he
+had at present no further power for any of the energy of grief; and she
+left him while she went about the house and learned how things had gone
+on during her absence. It seemed, from the tidings which the servant
+gave her, that he had been ill almost since she had been gone. He had,
+at any rate, chosen to take his meals in his own room, and as far as
+was remembered, had not once left the house since she had been away. He
+had on two or three occasions spoken of Mr Belton, appearing to be
+anxious for his coming, and asking questions as to the cattle and the
+work that was still going on about the place; and Clara, when she
+returned to his room, tried to interest him again about her cousin. But
+he had in truth been too much distressed by the ill news as to Mrs
+Winterfield's will to be able to rally himself, and the evening that
+was spent up in his room was very comfortless to both of them. Clara
+had her own sorrows to bear as well as her father's, and could take no
+pleasant look out into the world of her own circumstances. She had
+gained her lover merely to lose him and had lost him under
+circumstances that were very painful to her woman's feeling. Though he
+had been for one night betrothed to her as her husband, he had never
+loved her. He had asked her to be his wife simply in fulfilment of a
+death-bed promise! The more she thought of it the more bitter did the
+idea of it become to her. And she could not also but think of her
+cousin. Poor Will! He, at any rate, had loved her, though his eagerness
+in love had been, as she told herself, but short-lived. As she thought
+of him, it seemed but the other day that he had been with her up on the
+rock in the park but as she thought of Captain Aylmer, to whom she had
+become engaged only yesterday, and from whom she had separated herself
+only that morning, she felt that an eternity of time had passed since
+she had parted from him.
+
+On the following day, a dull, dark, melancholy day, towards the end of
+November, she went out to saunter about the park, leaving her father
+still in his bedroom, and after a while made her way down to the
+cottage. She found Mrs Askerton as usual alone in the little
+drawing-room, sitting near the window with a book in her hand; but
+Clara knew at once that her friend had not been reading that she had
+been sitting there looking out upon the clouds, with her mind fixed
+upon things far away. The general cheerfulness of this woman had often
+been cause of wonder to Clara, who knew how many of her hours were
+passed in solitude; but there did occasionally come upon her periods of
+melancholy in which she was unable to act up to the settled rule of her
+life, and in which she would confess that the days and weeks and months
+were too long for her.
+
+'So you are back,' said Mrs Askerton, as soon as the first greeting was
+over.
+
+'Yes; I am back.'
+
+'I supposed you would not stay there long after the funeral.'
+
+'No; what good could I do?'
+
+'And Captain Aylmer is still there, I suppose?'
+
+'I left him at Perivale.'
+
+There was a slight pause, as Mrs Askerton hesitated before she asked
+her next question. 'May I be told anything about the will?' she said.
+
+'The weary will! If you knew how I hated the subject you would not ask
+me. But you must not think I hate it because it has given me nothing.'
+
+'Given you nothing?'
+
+'Nothing ! But that does not make me hate it. It is the nature of the
+subject that is so odious. I have now told you all everything that
+there is to be told, though we were to talk for a week. If you are
+generous you will not say another word about it.'
+
+'But I am so sorry.'
+
+'There that's it. You won't perceive that the expression of such sorrow
+is a personal injury to me. I don't want you to be sorry.'
+
+'How am I to help it?'
+
+'You need not express it. I don't come pitying you for supposed
+troubles. You have plenty of money; but if you were so poor that you
+could eat nothing but cold mutton, I shouldn't condole with you as to
+the state of your larder. I should pretend to think that poultry and
+piecrust were plentiful with you.'
+
+'No, you wouldn't, dear not if I were as dear to you as you are to me.'
+
+'Well, then, be sorry; and let there be an end of it. Remember how much
+of all this I must of necessity have to go through with poor papa.'
+
+'Ah, yes; I can believe that.'
+
+'And he is so far from well. Of course you have not seen him since I
+have been gone.'
+
+'No; we never see him unless he comes up to the gate there.' Then there
+was another pause for a moment. And what about Captain Aylmer?' asked
+Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Well what about him?'
+
+'He is the heir now?'
+
+'Yes he is the heir.'
+
+'And that is all?'
+
+'Yes; that is all. What more should there be? The poor old house at
+Perivale will be shut up, I suppose.'
+
+'I don't care about the old house much, as it is not to be your house.'
+
+'No it is not to be my house certainly.'
+
+'There were two ways in which it might have become yours.'
+
+'Though there were ten ways, none of those ways have come my way,' said
+Clara.
+
+'Of course I know that you are so close that though there were anything
+to tell you would not tell it.'
+
+'I think I would tell you anything that was proper to be told; but now
+there is nothing proper or improper.'
+
+'Was it proper or improper when Mr Belton made an offer to you as I
+knew he would do of course; as I told you that he would? Was that so
+improper that it could not be told?'
+
+Clara was aware that the tell-tale colour in her face at once took from
+her the possibility of even pretending that the allegation was untrue,
+and that in any answer she might give she must acknowledge the fact. 'I
+do not think,' she said, 'that it is considered fair to gentlemen to
+tell such stories as that.'
+
+'Then I can only say that the young ladies I have known are generally
+very unfair.'
+
+'But who told you?'
+
+'Who told me? My maid. Of course she got it from yours. Those things
+are always known.'
+
+'Poor Will!'
+
+'Poor Will, indeed. He is coming here again, I hear, almost
+immediately, and it needn't be "poor Will" unless you like it. But as
+for me, I am not going to be an advocate in his favour. I tell you
+fairly that I did not like what little I saw of poor Will.'
+
+'I like him of all things.'
+
+'You should teach him to be a little more courteous in his demeanour to
+ladies; that is all. I will tell you something else, too, about poor
+Will but not now. Some other day I will tell you something of your
+Cousin Will.'
+
+Clara did not care to ask any questions as to this something that was
+to be told, and therefore took her leave and went away.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MR WILLIAM BELTON TAKES A WALK IN THE COUNTRY
+
+Clara Amedroz had made one great mistake about her cousin, Will
+Belton, when she came to the conclusion that she might accept his
+proffered friendship without any apprehension that the friend would
+become a lover; and she made another, equally great, when she convinced
+herself that his love had been as short-lived as it had been eager.
+Throughout his journey back to Plaistow, he bad thought of nothing else
+but his love, and had resolved to persevere, telling himself sometimes
+that he might perhaps be successful, and feeling sure at other times
+that he would encounter renewed sorrow and permanent disappointment but
+equally resolved in either mood that he would persevere. Not to
+persevere in pursuit of any desired object let the object be what it
+might was, to his thinking, unmanly, weak, and destructive of
+self-respect. He would sometimes say of himself, joking with other men,
+that if he did not succeed in this or that thing, he could never speak
+to himself again. To no man did he talk of his love in such a strain as
+this; but there was a woman to whom he spoke of it; and though he could
+not joke on such a matter, the purport of what he said showed the same
+feeling. To be finally rejected, and to put up with such rejection,
+would make him almost contemptible in his own eyes.
+
+This woman was his sister, Mary Belton. Something has been already said
+of this lady, which the reader may perhaps remember. She was a year or
+two older than her brother, with whom she always lived, but she had
+none of those properties of youth which belonged to him in such
+abundance. She was, indeed, a poor cripple, unable to walk beyond the
+limits of her own garden, feeble in health, dwarfed in stature, robbed
+of all the ordinary enjoyments of life by physical deficiencies, which
+made even the task of living a burden to her. To eat was a pain, or at
+best a trouble. Sleep would not comfort her in bed, and weariness
+during the day made it necessary that the hours passed in bed should be
+very long. She was one of those whose lot in life drives us to marvel
+at the inequalities of human destiny, and to inquire curiously within
+ourselves whether future compensation is to be given.
+
+It is said of those who are small and crooked-backed in their bodies,
+that their minds are equally cross-grained and their tempers as
+ungainly as their stature. But no one had ever said this of Mary
+Belton. Her friends, indeed, were very few in number; but those who
+knew her well loved her as they knew her, and there were three or four
+persons in the world who were ready at all times to swear that she was
+faultless. It was the great happiness of her life that among those
+three or four her own brother was the foremost. Will Belton's love for
+his sister amounted almost to veneration, and his devotion to her was
+so great, that in all the affairs of his life he was prepared to make
+her comfort one of his first considerations. And she, knowing this, had
+come to fear that she might be an embargo on his prosperity, and a
+stumbling-block in the way of his success. It had occurred to her that
+he would have married earlier in life if she had not been, as it were,
+in his way; and she had threatened him playfully for she could be
+playful that he would leave him if he did not soon bring a mistress to
+Plaistow Hall. 'I will go to uncle Robert,' she had said. Now uncle
+Robert was the clergyman in Lincolnshire of whom mention has been made,
+and he was among those two or three who believed in Mary Belton with an
+implicit faith as was also his wife. ' I will go to uncle Robert, Will,
+and then you will be driven to get a wife.'
+
+'If my sister ever leaves my house, whether there be a wife in it or
+not,' Will had answered, 'I will never put trust in any woman again.'
+
+Plaistow Manor-house or Hall was a fine brick mansion, built in the
+latter days of Tudor house architecture, with many gables and countless
+high chimneys very picturesque to the eye, but not in all respects
+comfortable as are the modern houses of the well-to-do squirearchy of
+England. And, indeed, it was subject to certain objectionable
+characteristics which in some degree justified the scorn which Mr
+Amedroz intended to throw upon it when he declared it to be a
+farm-house. The gardens belonging to it were large and excellent; but
+they did not surround it, and allowed the farm appurtenances to come
+close up to it on two sides. The door which should have been the front
+door, opening from the largest room in the house, which had been the
+hall and which was now the kitchen, led directly into the farm-yard.
+From the farther end of this farm-yard a magnificent avenue of elms
+stretched across the home pasture down to a hedge which crossed it at
+the bottom. That there had been a road through the rows of trees or, in
+other words, that there had in truth been an avenue to the house on
+that side was, of course, certain. But now there was no vestige of such
+road, and the front entrance to Plaistow Hall was by a little path
+across the garden from a modern road which had been made to run cruelly
+near to the house. Such was Plaistow Hall, and such was its mistress.
+Of the master, the reader, I hope, already knows so much as to need no
+further description.
+
+As Belton drove himself home from the railway station late on that
+August night, he made up his mind that he would tell his sister all his
+story about Clara Amedroz. She had ever wished that he should marry,
+and now he had made his attempt. Little as had been her opportunity of
+learning the ways of men and women from experience in society, she had
+always seemed to him to know exactly what every one should do in every
+position of life. And she would be tender with him, giving him comfort
+even if she could not give him hope. Moreover Mary might be trusted
+with his secret; for Belton felt, as men always do feel, a great
+repugnance to have it supposed that his suit to a woman had been
+rejected. Women, when they have loved in vain, often almost wish that
+their misfortune should be known. They love to talk about their wounds
+mystically telling their own tales under feigned names, and extracting
+something of a bitter sweetness out of the sadness of their own
+romance. But a man, when he has been rejected rejected with a finality
+that is acknowledged by himself is unwilling to speak or hear a word
+upon the subject, and would willingly wash the episode out from his
+heart if it were possible.
+
+But not on that his first night would he begin to speak of Clara
+Amedroz. He would not let his sister believe that his heart was too
+full of the subject to allow of his thinking of other matters. Mary was
+still up, waiting for him when he arrived, with tea, and cream, and
+fruit ready for him. 'Oh, Mary!' he said, 'why are you not in bed? You
+know that I would have come to you upstairs.' She excused herself,
+smiling, declaring that she could not deny herself the pleasure of
+being with him for half an hour on his first return from his travels.
+'Of course I want to know what they are like,' she said.
+
+'He is a nice-looking old man,' said Will 'and she is a nice-looking
+young woman.'
+
+'That is graphic and short, at any rate.'
+
+'And he is weak and silly, but she is strong and and and'
+
+'Not silly also, I hope?'
+
+'Anything but that. I should say she is very clever.'
+
+'I'm afraid you don't like her, Will.'
+
+'Yes, I do.'
+
+'Really?'
+
+'Yes; really.'
+
+'And did she take your coming well?'
+
+'Very well. I think she is much obliged to me for going.'
+
+'And Mr Amedroz?'
+
+'He liked my coming too very much.'
+
+'What after that cold letter?
+
+'Yes, indeed. I shall explain it all by degrees. I have taken a lease
+of all the land, and I'm to go back at Christmas; and as to the old
+gentleman he'd have me live there altogether if I would.'
+
+'Why, Will?'
+
+'Is it not odd? I'm so glad I didn't make up my mind not to go when I
+got that letter. And yet I don't know.' These last words he added
+slowly, and in a low voice, and Mary at once knew that everything was
+not quite as it ought to be.
+
+'Is there anything wrong, Will?'
+
+'No, nothing wrong; that is to say, there is nothing to make me regret
+that I went. I think I did some good to them.'
+
+'It was to do good to them that you went there.'
+
+'They wanted to have some one near them who could be to them as one of
+their own family. He is too old too much worn out to be capable of
+managing things; and the people there were, of course, robbing him. I
+think I have put a stop to that.'
+
+'And you are to go again at Christmas?'
+
+'Yes; they can do without me at my uncle's, and you will be there. I
+have taken the land, and already bought some of the stock for it, and
+am going to buy more.'
+
+'I hope you won't lose money, Will.'
+
+'No not ultimately, that is. I shall get the place in good condition,
+and I shall have paid myself when he goes, in that way, if in no other.
+Besides, what's a little money? I owe it to them for robbing her of her
+inheritance.'
+
+'You do not rob her, Will.'
+
+'It is hard upon her, though.'
+
+'Does she feel it hard?'
+
+'Whatever may be her feelings on such a matter, she is a woman much too
+proud to show them.'
+
+'I wish I knew whether you liked her or not.'
+
+'I do like her I love her better than any one in the world; better even
+than you, Mary; for I have asked her to be my wife.'
+
+'Oh, Will!'
+
+'And she has refused me. Now you know the whole of it the whole history
+of what I have done while I have been away.' And he stood up before
+her, with his thumbs thrust into the arm-holes of his waistcoat, with
+something serious and almost solemn in his gait, in spite of a smile
+which played about his mouth.
+
+'Oh, Will!'
+
+'I meant to have told you, of course, Mary to have told you everything;
+but I did not mean to tell it to-night; only it has somehow fallen from
+me. Out of the full heart the mouth speaks, they say.'
+
+'I never can like her if she refuses your love.'
+
+'Why not? That is unlike you, Mary. Why should she be bound to love me
+because I love her?'
+
+'Is there any one else, Will?'
+
+'How can I tell? I did not ask her. I would not have asked her for the
+world, though I would have given the world to know.'
+
+'And she is so very beautiful?'
+
+'Beautiful! It isn't that so much though she is beautiful. But but I
+can't tell you why but she is the only girl that I ever saw who would
+suit me for a wife. Oh, dear!'
+
+'My own Will!'
+
+'But I'm not going to keep you up all night, Mary. And I'll tell you
+something else; I'm not going to break my heart for love. Arid I'll
+tell you something else again; I'm not going to give it up yet. I
+believe I've been a fool. Indeed, I know I've been a fool. I went about
+it just as if I were buying a horse, and had told the seller that that
+was my price he might take it or leave it. What right had I to suppose
+that any girl was to be had in that way; much less such a girl as Clara
+Amedroz?'
+
+'It would have been a great match for her.'
+
+'I'm not so sure of that, Mary. Her education has been different from
+mine, and it may well be that she should marry above me. But I swear I
+will not speak another word to you to-night. Tomorrow, if you're well
+enough, I'll talk to you all day.' Soon after that he did get her to go
+up to her room, though, of course, he broke that oath of his as to not
+speaking another word. After that he walked out by moonlight round the
+house, wandering about the garden and farm-yard, and down through the
+avenue, having in his own mind some pretence of the watchfulness of
+ownership, but thinking little of his property and much of his love.
+Here was a thing that he desired with all his heart, but it seemed to
+be out of his reach absolutely out of his reach. He was sick and weary
+with a feeling of longing sick with that covetousness wherewith Ahab
+coveted the vineyard of Naboth. What was the world to him if he could
+not have this thing on which he had set his heart? He had told his
+sister that he would not break his heart; and so much, he did not
+doubt, would be true. A man or woman with a broken heart was in his
+estimation a man or woman who should die of love; and he did not look
+for such a fate as that. But he experienced the palpable misery of a
+craving emptiness within his breast, and did believe of himself that he
+never could again be in comfort unless he could succeed with Clara
+Amedroz. He stood leaning against one of the trees, striking his hands
+together, and angry with himself at the weakness which had reduced him
+to such a state. What could any man be worth who was so little master
+of himself as he had now become?
+
+After awhile he made his way back through the farm-yard, and in at the
+kitchen door, which he locked and bolted; and then, throwing himself
+down into a wooden armchair which always stood there, in the corner of
+the huge hearth, he took a short pipe from the mantelpiece, filled it
+with tobacco, and lighting it almost unconsciously, began to smoke with
+vehemence.
+
+Plaistow Hall was already odious to him, and he longed to be back at
+Belton, which he had left only that morning. Yes, on that very morning
+she had brought to him his coffee, looking sweetly into his face so
+sweetly as she ministered to him. And he might then well have said one
+word more in pleading his suit, if he had not been too awkward to know
+what that word should be. And was it not his own awkwardness that had
+brought him to this state of misery? What right had he to suppose that
+any girl should fall in love with such a one as he at first sight
+without a moment's notice to her own heart? And then, when he had her
+there, almost in his arms, why had he let her go without kissing her?
+It seemed to him now that if he might have once kissed her, even that
+would have been a comfort to him in his present affliction. 'D  tion!'
+he said at last, as he jumped to his feet and kicked the chair on one
+side, and threw the pipe among the ashes. I trust it will be understood
+that he addressed himself, and not his lady-love, in this uncivil way
+'D  tion!' Then when the chair had been well kicked out of his way, he
+took himself up to bed. I wonder whether Clara's heart would have been
+hardened or softened towards him had she heard the oath, and understood
+all the thoughts and motives which had produced it.
+
+On the next morning poor Mary Belton was too ill to come down-stairs;
+and as her brother spent his whole day out upon the farm, remaining
+among reapers and wheat stacks till nine o'clock in the evening,
+nothing was said about Clara on that day. Then there came a Sunday, and
+it was a matter of course that the subject of which they both were
+thinking should be discussed. Will went to church, and, as was their
+custom on Sundays, they dined immediately on his return. Then, as the
+afternoon was very warm, he took her out to a favourite seat she had in
+the garden, and it became impossible that they could longer abstain.
+
+'And you really mean to go again at Christmas?' she asked.
+
+'Certainly I shall I promised.'
+
+'Then I am sure you will.'
+
+'And I must go from time to time because of the land I have taken.
+Indeed there seems to be an understanding that I am to manage the
+property for Mr Amedroz.'
+
+'And does she wish you to go?'
+
+'Yes she says so.'
+
+'Girls, I believe, think sometimes that men are indifferent in their
+love. They suppose that a man can forget it at once when he is not
+accepted, and that things can go on just as before.'
+
+'I suppose she thinks so of me,' said Belton wofully.
+
+'She must either think that, or else be willing to give herself the
+chance of learning to like you better.'
+
+'There's nothing of that, I'm sure. She's as true as steel.'
+
+'But she would hardly want you to go there unless she thought you might
+overcome either your love or her indifference. She would not wish you
+to be there that you might be miserable.'
+
+'Before I had asked her to be my wife I had promised to be her brother.
+And so I will, if she should ever want a brother. I am not going to
+desert her because she will not do what I want her to do, or be what I
+want her to be. She understands that. There is to be no quarrel between
+us.'
+
+'But she would be heartless if she were to encourage you to be with her
+simply for the assistance you may give her, knowing at the same time
+that you could not be happy in her presence.'
+
+'She is not heartless.'
+
+'Then she must suppose that you are.'
+
+'I dare say she doesn't think that I care much about it. When I told
+her, I did it all of a heap, you see; and I fancy she thought I was
+just mad at the time.'
+
+'And did you speak about it again?'
+
+'No; not a word. I shouldn't wonder if she hadn't forgotten it before I
+went away.'
+
+'That would be impossible.'
+
+'You wouldn't say so if you knew how it was done. It was all over in
+half an hour; and she had given me such an answer that I thought I had
+no right to say anything more about it. The morning when I left her she
+did seem to be kinder.'
+
+'I wish I knew whether she cares for any one else.'
+
+'Ah! I so often think of that. But I couldn't ask her, you know. I had
+no right to pry into her secrets. When I came away, she got up to see
+me off; and I almost felt tempted to carry her into the gig and drive
+her off.'
+
+'I don't think that would have done, Will.'
+
+'I don't suppose anything will do. We all know what happens to the
+child who cries for the top brick of the chimney. The child has to do
+without it. The child goes to bed and forgets it; but I go to bed  and
+can't forget it.'
+
+'My poor Will!'
+
+Then he got up and shook himself, and stalked about the garden always
+keeping within a few yards of his sister's chair and carried on a
+strong battle within his breast, struggling to get the better of the
+weakness which his love produced, though resolved that the love itself
+should be maintained.
+
+'I wish it wasn't Sunday,' he said at last, 'because then I could go
+and do something. If I thought that no one would see me, I'd fill a
+dung-cart or two, even though it is Sunday. I'll tell you what I'll go
+and take a walk as far as Denvir Sluice; and I'll be hack to tea. You
+won't mind?'
+
+'Denvir Sluice is eight miles off.'
+
+'Exactly I'll be there and back in something over three hours.'
+
+'But, Will there's a broiling sun.'
+
+'It will do me good. Anything that will take something out of me is
+what I want. I know I ought to stay and read to you; but I couldn't do
+it. I've got the fidgets inside, if you know what that means. To have
+the big hay-rick on fire, or something of that sort, is what would do
+me most good.'
+
+Then he started, and did walk to Denvir Sluice and back in three hours.
+The road from Plaistow Hall to Denvir Sluice was not in itself
+interesting. It ran through a perfectly flat country, without a tree.
+For the greater part of the way it was constructed on the top of a
+great bank by the side of a broad dike, and for five miles its course
+was straight as a line. A country walk less picturesque could hardly be
+found in England. The road, too, was very dusty, and the sun was hot
+above Belton's head as he walked. But nevertheless, he persevered,
+going on till he struck his stick against the waterfall which was
+called Denvir Sluice, and then returned not once slackening his pace,
+and doing the whole distance at a rate somewhat above five miles an
+hour. They used to say in the nursery that cold pudding is good to
+settle a man's love; but the receipt which Belton tried was a walk of
+sixteen miles, along a dusty road, after dinner, in the middle of an
+August day.
+
+I think it did him some good. When he got back he took a long draught
+of home-brewed beer, and then went upstairs to dress himself.
+
+'What a state you are in,' Mary said to him when he showed himself for
+a moment in the sitting. room.
+
+'I did it from milestone to milestone in eleven minutes, backwards and
+forwards, all along the five- mile reach.'
+
+Then Mary knew from his answer that the exercise had been of service to
+him, perceiving that he had been able to take an interest in his own
+prowess as a walker.
+
+'I only hope you won't have a fever,' she said.
+
+'The people who stand still are they who get fevers,' he answered.
+'Hard work never does harm to any one. If John Bowden would walk his
+five miles an hour on a Sunday afternoon he wouldn't have the gout so
+often.'
+
+John Bowden was a neighbour in the next parish, and Mary was delighted
+to find that her brother could take a pride in his performance.
+
+By degrees Miss Belton began to know with some accuracy the way in
+which Will had managed his affairs at Belton Castle, and was enabled to
+give him salutary advice.
+
+'You see, Will,' she said, 'ladies are different from men in this, that
+they cannot allow themselves to be in love so suddenly.'
+
+'I don't see how a person is to help it. It isn't like jumping into a
+river, which a person can do or not, just as he pleases.'
+
+'But I fancy it is something like jumping into a river, and that a
+person can help it. What the person can't help is being in when the
+plunge has once been made.'
+
+'No, by George! There's no getting out of that river.'
+
+'And ladies don't take the plunge till they've had time to think what
+may come after it. Perhaps you were a little too sudden with our Cousin
+Clara?'
+
+'Of course I was. Of course I was a fool, and a brute too.'
+
+'I know you were not a brute, and I don't think you were a fool; but
+yet you were too sudden. You see a lady cannot always make up her mind
+to love a man, merely because she is asked all in a moment. She should
+have a little time to think about it before she is called upon for an
+answer.'
+
+'And I didn't give her two minutes.'
+
+'You never do give two minutes to anyone do you, Will? But you'll be
+back there at Christmas, and then she will have had time to turn it
+over in her mind.'
+
+'And you think that I may have a chance?'
+
+'Certainly you may have a chance.'
+
+'Although she was so sure about it?'
+
+'She spoke of her own mind and her own heart as she knew them then. But
+it depends chiefly on this, Will whether there is any one else. For
+anything we know, she may be engaged now.'
+
+'Of course she may.' Then Belton speculated on the extreme probability
+of such a contingency; arguing within his own heart that of course
+every unmarried man who might see Clara would want to marry her, and
+that there could not but be some one whom even she would be able to
+love.
+
+When he had been home about a fortnight, there came a letter to him
+from Clara, which was a great treasure to him. In truth, it simply told
+him of the completion of the cattle-shed, of her father's health, and
+of the milk which the little cow gave; but she signed herself his
+affectionate cousin, and the letter was very gratifying to him. There
+were two lines of a postscript, which could not but flatter him: 'Papa
+is so anxious for Christmas, that you may be here again and so, indeed,
+am I also.' Of course it will be understood that this was written
+before Clara's visit to Perivale, and before Mrs Winterfield's death.
+Indeed, much happened in Clara's history between the writing of that
+letter and Will Belton's winter visit to the Castle.
+
+But Christmas came at last, all too slowly for Will and he started on
+his journey. On this occasion he arranged to stay a week in London,
+having a lawyer there whom he desired to see; and thinking, perhaps,
+that a short time spent among the theatres might assist him in his love
+troubles.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MR WILLIAM BELTON TAKES A WALK IN LONDON
+
+At the time of my story there was a certain Mr Green, a worthy
+attorney, who held chambers in Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, much to
+the profit of himself and family and to the profit and comfort also of
+a numerous body of clients a man much respected in the neighbourhood of
+Chancery Lane, and beloved, I do not doubt, in the neighbourhood of
+Bushey, in which delightfully rural parish he was possessed of a
+genteel villa and ornamental garden. With Mr Green's private residence
+we shall, I believe, have no further concern; but to him at his
+chambers in Stone Buildings I must now introduce the reader of these
+memoirs. He was a man not yet forty years of age, with still much of
+the salt of youth about him, a pleasant companion as well as a good
+lawyer, and one who knew men and things in London, as it is given to
+pleasant clever fellows, such as Joseph Green, to know them. Now Mr
+Green and his father before him had been the legal advisers of the
+Amedroz family, and our Mr Joseph Green had had but a bad time of it
+with Charles Amedroz in the last years of that unfortunate young man's
+life. But lawyers endure these troubles, submitting themselves to the
+extravagances, embarrassments, and even villainy of the bad subjects
+among their clients' families, with a good-humoured patience that is
+truly wonderful. That, however, was all over now as regarded Mr Green
+and the Amedrozes, and he had nothing further to do but to save for the
+father what relics of the property he might secure. And he was also
+legal adviser to our friend Will Belton, there having been some old
+family connexion among them, and had often endeavoured to impress upon
+his old client at Belton Castle his own strong conviction that the heir
+was a generous fellow, who might be trusted in everything. But this had
+been taken amiss by the old squire, who, indeed, was too much disposed
+to take all things amiss and to suspect everybody. 'I understand,' he
+had said to his daughter. 'I know all about it. Belton and Mr Green
+have been dear friends always. I can't trust my own lawyer any longer.'
+In all which the old squire showed much ingratitude. It will, however,
+be understood that these suspicions were rife before the time of
+Belton's visit to the family estate.
+
+Some four or five days before Christmas there came a visitor to Mr
+Green with whom the reader is acquainted, and who was no less a man
+than the Member for Perivale. Captain Aylmer, when Clara parted from
+him on the morning of her return to Belton Castle, had resolved that he
+would repeat his offer of marriage by letter. A month had passed by
+since then, and he had not as yet repeated it. But his intention was
+not altered. He was a deliberate man, who did not do such things quite
+as quickly as his rival, and who upon this occasion had thought it
+prudent to turn over more than once in his mind all that he proposed to
+do. Nor had he as yet taken any definite steps as to that fifteen
+hundred pounds which he had promised to Clara in her aunt's name, and
+which Clara had been, and was, so unwilling to receive. He had now
+actually paid it over, having purchased government stock in Clara's
+name for the amount, and had called upon Mr Green, in order that that
+gentleman, as Clara's lawyer, might make the necessary communication to
+her.
+
+'I suppose there's nothing further to be done?' asked Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Nothing further by me,' said the lawyer. 'Of course I shall write to
+her, and explain that she must make arrangements as to the interest. I
+am very glad that her aunt thought of her in her last moments.'
+
+'Mrs Winterfield would have provided for her before, had she known that
+everything had been swallowed up by that unfortunate young man.'
+
+'All's well that ends well. Fifteen hundred pounds are better than
+nothing.'
+
+'Is it not enough?' said the captain, blushing.
+
+'It isn't for me to have an opinion about that, Captain Aylmer. It
+depends on the nature of her claim; and that again depends on the
+relative position of the aunt and niece when they were alive together.'
+
+'You are aware that Miss Amedroz was not Mrs Winterfield's niece?'
+
+'Do not think for a moment that I am criticizing the amount of the
+legacy. I am very glad of it, as, without it, there was literally no
+provision no provision at all.'
+
+'You will write to herself?'
+
+'Oh yes, certainly to herself. She is a better man of business than her
+father and then this is her own, to do as she likes with it.'
+
+'She can't refuse it, I suppose?'
+
+'Refuse it!'
+
+'Even though she did not wish to take it, it would be legally her
+property, just as though it had been really left by the will?'
+
+'Well; I don't know. I dare say you could have resisted the payment.
+But that has been made now, and there seems to be an end of it.'
+
+At this moment a clerk entered the room and handed a card to his
+employer. 'Here's the heir himself,' said Mr Green.
+
+'What heir?
+
+'Will Belton the heir of the property which Mr Amedroz holds.' Captain
+Aylmer had soon explained that he was not personally acquainted with Mr
+William Belton; but, having heard much about him, declared himself
+anxious to make the acquaintance. Our friend Will, therefore, was
+ushered into the room, and the two rivals for Clara's favour were
+introduced to each other. Each had heard much of the other, and each
+had heard of the other from the same person. But Captain Aylmer knew
+much more as to Belton than Belton knew in respect to him. Aylmer knew
+that Belton had proposed to Clara and had been rejected; and he knew
+also that Belton was now again going down to Somersetshire.
+
+'You are to spend your Christmas, I believe, with our friends at Belton
+Castle?' said the captain.
+
+'Yes and am now on my way there. I believe you know them also
+intimately.' Then there was some explanation as to the Winterfield
+connexion, a few remarks as to the precarious state of the old squire's
+health, a message or two from Captain Aylmer, which of course were of
+no importance, and the captain took his leave.
+
+Then Green and Briton became very comfortably intimate in their
+conversation, calling each other Will and Joe for they were old and
+close friends. And they discussed matters in that cozy tone of
+confidential intercourse which is so directly at variance with the
+tones used by men when they ordinarily talk of business. 'He has
+brought me good news for your friend, Miss Amedroz,' said the lawyer.
+
+'What good news?'
+
+'That aunt of hers left her fifteen hundred pounds, after all. Or
+rather, she did not leave it, but desired on her death-bed that it
+might be given.'
+
+'That's the same thing, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh quite that is to say, it's the same thing if the person who has to
+hand over the money does not dispute the legacy. But it shows how the
+old lady's conscience pricked her at last. And after all it was a
+shabby sum, and should have been three times as much.'
+
+'Fifteen hundred pounds! And that is all she will have when her father
+dies 7'
+
+'Every farthing, Will. You'll take all the rest.'
+
+'I wish she wasn't going to have that.'
+
+'Why? Why on earth should you of all men grudge her such a moderate
+maintenance, seeing that you have not got to pay it?'
+
+'It isn't a maintenance. How could it be a maintenance for such as her?
+What sort of maintenance would it be?'
+
+'Much better than nothing. And so you would feel if she were your
+daughter.'
+
+'She shall be my daughter, or my sister, or whatever you like to call
+her. You don't think that I'll take the whole estate and leave her to
+starve on the interest of fifteen hundred pounds a year!'
+
+'You'd better make her your wife at once, Will.'
+
+Will Belton blushed as he answered, 'That, perhaps, would be easier
+said than done. That is not in my power even if I should wish it. But
+the other is in my power.'
+
+'Will, take my advice, and don't make any romantic promises when you
+are down at Belton. You'll be sure to regret them if you do. And you
+should remember that in truth Miss Amedroz has no greater claim on you
+than any other lady in the land.'
+
+'Isn't she my cousin?'
+
+'Well yes. She is your cousin, but a distant one only; and I'm not
+aware that cousinship gives any claim.'
+
+'Who is she to have a claim on? I'm the nearest she has got. Besides,
+am not I going to take all the property which ought to be hers?'
+
+'That's just it. There's no such ought in the case. The property is as
+much your own as this poker is mine. That's exactly the mistake I want
+you to guard against. If you liked her, and chose to marry her, that
+would be all very well; presuming that you don't want to get money in
+marriage.'
+
+'I hate the idea of marrying for money.'
+
+'All right. Then marry Miss Amedroz if you please. But don't make any
+rash undertakings to be her father, or her brother, or her uncle, or
+her aunt. Such romance always leads a man into trouble.'
+
+'But I've done it already.'
+
+'What do you mean?'
+
+'I've told her that I would be her brother, and that as long as I had a
+shilling she should never want sixpence. And I mean it. And as for what
+you say about romance and repenting it, that simply comes from your
+being a lawyer.'
+
+'Thank ye, Will.'
+
+'If one goes to a chemist, of course one gets physic, and has to put up
+with the bad smells.'
+
+'Thank you again.'
+
+'But the chemist may be a very good sort of fellow at home all the
+same, and have a cupboard full of sweetmeats and a garden full of
+flowers. However, the thing is done as far as I am concerned, and I can
+almost find it in my heart to be sorry that Clara has got this driblet
+of money. Fifteen hundred pounds I It would keep her out of the
+workhouse, and that is about all.'
+
+'If you knew how many ladies in her position would think that the
+heavens had rained wealth upon them if some one would give them fifteen
+hundred pounds!'
+
+'Very well. At any rate I won't take it away from her. And now I want
+you to tell me something else. Do you remember a fellow we used to know
+named Berdmore?'
+
+'Philip Berdmore?'
+
+'He may have been Philip, or Daniel, or Jeremiah, for anything I know.
+But the man I mean was very much given to taking his liquor freely.'
+
+'That was Jack Berdmore, Philip's brother. Oh yes, I remember him. He's
+dead now. He drank himself to death at last, out in India.'
+
+'He was in the army?'
+
+'Yes and what a pleasant fellow he was at times! I see Phil constantly,
+and Phil's wife, but they never speak of Jack.'
+
+'He got married, didn't he, after we used to see him?'
+
+Oh yes he and Phil married sisters. It was a sad affair, that.'
+
+'I remember being with him and her and the sister too, after they were
+engaged, and he got so drunk that we were obliged to take him away.
+There was a large party of us at Richmond, but I don't think you were
+there.'
+
+'But I heard of it'
+
+'And she was a Miss Vigo?'
+
+'Exactly. I see the younger sister constantly. Phil isn't very rich,
+and he's got a lot of children but he's very happy.'
+
+'What became of the other sister?
+
+'Of Jack's wife?'
+
+'Yes. What became of her?'
+
+'I haven't an idea. Something bad, I suppose, as they never speak of
+her.'
+
+'And how long is he dead?'
+
+'He died about three years since. I only knew it from Phil's telling me
+that he was in mourning for him. Then he did speak of him for a moment
+or two, and I came to know that he had carried on to the end in the
+same way. If a fellow takes to drink in this country, he'll never get
+cured in India.'
+
+'I suppose not.'
+
+'Never.'
+
+'And now I want to find out something about his widow.'
+
+'And why?'
+
+'Ah I'm not sure that I can tell you why. Indeed I'm sure that I
+cannot. But still you might be able to assist me.'
+
+'There were heaps of people who used to know the Vigos,' said the
+lawyer.
+
+'No end of people though I couldn't for the life of me say who any of
+them were.'
+
+'They used to come out in London with an aunt, but nobody knew much
+about her. I fancy they had neither father nor mother.'
+
+'They were very pretty.'
+
+'And how well they danced. I don't think I ever knew a girl who danced
+so pleasantly giving herself no airs, you know as Mary Vigo.'
+
+'Her name was Mary,' said Belton, remembering that Mrs Askerton's name
+was also Mary.
+
+'Jack Berdmore married Mary.'
+
+'Well now, Joe, you must find out for me what became of her. Was she
+with her husband when he died?'
+
+'Nobody was with him. Phil told me so. No one, that is, but a young
+lieutenant and his own servant. It was very sad. He had D.T., and all
+that sort of thing.'
+
+'And where was she?'
+
+'At Jericho, for anything that I know.'
+
+'Will you find out?' Then Mr Joseph Green thought for a moment of his
+capabilities in that line, and having made an engagement to dine with
+his friend at his club on the evening before Will left London, said at
+last that he thought he could find out through certain mutual friends
+who had known the Berdmores in the old days. 'But the fact is,' said
+the lawyer, 'that the world is so good- natured instead of being
+ill-natured, as people say that it always forgets those who want to be
+forgotten.'
+
+We must now go back for a few moments to Captain Aylmer and his
+affairs. Having given a full month to the consideration of his position
+as regarded Miss Amedroz, he made up his mind to two things. In the
+first place, he would at once pay over to her the money which was to be
+hers as her aunt's legacy, and then he would renew his offer. To that
+latter determination he was guided by mixed motives by motives which,
+when joined together, rarely fail to be operative. His conscience told
+him that he ought to do so and then the fact of her having, as it were,
+taken herself away from him, made him again wish to possess her. And
+there was another cause which, perhaps, operated in the same direction.
+He had consulted his mother, and she had strongly advised him to have
+nothing further to do with Miss Amedroz. Lady Aylmer abused her dead
+sister heartily for having interfered in the matter, and endeavoured to
+prove to her son that he was released from his promise by having in
+fact performed it. But on this point his conscience interfered backed
+by his wishes and he made his resolve as has been above stated. On
+leaving Mr Green's chambers he went to his own lodgings, and wrote his
+letter as follows:
+
+
+
+'Mount Street, December, 186
+
+Dearest Clara,
+
+When you parted from me at Perivale you said certain things about our
+engagement which I have come to understand better since then, than I
+did at the time. It escaped from me that my dear aunt and I had had
+some conversation about you, and that I had told her what was my
+intention. Something was said about a promise, and I think it was that
+word which made you unhappy. At such a time as that when I and my aunt
+were talking together, and when she was, as she well knew, on her
+deathbed, things will be said which would not be thought of in other
+circumstances. I can only assure you now, that the promise I gave her
+was a promise to do that which I had previously resolved upon doing. If
+you can believe what I say on this head, that ought to be sufficient to
+remove the feeling which induced you to break our engagement.
+
+I now write to renew my offer to you, and to assure you that I do so
+with my whole heart. You will forgive me if I tell you that I cannot
+fail to remember, and always to bear in my mind, the sweet assurances
+which you gave me of your regard for myself. As I do not know that
+anything has occurred to alter your opinion of me, I write this letter
+in strong hope that it may be successful. I believe that your fear was
+in respect to my affection for you, not as to yours for me. If this was
+so, I can assure you that there is no necessity for such fear.
+
+I need not tell you that I shall expect your answer with great anxiety.
+
+Yours most affectionately,
+
+F. F. AYLMER.
+
+P.S. I have today caused to be bought in your name Bank Stock to the
+amount of fifteen hundred pounds, the amount of the legacy coming to
+you from my aunt.'
+
+
+
+This letter, and that from Mr Green respecting the money, both reached
+Clara on the same morning. Now, having learned so much as to the
+position of affairs at Belton Castle, we may return to Will and his
+dinner engagement with Mr Joseph Green.
+
+'And what have you heard about Mrs Berdmore?' Belton asked, almost as
+soon as the two men wore together.
+
+'I wish I knew why you want to know.'
+
+'I don't want to do anybody any harm.'
+
+'Do you want to do anybody any good?'
+
+'Any good! I can't say that I want to do any particular good. The truth
+is, I think I know where she is, and that she is living under a false
+name.'
+
+'Then you know more of her than I do.'
+
+'I don't know anything. I'm only in doubt. But as the lady I mean lives
+near to friends of mine, I should like to know.'
+
+'That you may expose her?'
+
+'No by no means. But I hate the idea of deceit. The truth is, that any
+one living anywhere under a false name should be exposed or should be
+made to assume their right name.'
+
+'I find that Mrs Berdmore left her husband some years before he died.
+There was nothing in that to create wonder, for he was a man with whom
+a woman could hardly continue to live. But I fear she left him under
+protection that was injurious to her character.
+
+'And how long ago is that?'
+
+'I do not know. Some years before his death.'
+
+'And how long ago did he die?'
+
+'About three years since. My informant tells me that he believes she
+has since married. Now you know all that I know.' And Belton also knew
+that Mrs Askerton of the cottage was the Miss Vigo with whom he had
+been acquainted in earlier years.
+
+After that they dined comfortably, and nothing passed between them
+which need be recorded as essential to our story till the time came for
+them to part. Then, when they were both standing at the club door, the
+lawyer said a word or two which is essential. 'So you're off tomorrow?'
+said he.
+
+'Yes; I shall go down by the express.'
+
+'I wish you a pleasant journey. By the by, I ought to tell you that you
+won't have any trouble in being either father or mother, or uncle or
+aunt to Miss Amedroz.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'I suppose it's no secret.'
+
+'What's no secret?
+
+'She's going to be married to Captain Aylmer.'
+
+Then Will Belton started so violently, and assumed on a sudden so
+manifest a look of anger, that his tale was at once told to Mr Green.
+'Who says so?' he asked. 'I don't believe it.'
+
+'I'm afraid it's true all the same, Will.'
+
+'Who says it?'
+
+'Captain Aylmer was with me today, and he told me. He ought to be good
+authority on such a subject.'
+
+'He told you that he was going to marry Clara Amedroz?'
+
+'Yes, indeed.'
+
+'And what made him come to you, to tell you?'
+
+'There was a question about some money which he had paid to her, and
+which, under existing circumstances, he thought it as well that he
+should not pay. Matters of that kind are often necessarily told to
+lawyers. But I should not have told it to you, Will, if I had not
+thought that it was good news.'
+
+'It is not good news,' said Belton moodily.
+
+'At any rate, old fellow, my telling it will do no harm. You must have
+learned it soon.' And he put his hand kindly almost tenderly, on the
+other's arm. But Belton moved himself away angrily. The wound had been
+so lately inflicted that he could not as yet forgive the hand that had
+seemed to strike him.
+
+'I'm sorry that it should be so bad with you, Will.'
+
+'What do you mean by bad? It is not bad with me. it is very well with
+me. Keep your pity for those who want it.' Then he walked off by
+himself across the broad street before the club door, leaving his
+friend without a word of farewell, and made his way up into St. James's
+Square, choosing, as was evident to Mr Green, the first street that
+would take him out of sight.
+
+'He's hit, and hit hard,' said the lawyer, looking after him. 'Poor
+fellow! I might have guessed it from what he said. I never knew of his
+caring for any woman before.' Then Mr Green put on his gloves and went
+away home.
+
+We will now follow Will Belton into St. James's Square, and we shall
+follow a very unhappy gentleman. Doubtless he had hitherto known and
+appreciated the fact that Miss Amedroz had refused his offer, and had
+often declared, both to himself and to his sister, his conviction that
+that refusal would never be reversed. But, in spite of that expressed
+conviction, he had lived on hope. Till she belonged to another man she
+might yet be his. He might win her at last by perseverance. At any rate
+he had it in his power to work towards the desired end, and might find
+solace even in that working. And the misery of his loss would not be so
+great to him as he found himself forced to confess to himself before he
+had completed his wanderings on this night in not having her for his
+own, as it would be in knowing that she had given herself to another
+man. He had often told himself that of course she would become the wife
+of some man, but he had never yet realized to himself what it would be
+to know that she was the wife of any one specified rival. He had been
+sad enough on that moonlight night in the avenue at Plaistow when he
+had leaned against the tree, striking his hands together as he thought
+of his great want; but his unhappiness then had been as nothing to his
+agony now. Now it was all over and he knew the man who had supplanted
+him.
+
+How he hated him! With what an unchristian spirit did he regard that
+worthy captain as he walked across St. James's Square, across Jermyn
+Street, across Piccadilly, and up Bond Street, not knowing whither he
+was going. He thought with an intense regret of the laws of modern
+society which forbid duelling forgetting altogether that even had the
+old law prevailed, the conduct of the man whom he so hated would have
+afforded him no casus belli. But he was too far gone in misery and
+animosity to be capable of any reason on the matter. Captain Aylmer had
+interfered with his dearest wishes, and during this now passing hour he
+would willingly have crucified Captain Aylmer had it been within his
+power to do so. Till he had gone beyond Oxford Street, and had wandered
+away into the far distance of Portman Square and Baker Street, he had
+not begun to think of any interest which Clara Amedroz might have in
+the matter on which his thoughts were employed. He was sojourning at an
+hotel in Bond Street, and had gone thitherwards more by habit than by
+thought; but he had passed the door of his inn, feeling it to be
+impossible to render himself up to his bed in his present disturbed
+mood. As he was passing the house in Bond Street he had been intent on
+the destruction of Captain Aylmer and had almost determined that if
+Captain Aylmer could not be made to vanish into eternity, he must make
+up his mind to go that road himself.
+
+It was out of the question that he should go down to Belton. As to that
+he had come to a very decided opinion by the time that he had crossed
+Oxford Street. Go down to see her, when she had treated him after this
+fashion I No, indeed. She wanted no brother now. She had chosen to
+trust herself to this other man, and he, Will Belton, would not
+interfere further in her affairs. Then he drew upon his imagination for
+a picture of the future, in which he portrayed Captain Aylmer as a
+ruined man, who would probably desert his wife, and make himself
+generally odious to all his acquaintance a picture as to the
+realization of which I am bound to say that Captain Aylmer's
+antecedents gave no probability. But it was the looking at this
+self-drawn picture which first softened the artist's heart towards the
+victim whom he had immolated on his imaginary canvas. When Clara should
+be ruined by the baseness and villainy and general scampishness of this
+man whom she was going to marry to whom she was about to be weak enough
+and fool enough to trust herself then he would interpose and be her
+brother once again a broken-hearted brother no doubt, but a brother
+efficacious to keep the wolf from the door of this poor woman and her
+children. Then, as he thus created Captain Aylmer's embryo family of
+unprovided orphans for after a while he killed the captain, making him
+to die some death that was very disgraceful, but not very distinct even
+to his own imagination as he thought of those coming pledges of a love
+which was to him so bitter, he stormed about the streets, performing
+antics of which no one would have believed him capable who had known
+him as the thriving Mr William Belton, of Plaistow Hall, among the fens
+of Norfolk.
+
+But the character of a man is not to be judged from the pictures which
+he may draw or from the antics which he may play in his solitary hours.
+Those who act generally with the most consummate wisdom in the affairs
+of the world, often meditate very silly doings before their wiser
+resolutions form themselves. I beg, therefore, that Mr Belton may be
+regarded and criticized in accordance with his conduct on the following
+morning when his midnight rambles, which finally took him even beyond
+the New Road, had been followed by a few tranquil hours in his Bond
+Street bedroom for at last he did bring himself to return thither and
+put himself to bed after the usual fashion. He put himself to bed in a
+spirit somewhat tranquillized by the exercise of the night, and at last
+wept himself to sleep like a baby.
+
+But he was by no means like a baby when he took him early on the
+following morning to the Paddington Station, and booked himself
+manfully for Taunton. He had had time to recognize the fact that he had
+no ground of quarrel with his cousin because she had preferred another
+man to him. This had happened to him as he was recrossing the New Road
+about two o'clock, and was beginning to find that his legs were weary
+under him. And, indeed, he had recognized one or two things before he
+had gone to sleep with his tears dripping on to his pillow. In the
+first place, he had ill-treated Joe Green, and had made a fool of
+himself in his friend's presence. As Joe Green was a sensible, kind-
+hearted fellow, this did not much signify but not on that account did
+be omit to tell himself of his own fault. Then he discovered that it
+would ill become him to break his word to Mr Amedroz and to his
+daughter, and to do so without a word of excuse, because Clara had
+exercised a right which was indisputably her own. He had undertaken
+certain work at Belton which required his presence, and he would go
+down and do his work as though nothing had occurred to disturb him. To
+remain away because of this misfortune would be to show the white
+feather. It would be unmanly. All this he recognized as the pictures he
+had painted faded away from their canvases. As to Captain Aylmer
+himself, he hoped that he might never be called upon to meet him. He
+still hoped that, even as he was resolutely cramming his shirts into
+his portmanteau before he began his journey. His Cousin Clara he
+thought he could meet, and tender to her some expression of good wishes
+as to her future life, without giving way under the effort. And to the
+old squire he could endeavour to make himself pleasant, speaking of the
+relief from all trouble which this marriage with Captain Aylmer would
+afford for now, in his cooler moments, be could perceive that Captain
+Aylmer was not a man apt to ruin himself, or his wife and children. But
+to Captain Aylmer himself, he could not bring himself to say pleasant
+things or to express pleasant wishes. She who was to be Captain
+Aylmer's wife, who loved him, would of course have told him what had
+occurred up among the rocks in Belton Park; and if that was so, any
+meeting between Will and Captain Aylmer would be death to the former.
+
+Thinking of all this he journeyed down to Taunton, and thinking of all
+this he made his way from Taunton across to Belton Park.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+EVIL WORDS
+
+Clara Amedroz had received her two letters together that, namely, from
+the attorney, and that from Captain Aylmer and the result of those
+letters is already known. She accepted her lover's renewed offer of
+marriage, acknowledging the force of his logic, and putting faith in
+the strength of his assurances. This she did without seeking advice
+from any one. Who was there from whom she could seek advice on such a
+matter as that who, at least, was there at Belton? That her father
+would, as a matter of course, bid her accept Captain Aylmer, was, she
+thought, certain; and she knew well that Mrs Askerton would do the
+same. She asked no counsel from any one, but taking the two letters up
+to her own room, sat down to consider them. That which referred to her
+aunt's money, together with the postscript in Captain Aylmer's letter
+on the same subject, would be of the least possible moment if she could
+bring herself to give a favourable answer to the other proposition. But
+should she not be able to do this should she hesitate as to doing so at
+once then she must write to the lawyer in very strong terms, refusing
+altogether to have anything to do with the money. And in such a case as
+this, not a word could she say to her father either on one subject or
+on the other.
+
+But why should she not accept the offer made to her? Captain Aylmer
+declared that he had determined to ask her to be his wife before he had
+made any promise to Mrs Winterfield. If this were in truth so, then the
+very ground on which she had separated herself from him would be
+removed. Why should she hesitate in acknowledging to herself that she
+loved the man and believed him to be true? So she sat herself down and
+answered both the letters writing to the lawyer first. To him she said
+that nothing need be done about the money or the interest till he
+should see or hear from Captain Aylmer again. Then to Captain Aylmer
+she wrote very shortly, but very openly with the same ill-judged
+candour which her spoken words to him had displayed. Of course she
+would be his; his without hesitation, now that she knew that he
+expressed his own wishes, and not merely those of his aunt. 'As to the
+money,' she said, 'it would be simply nonsense now for us to have any
+talk of money. It is yours in any way, and you had better manage about
+it as you please. I have written an ambiguous letter to Mr Green, which
+will simply plague him, and which you may go and see if you like.' Then
+she added her postscript, in which she said that she should now at once
+tell her father, as the news would remove from his mind all solicitude
+as to her future position. That Captain Aylmer did go to Mr Green we
+already know, and we know also that he told Mr Green of his intended
+marriage.
+
+Nothing was said by Captain Aylmer as to any proposed period for their
+marriage; but that was only natural. It was not probable that any man
+would name a day till he knew whether or not he was accepted. Indeed,
+Clara, on thinking over the whole affair, was now disposed to find
+fault rather with herself than with her lover, and forgetting his
+coldness and formality at Perivale, remembered only the fact of his
+offer to her, and his assurance now received that he had intended to
+make it before the scene which had taken place between him and his
+aunt. She did find fault with herself, telling herself that she had
+quarrelled with him without sufficient cause and the eager loving
+candour of her letter to him was attributable to those self-accusations.
+
+'Papa,' she said, after the postman had gone away from Belton, so that
+there might be no possibility of any recall of her letter, 'I have
+something to tell you which I hope will give you pleasure.'
+
+'It isn't often that I hear anything of that kind,' said he.
+
+'But I think that this will give you pleasure. I do indeed. I am going
+to be married.'
+
+'Going to what?'
+
+'Going to be married, papa. That is, if I have your leave. Of course
+any offer of that kind that I have accepted is subject to your
+approval.'
+
+'And I have been told nothing about it!'
+
+'It began at Perivale, and I could not tell you then. You do not ask me
+who is to be my husband.'
+
+'It is not Will Belton?'
+
+'Poor Will! No; it is not Will. It is Frederic Aylmer. I think you
+would prefer him as a son-in-law even to my Cousin Will.'
+
+'No I shouldn't. Why should I prefer a man whom I don't even know, who
+lives in London, and who will take you away, so that I shall never see
+you again?'
+
+'Dear papa don't speak of it in that way. I thought you would be glad
+to know that I was to be so so so happy!'
+
+'But why is it to be done this way of a sudden? Why didn't he come to
+me? Will came to me the very first thing.'
+
+'He couldn't come all the way to Belton very well particularly as he
+does not know you.'
+
+'Will came here.'
+
+'Oh, papa, don't make difficulties. Of course that was different. He
+was here when he first thought of it. And even then he didn't think
+very much about it.'
+
+'He did all that he could, I suppose?'
+
+'Well yes. I don't know how that might be.' And Clara almost laughed as
+she felt the difficulties into which she was creeping. 'Dear Will. He
+is much better as a cousin than as a husband.'
+
+'I don't see that at all. Captain Aylmer will not have the Belton
+estate or Plaistow Hall.'
+
+'Surely he is well enough off to take care of a wife. He will have the
+whole of the Perivale estate, you know.'
+
+'I don't know anything about it. According to my ideas of what is
+proper he should have spoken to me first. If he could not come he might
+have written. No doubt my ideas may be old-fashioned, and I'm told that
+Captain Aylmer is a fashionable young man.'
+
+'Indeed he is not, papa. He is a hard-working Member of Parliament.'
+
+'I don't know that he is any better for that. People seem to think that
+if a man is a Member of Parliament he may do what he pleases. There is
+Thompson, the Member for Minehead, who has bought some sort of place
+out by the moors. I never saw so vulgar, pigheaded a fellow in my life.
+Being in Parliament used to be something when I was young, but it won't
+make a man a gentleman now-a-days. It seems to me that none but
+brewers, and tallow-chandlers, and lawyers go into Parliament now. Will
+Belton could go into Parliament if he pleased, but he knows better than
+that. He won't make himself such a fool.'
+
+This was not comfortable to Clara; but she knew her father, and allowed
+him to go on with his grumbling. He would come round by degrees, and he
+would appreciate, if he could not be induced to acknowledge, the wisdom
+of the step she was about to take.
+
+'When is it to be?' he asked.
+
+'Nothing of that kind has ever been mentioned, papa.'
+
+'It had better be soon, if I am to have anything to do with it.' Now it
+was certainly the case that the old man was very ill. He had not been
+out of the house since Clara had returned home; and, though he was
+always grumbling about his food, he could hardly be induced to eat
+anything when the morsels for which he expressed a wish were got for
+him.
+
+'Of course you will be consulted, papa, before anything is settled.'
+
+'I don't want to be in anybody's way, my dear.'
+
+'And may I tell Frederic that you have given your consent?
+
+'What's the use of my consenting or not consenting? If you had been
+anxious to oblige me you would have taken your Cousin Will.'
+
+'Oh, papa, how could I accept a man I didn't love?'
+
+'You seemed to me to be very fond of him at first; and I must say, I
+thought he was ill-treated.'
+
+'Papa, papa; do not say such things as that to me!'
+
+'What am I to do? You tell me, and I can't altogether hold my tongue.'
+Then there was a pause. 'Well, my dear, as for my consent, of course
+you may have it if it's worth anything. I don't know that I ever heard
+anything bad about Captain Aylmer.'
+
+He had heard nothing bad about Captain Aylmer! Clara, as she left her
+father, felt that this was very grievous. Whatever cause she might have
+had for discontent with her lover, she could not but be aware that he
+was a man whom any father might be proud to welcome as a suitor for his
+daughter. He was a man as to whom no ill tales had ever been told who
+had never been known to do anything wrong or imprudent; who had always
+been more than respectable, and as to whose worldly position no
+exception could be taken. She had been entitled to expect her father's
+warmest congratulations, and her tidings had been received as though
+she had proposed to give her hand to one whose character and position
+only just made it not imperative on the father to withhold his consent!
+All this was hard, and feeling it to be so, she went upstairs, all
+alone, and cried bitterly as she thought of it.
+
+On the next day she went down to the cottage and saw Mrs Askerton. She
+went there with the express purpose of telling her friend of her
+engagement desirous of obtaining in that quarter the sympathy which her
+father declined to give her. Had her communication to him been accepted
+in a different spirit, she might probably have kept her secret from Mrs
+Askerton till something further had been fixed about her marriage; but
+she was in want of a few kind words, and pined for some of that
+encouragement which ladies in love usually wish to receive, at any rate
+from some one chosen friend. But when she found herself alone with Mrs
+Askerton she hardly knew how to tell her news; and at first could not
+tell it at all, as that lady was eager in speaking on another subject.
+
+'When do you expect your cousin?' Mrs Askerton asked, almost as soon as
+Clara was seated.
+
+'The day after tomorrow.'
+
+'And he is in London now?'
+
+'He may be. I dare say he is. But I don't know anything about it.'
+
+'I can tell you then that he is. Colonel Askerton has heard of his
+being there.'
+
+'You seem to speak of it as though there were some offence in it. Is
+there any reason why he should not be in London if he pleases?'
+
+'None in the least. I would much rather that he should be there than
+here.'
+
+'Why so? Will his coming hurt you?'
+
+'I don't like him. I don't like him at all and now you know the truth.
+You believe in him I don't. You think him to be a fine fellow and a
+gentleman, whereas I don't think him to be either.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton!'
+
+'This is strong language, I know.'
+
+'Very strong language.'
+
+'Yes, my dear; but the truth is, Clara, that you and I, living together
+here this sort of hermit's life, each seeing so much of the other and
+seeing nothing of anybody else, must either be real friends, telling
+each other what we think, or we must be nothing. We can't go on with
+the ordinary make- believes of society, saying little civil speeches
+and not going beyond them. Therefore I have made up my mind to tell you
+in plain language that I don't like your cousin, and don't believe in
+him.'
+
+'I don't know what you mean by believing in a man.'
+
+'I believe in you. Sometimes I have thought that you believe in me, and
+sometimes I have feared that you do not. I think that you are good, and
+honest, and true; and therefore I like to see your face and hear your
+voice though it is not often that you say very pleasant things to me.'
+
+'Do I say unpleasant things?'
+
+'I am not going to quarrel with you not if I can help it. What business
+has Mr Belton to go about London making inquiries as to me? What have I
+done to him, that he should honour me so far?'
+
+'Has he made inquiries?'
+
+'Yes; he has. If you have been contented with me as I am if you are
+satisfied, why should he want to learn more? If you have any question
+to ask me I will answer it. But what right can he have to be asking
+questions among strangers?'
+
+Clara had no question to ask, and yet she could not say that she was
+satisfied. She would have been better satisfied to have known more of
+Mrs Askerton, but yet she had never condescended to make inquiries
+about her friend. But her curiosity was now greatly raised; and,
+indeed, Mrs Askerton's manner was so strange, her vehemence so unusual,
+and her eagerness to rush into dangerous subjects so unlike her usual
+tranquillity in conversation, that Clara did not know how to answer her.
+
+'I know nothing of any questioning,' she said.
+
+'I am sure you don't. Had I thought you did, much as I love you
+valuable as your society is to me down in this desert I would never
+speak to you again. But remember if you want to ask any questions, and
+will ask them of me of me I will answer them, and will not be angry.'
+
+'But I don't want to ask any questions.'
+
+'You may some day; and then you can remember what I say.'
+
+'And am I to understand that you are determined to quarrel with my
+Cousin Will?'
+
+'Quarrel with him! I don't suppose that I shall see him. After what I
+have said it is not probable that you will bring him here, and the
+servant will have orders to say that I am not at home if be should
+call. Luckily he and Colonel Askerton did not meet when he was here
+before.'
+
+'This is the most strange thing I ever heard in my life.'
+
+'You will understand it better, my dear, when he makes his
+communication to you.'
+
+'What communication?'
+
+'You'll find that he'll have a communication to make. He has been so
+diligent and so sharp that he'll have a great deal to tell, I do not
+doubt. Only, remember, Clara, that if anything that he tells you makes
+any difference in your feelings towards me, I shall expect you to come
+to me and say so openly. If he makes his statement, let me make mine. I
+have a right to ask for that, after what I have promised.'
+
+'You may be sure that I will.'
+
+'I want nothing more. I have no distrust in you none in the least. I
+tell you that I believe in you. If you will do that, and will keep Mr
+William Belton out of my way during his visit to these parts, I shall
+be satisfied.' For some time past Mrs Askerton had been walking about
+the room, but, as she now finished speaking, she sat herself down as
+though the subject was fully discussed and completed. For a minute or
+two she made an effort to resume her usual tranquillity of manner, and
+in doing so attempted to smile, as though ridiculing her own energy. 'I
+knew I should make a fool of myself when you came,' she said; and now I
+have done it.'
+
+'I don't think you have been a fool at all, but you may have been
+mistaken.'
+
+'Very well, my dear, we shall see. It's very odd what a dislike I took
+to that man the first time I saw him.'
+
+'And I am so fond of him!'
+
+'Yes; he has cozened you as he has your father. I am only glad that he
+did not succeed in cozening you further than he did. But I ought to
+have known you bettor than to suppose you could give your heart of
+hearts to one who is'
+
+'Do not abuse him any more.'
+
+'Who is so very unlike the sort of people with whom you have lived. I
+may, at any rate, say that.'
+
+'I don't know that. I haven't lived much with any one yet except papa,
+and my aunt, and you.'
+
+'But you know a gentleman when you see him.'
+
+'Come, Mrs Askerton, I will not stand this. I thought you had done with
+the subject, and now you begin again. I had come here on purpose to
+tell you something of real importance that is, to me; but I must go
+away without telling you, unless you will give over abusing my cousin.'
+
+'I will not say a word more about him not at present.'
+
+'I feel so sure that you are mistaken, you know.'
+
+'Very well and I feel sure that you are mistaken. We will leave it so,
+and go to this matter of importance.' But Clara felt it to be very
+difficult to tell her tidings after such a conversation as that which
+had just occurred. When she had entered the room her mind had been
+tuned to the subject, and she could have found fitting words without
+much difficulty to herself; but now her thoughts had been scattered and
+her feelings hurt, and she did not know how to bring herself back to
+the subject of her engagement. She paused, therefore, and sat with a
+doubtful, hesitating look, meditating some mode of escape. 'I am all
+ears,' said Mrs Askerton; and Clara thought that she discovered
+something of ridicule or of sarcasm in the tone of her friend's voice.
+
+'I believe I'll put it off till another day,' she said.
+
+'Why so? You don't think that anything really important to you will not
+be important to me also?'
+
+'I'm sure of that, but somehow'
+
+'You mean to say that I have ruffled you?'
+
+'Well perhaps; a little.'
+
+'Then be unruffled again, like my own dear, honest Clara. I have been
+ruffled too, but I'll be as tranquil now as a drawing-room cat.' Then
+Mrs Askerton got up from her chair, and seated herself by Clara's side
+on the sofa. 'Come; you can't go till you've told me; and if you
+hesitate, I shall think that you mean to quarrel With me.'
+
+'I'll come to you tomorrow.'
+
+'No, no; you shall tell me today. All tomorrow you'll be preparing for
+your cousin.'
+
+'What nonsense!'
+
+'Or else you'll come prepared to vindicate him, and then we shan't get
+on any further. Tell me what it is today. You can't leave me in
+curiosity after what you have said.'
+
+'You've heard of Captain Aylmer, I think.'
+
+'Of course I've heard of him.'
+
+'But you've never seen him?'
+
+'You know I never have.'
+
+'I told you that he was at Perivale when Mrs Winterfield died.'
+
+'And now he has proposed, and you are going to accept him? That will
+indeed be important. Is it so? say. But don't I know it is so? Why
+don't you speak?'
+
+'If you know it, why need I speak?'
+
+'But it is so? Oh, Clara, I am so glad. I congratulate you with all my
+heart with all my heart. My dearest, dearest Clara! What a happy
+arrangement! What a success! It is just as it should be. Dear, good
+man! to come forward in that sensible way, and put an end to all the
+little family difficulties!'
+
+'I don't know so much about success. Who is it that is successful?'
+
+'You, to be sure.'
+
+'Then by the same measurement he must be unsuccessful.'
+
+'Don't be a fool, Clara.'
+
+'Of course I have been successful if I've got a man that I can love as
+my husband.'
+
+'Now, my dear, don't be a fool. Of course all that is between you and
+him, and I don't in the least doubt that it is all as it should be. If
+Captain Aylmer had been the elder brother instead of the younger, and
+had all the Aylmer estates instead of the Perivale property, I know you
+would not accept him if you did not like him.'
+
+'I hope not.'
+
+'I am sure you would not. But when a girl with nothing a year has
+managed to love a man with two or three thousand a year, and has
+managed to be loved by him in return instead of going through the same
+process with the curate or village doctor it is a success, and her
+friend will always think so. And when a girl marries a gentleman, and a
+Member of Parliament, instead of well, I'm not going to say anything
+personal her friends will congratulate her upon his position. It may be
+very wicked, and mercenary, and all that; but it's the way of the
+world.'
+
+'I hate hearing about the world.'
+
+'Yes, my dear; all proper young ladies like you do hate it. But I
+observe that such girls as you never offend its prejudices. You can't
+but know that you would have done a wicked as well as a foolish thing
+to marry a man without an adequate income.'
+
+'But I needn't marry at all.'
+
+'And what would you live on then? Come Clara, we needn't quarrel about
+that. I've no doubt he's charming, and beautiful, and'
+
+'He isn't beautiful at all; and as for charming'
+
+'He has charmed you at any rate.'
+
+'He has made me believe that I can trust him without doubt, and love
+him without fear.'
+
+'An excellent man! And the income will be an additional comfort; you'll
+allow that?'
+
+'I'll allow nothing.'
+
+'And when is it to be?'
+
+'Oh perhaps in six or seven years.'
+
+'Clara!'
+
+'Perhaps sooner; but there's been no word said about time.'
+
+'Is not Mr Amedroz delighted?'
+
+'Not a bit. He quite scolded me when I told him.'
+
+'Why what did he want?'
+
+'You know papa.'
+
+'I know he scolds at everything, but I shouldn't have thought he would
+have scolded at that. And when does he come here?'
+
+'Who come here?'
+
+'Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'I don't know that he is coming at all.'
+
+'He must come to be married.'
+
+'All that is in the clouds as yet. I did not like to tell you, but you
+mustn't suppose that because I've told you, everything is settled.
+Nothing is settled.'
+
+'Nothing except the one thing?'
+
+'Nothing else.'
+
+It was more than an hour after that before Clara went away, and when
+she did so she was surprised to find that she was followed out of the
+house by Colonel Askerton. It was quite dusk at this time, the days
+being just at their shortest, and Colonel Askerton, according to his
+custom, would have been riding, or returning from his ride. Clara had
+been over two hours at the cottage, and had been aware when she reached
+it that be had not as yet gone out. It appeared now that he had not
+ridden at all, and, as she remembered to have seen his horse led before
+the window, it at once occurred to her that he had remained at home
+with the view of catching her as she went away. He came up to her just
+as she was passing through the gate, and offered her his right hand as
+he raised his hat with his left. It sometimes happens to all of us in
+life that we become acquainted with persons intimately that is, with an
+assumed intimacy whom in truth we do not know at all. We meet such
+persons frequently, often eating and drinking in their company, being
+familiar with their appearance, and well-informed generally as to their
+concerns; but we never find ourselves holding special conversations
+with them, or in any way fitting the modes of our life to the modes of
+their life. Accident has brought us together, and in one sense they are
+our friends. We should probably do any little kindness for them, or
+expect the same from them; but there is nothing in common between us,
+and there is generally a mutual though unexpressed agreement that there
+shall be nothing in common. Miss Amedroz was intimately acquainted with
+Colonel Askerton after this fashion. She saw him very frequently, and
+his name was often on her tongue; but she rarely, if ever, conversed
+with him, and knew of his habits only from his wife's words respecting
+them. When, therefore, he followed her through the garden gate into the
+park, she was driven to suppose that he had something special to say to
+her.
+
+'I'm afraid you'll have a dark walk, Miss Amedroz,' he said.
+
+'It's only just across the park, and I know the way so well.'
+
+'Yes of course. I saw you coming out, and as I want to say a word or
+two, I have ventured to follow you. When Mr Belton was down here I did
+not have the pleasure of meeting him.'
+
+'I remember that you missed each other.'
+
+'Yes, we did. I understand from my wife that he will be here again in a
+day or two.'
+
+'He will be with us the day after tomorrow.'
+
+'I hope you will excuse my saying that it will be very desirable that
+we should miss each other again.' Clara felt that her face became red
+with anger as she listened to Colonel Askerton's words. He spoke
+slowly, as was his custom, and without any of that violence of
+expression which his wife had used; but on that very account there was
+more, if possible, of meaning in his words than in hers. William Belton
+was her cousin, and such a speech as that which Colonel Askerton had
+made, spoken with deliberation and unaccompanied by any previous
+explanation, seemed to her almost to amount to insult. But as she did
+not know how to answer him at the spur of the moment, she remained
+silent. Then he continued, 'You may be sure, Miss Amedroz, that I
+should not make so strange a request to you if I had not good reason
+for making it.'
+
+'I think it a very strange request.'
+
+'And nothing but a strong conviction of its propriety on my part would
+have induced me to make it.'
+
+'If you do not want to see my cousin, why cannot you avoid him without
+saying anything to me on the subject
+
+'Because you would not then have understood as thoroughly as I wish you
+to do why I kept out of his way. For my wife's sake and for yours, if
+you will allow me to say so I do not wish to come to any open quarrel
+with him; but if we met, a quarrel would, I think, be inevitable. Mary
+has probably explained to you the nature of his offence against us?'
+
+'Mrs Askerton has told me something as to which I am quite sure that
+she is mistaken.'
+
+'I will say nothing about that, as I have no wish at all to set you
+against your cousin. I will bid you good-night now as you are close at
+home.' Then he turned round and left her.
+
+Clara, as she thought of all this, could not but call to mind her
+cousin's remembrances about Miss Vigo and Mr Berdmore. What if he made
+some inquiry as to the correctness of his old recollections? Nothing,
+she thought, could be more natural. And then she reflected that, in the
+ordinary way of the world, persons feel none of that violent objection
+to the asking of questions about their antecedents which was now
+evinced by both Colonel and Mrs Askerton. But of one thing she felt
+quite assured that her cousin, Will Belton, would make no inquiry which
+he ought not to make; and would make no improper use of any information
+which he might obtain.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE HEIR'S SECOND VISIT TO BELTON
+
+Clara began to doubt whether any possible arrangement of the
+circumstances of her life could be regarded as fortunate. She was very
+fond, in a different degree and after a different fashion, of both
+Captain Aylmer and Mr Belton. As regarded both, her position was now
+exactly what she herself would have wished. The man that she loved was
+betrothed to her, and the other man, whom she loved indeed also as a
+brother, was coming to her in that guise with the understanding that
+that was to be his position. And yet everything was going wrong! Her
+father, though he did not actually say anything against Captain Aylmer,
+showed by a hundred little signs, of which he was a skilful master,
+that the Aylmer alliance was distasteful to him, and that he thought
+himself to be aggrieved in that his daughter would not marry her
+cousin; whereas, over at the cottage, there was a still more bitter
+feeling against Mr Belton a feeling so bitter, that it almost induced
+Clara to wish that her cousin was not coming to them.
+
+But the cousin did come, and was driven up to the door in the gig from
+Taunton, just as had been the case on his previous visit. Then,
+however, he had come in the full daylight, and the hay-carts had been
+about, and all the prettiness and warmth of summer had been there; now
+it was mid-winter, and there had been some slight beginnings of snow,
+and the wind was moaning about the old tower, and the outside of the
+house looked very unpleasant from the hall-door. As it had become dusk
+in the afternoon, the old squire had been very careful in his orders as
+to preparations for Will's comfort as though Clara would have forgotten
+all those things in the preoccupation of her mind, caused by the
+constancy of her thoughts towards Will's rival. He even went so far as
+to creep across the upstairs landing-place to see that the fire was
+lighted in Will's room, this being the first time that he had left his
+chamber for many days and bad given special orders as to the food which
+was to be prepared for Will's dinner in a very different spirit from
+that which bad dictated some former orders when Will was about to make
+his first visit, and when his coming had been regarded by the old man
+as a heartless, indelicate, and almost hostile proceeding.
+
+'I wish I could go down to receive him,' said Mr Amedroz, plaintively.
+'I hope he won't take it amiss.'
+
+'You may be sure he won't do that.'
+
+'Perhaps I can tomorrow.'
+
+'Dear papa, you had better not think of it till the weather is milder.'
+
+'Milder! how is it to get milder at this time of the year?'
+
+'Of course he'll come up to you, papa.'
+
+'He's very good. I know he's very good. No one also would do as much.'
+
+Clara understood accurately what all this meant. Of course she was glad
+that her father should feel so kindly towards her cousin, and think so
+much of his coming; but every word said by the old man in praise of
+Will Belton implied an equal amount of dispraise as regarded Captain
+Aylmer, and contained a reproach against his daughter for having
+refused the former and accepted the latter.
+
+Clara was in the ball when Belton arrived, and received him as he
+entered, enveloped in his damp great-coats. 'It is so good of you to
+come in such weather,' she said.
+
+'Nice seasonable weather, I call it,' he said. It was the same
+comfortable, hearty, satisfactory voice which had done so much towards
+making his way for him on his first arrival at Belton Castle The voices
+to which Clara was most accustomed were querulous as though the world
+had been found by the owners of them to be but a bad place. But
+Belton's voice seemed to speak of cheery days and happy friends, and a
+general state of things which made life worth having. Nevertheless,
+forty-eight hours had not yet passed over his head since he was walking
+about London in such misery that he had almost cursed the hour in which
+be was born. His misery still remained with him, as black now as it had
+been then; and yet his voice was cheery. The sick birds, we are told,
+creep into holes, that they may die alone and unnoticed; and the
+wounded beasts hide themselves that their grief may not be seen of
+their fellows. A man has the same instinct to conceal the weakness of
+his sufferings; but, if he be a man, he hides it in his own heart,
+keeping it for solitude and the watches of the night, while to the
+outer world he carries a face on which his care has made no marks.
+
+'You will be sorry to hear that papa is too ill to come downstairs.'
+
+'Is he, indeed? I am truly sorry. I had beard he was ill; but did not
+know he was so ill as that.'
+
+'Perhaps he fancies himself weaker than he is.'
+
+'We must try and cure him of that. I can see him, I hope?'
+
+'Oh dear, yes. He is most anxious for you to go to him. As soon as ever
+you can come upstairs I will take you.' He had already stripped himself
+of his wrappings, and declaring himself ready, at once followed Clara
+to the squire's room.
+
+'I'm sorry, sir, to find you in this way,' he said.
+
+'I'm very poorly, Will very,' said the squire, putting out his hand as
+though he were barely able to lift it above his knee. Now it certainly
+was the fact that half an hour before he had been walking across the
+passage.
+
+'We must see if we can't soon make you better among us,' said Will.
+
+The squire shook his head with a slow, melancholy movement, not raising
+his eyes from the ground. 'I don't think you'll ever see me much
+better, Will,' he said. And yet half an hour since he had been talking
+of being down in the dining-room on the next day. 'I shan't trouble you
+much longer,' said the squire. 'You'll soon have it all without paying
+rent for it.'
+
+This was very unpleasant, and almost frustrated Belton's attempts to be
+cheery. But he persevered nevertheless. 'It'll be a long time yet
+before that day comes, sir.'
+
+'Ah; that's easily said. But never mind. Why should I want to remain
+when I shall have once seen her properly settled. I've nothing to live
+for except that she may have a home.'
+
+On this subject it was quite impossible that Belton should say
+anything. Clara was standing by him, and she, as he knew, was engaged
+to Captain Aylmer. So circumstanced, what could he say as to Clara's
+settlement in life? That something should be said between him and the
+old man, and something also between him and Clara, was a matter of
+course; but it was quite out of the question that he should discuss
+Clara's prospects in life in presence of them both together.
+
+'Papa's illness makes him a little melancholy,' said Clara.
+
+'Of course of course. It always does,' said Will.
+
+'I think he will be better when the weather becomes milder,' said Clara.
+
+'I suppose I may be allowed to know how I feel myself,' said the
+squire. 'But don't keep Will up here when he wants his dinner. There;
+that'll do. You'd better leave me now.' Then Will went out to his old
+room, and a quarter of an hour afterwards he found himself seated with
+Clara at the dinner- table; and a quarter of an hour after that the
+dinner was over, and they had both drawn their chairs to the fire.
+
+Neither of them knew how to begin with the other. Clara was under no
+obligation to declare her engagement to her cousin, but yet she felt
+that it would be unhandsome in her not to do so. Had Will never made
+the mistake of wanting to marry her himself, she would have done so as
+a matter of course. Had she supposed him to cherish any intention of
+renewing that mistake she would have felt herself bound to tell him so
+that he might save himself from unnecessary pain. But she gave him
+credit for no such intention, and yet she could not but remember that
+scene among the rocks. And then was she, or was she not, to say
+anything to him about the Askertons? With him also the difficulty was
+as great. He did not in truth believe that the tidings which he had
+heard from his friend the lawyer required corroboration; but yet it was
+necessary that he should know from herself that she had disposed of her
+hand and it was necessary also that he should say some word to her as
+to their future standing and friendship.
+
+'You must be very anxious to see how your farm goes on,' said she.
+
+He had not thought much of his agricultural venture at Belton for the
+last three or four days, and would hardly have been vexed had he been
+told that every head of cattle about the place had died of the murrain.
+Some general idea of the expediency of going on with a thing which he
+had commenced still actuated him; but it was the principle involved,
+and not the speculation itself, which interested him. But he could not
+explain all this, and he therefore was driven to some cold agreement
+with her. 'The farm! you mean the stock. Yes; I shall go and have a
+look at them early tomorrow. I suppose they're all alive.'
+
+'Pudge says that they are doing uncommonly well.' Pudge was a leading
+man among the Belton labourers, whom Will had hired to look after his
+concerns.
+
+'That's all right. I dare say Pudge knows quite as much about it as I
+do.'
+
+'But the master's eye is everything.'
+
+'Pudge's eye is quite as good as mine; and probably much better, as he
+knows the country.'
+
+'You used to say that it was everything for a man to look after his own
+interests.'
+
+'And I do look after them. Pudge and I will go and have a look at every
+beast tomorrow, and I shall look very wise and pretend to know more
+about it than he does. In stock-farming the chief thing is not to have
+too many beasts. They used to say that half-stocking was whole profit,
+and. whole- stocking was half profit. If the animals have plenty to
+eat, and the rent isn't too high, they'll take care of. their owner.'
+
+'But then there is so much illness.'
+
+'I always insure.'
+
+Clara perceived that the subject of the cattle didn't suit the present
+occasion. When he had before been at Belton. he had liked nothing so
+much as talking about the cattle-sheds, and the land, and the kind of
+animals which would suit the place; but now the novelty of the thing
+was gone and the farmer did not wish to talk of his farm. In her
+anxiety to find a topic which would not be painful, she went from the
+cattle to the cow. 'You can't think what a pet Bess has been with us.
+And she seems to think that she is privileged to go everywhere, and do
+anything.'
+
+'I hope they have taken care that she has had winter food.'
+
+'Winter food! Why Pudge, and all the Pudges, and all the family in the
+house, and all your cattle would have to want, before Bessy would be
+allowed to miss a meal. Pudge always says, with his sententious shake
+of the head, that the young squire was very particular about Bessy.'
+
+'Those Alderneys want a little care that's all.'
+
+Bessy was. of no better service to Clara in her present difficulty than
+the less aristocratic herd of common cattle. There was a pause for a
+moment, and then she began again. 'How did you leave your sister, Will?'
+
+'Much the same as usual. I think she has borne the first of the cold
+weather better than she did last year.'
+
+'I do so wish that I knew her.'
+
+'Perhaps you will some day. But I don't suppose that you ever will.'
+
+'Why not?'
+
+'It's not likely that you'll ever come to Plaistow now and Mary never
+leaves it except to go to my uncle's.'
+
+Clara instantly knew that he had heard of her engagement, though she
+could not imagine from what source he had heard it. There was something
+in the tone of his voice something especially in the expression of that
+word 'now', which told her that it must be so. 'I should be so glad to
+go there if I could,' she said, with that special hypocrisy which
+belongs to women, and is allowed to them; 'but, of course, I cannot
+leave papa in his present state.'
+
+'And if you did leave him you would not go to Plaistow.'
+
+'Not unless you and Mary asked me.'
+
+'And you wouldn't if we did. How could you?'
+
+'What do you mean, Will? It seems as though you were almost savage to
+me.'
+
+'Am I? Well I feel savage, but not to you.'
+
+'Nor to any one, I hope, belonging to me.' She knew that it was all
+coming; that the whole subject of her future life must now be
+discussed; and she began to fear that the discussion might not be easy.
+But she did not know how to give it a direction. She feared that he
+would become angry, and yet she knew not why. He had accepted his own
+rejection tranquilly, and could hardly take it as an offence that she
+should now be engaged to Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Mr Green has told me', said he, 'that you are going to be married.'
+
+'How could Mr Green have known?'
+
+'He did know at least I suppose he knew, for he told me.'
+
+'How very odd.'
+
+'I suppose it is true?' Clara did not make any immediate answer, and
+then he repeated the question. 'I suppose it is true?'
+
+'It is true that I am engaged.'
+
+'To Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes; to Captain Aylmer. You know that I had known him very long. I
+hope that you are not angry with me because I did not write and tell
+you. Strange as it may seem, seeing that you had heard it already, it
+is not a week yet since it was settled; and had I written to you, I
+could only have addressed my letter to you here.'
+
+'I wasn't thinking about that. I didn't specially want you to write to
+me. What difference would it make?'
+
+'But I should have felt that I owed it to your kindness and your regard
+for me.'
+
+'My regard! What's the use of regard?'
+
+'You are not going to quarrel with me, Will, because because because .
+If you had really been my brother, as you once said you would be, you
+could not but have approved of what I have done.'
+
+'But I am not your brother.'
+
+'Oh, Will; that sounds so cruel!'
+
+'I am not your brother, and I have no right to approve or disapprove.'
+
+'I will not say that I could make my engagement with Captain Aylmer
+dependent on your approval. It would not be fair to him to do so, and
+it would put me into a false position.'
+
+' Have I asked you to make any such absurd sacrifice?'
+
+'Listen to me, Will. I say that I could not do that. But, short of
+that, there is nothing I would not do to satisfy you. I think so much
+of your judgment and goodness, and so very much of your affection; I
+love you so dearly, that Oh, Will, say a kind word to me!'
+
+'A kind word; yes, but what sort of kindness?
+
+'You must know that Captain Aylmer'
+
+'Don't talk to me of Captain Aylmer. Have I said anything against him?
+Have I ventured to make any objection? Of course, I know his
+superiority to myself. I know that he is a man of the world, and that I
+am not; that he is educated, and that I am ignorant; that he has a
+position, and that I have none; that he has much to offer, and that I
+have nothing. Of course, I see the difference; but that does not make
+me comfortable.'
+
+'Will, I had learned to love him before I had ever seen you.'
+
+'Why didn't you tell me so, that I might have known there was no hope,
+and have gone away utterly out of the kingdom? If it was all settled
+then, why didn't you tell me, and save me from breaking my heart with
+false hopes?'
+
+'Nothing was settled then. I hardly knew my own mind; but yet I loved
+him. There; cannot you understand it? Have I not told you enough?'
+
+'Yes, I understand it.'
+
+'And do you blame me?'
+
+He paused awhile before he answered her. 'No; I do not blame you. I
+suppose I must blame no one but myself. But you should bear with me. I
+was so happy, and now I am so wretched.'
+
+There was nothing that she could say to comfort him. She had altogether
+mistaken the nature of the man's regard, and had even mistaken the very
+nature of the man. So much she now learned, and could tell herself that
+had she known him better she would either have prevented this second
+visit, or would have been careful that he should have learned the truth
+from herself before he came. Now she could only wait till he should
+again have got strength to hide his suffering under the veil of his own
+manliness.
+
+'I have not a word to say against what you are doing,' he said at last;
+'not a word. But you will understand what I mean when I tell you that
+it is not likely that you will come to Plaistow.'
+
+'Some day, Will, when you have a wife of your own'
+
+'Very well; but we won't talk about that at present, if you please.
+When I have, things will be different. In the meantime your course and
+mine will be separate. You, I suppose, will be with him in London,
+while I shall be at the devil as likely as not.'
+
+'How can you speak to me in that way? Is that like being my brother?'
+
+'I don't feel like being your brother. However, I beg your pardon, and
+now we will have done with it. Spilt milk can't be helped, and my milk
+pans have got themselves knocked over. That's all. Don't you think we
+ought to go up to your father again?'
+
+On the following day Belton and Mr Amedroz discussed the same subject,
+but the conversation went off very quietly. Will was determined not to
+exhibit his weakness before the father as he had done before the
+daughter. When the squire, with a maundering voice, drawled out some
+expression of regret that his daughter's choice had not fallen in
+another place, Will was able to say that bygones must he bygones. He
+regretted it also, but that was now over. And when the squire
+endeavoured to say a few ill-natured words about Captain Aylmer, Will
+stopped him at once by asserting that the captain was all that he ought
+to be.
+
+'And it would have made me so happy to think that my daughter's child
+should come to live in his grandfather's old house,' murmured Mr
+Amedroz.
+
+'And there's no knowing that he mayn't do so yet,' said Will. 'But all
+these things are so doubtful that a man is wrong to fix his happiness
+upon them.' After that he went out to ramble about, the place, and
+before the third day was over Clara was able to perceive that, in spite
+of what he had said, he was as busy about the cattle as though his
+bread depended on them.
+
+Nothing had been said as yet about the Askertons, and Clara had
+resolved that their name should not first be mentioned by her. Mrs
+Askerton had prophesied that Will would have some communication to make
+about herself, and Clara would at any rate see whether her cousin
+would, of his own accord, introduce the subject. But three days passed
+by, and he had made no allusion to the cottage or its inhabitants. This
+in itself was singular, as the Askertons were the only local friends
+whom Clara knew, and as Belton had become personally acquainted with
+Mrs Askerton. But such was the case; and when Mr Amedroz once said
+something about Mrs Askerton in the presence of both Clara and Belton,
+they both of them shrank from the subject in a manner that made Clara
+understand that any conversation about the Askertons was to be avoided.
+On the fourth day Clara saw Mrs Askerton, but then Will Belton's name
+was not mentioned. There was therefore, among them all, a sense of some
+mystery which made them uncomfortable, and which seemed to admit of no
+solution. Clara was more sure than ever that her cousin had made no
+inquiries that he should not have made, and that he would put no
+information that he might have to an improper use. But of such
+certainty on her part she could say nothing.
+
+Three weeks passed by, and it seemed as though Belton's visit were to
+come to an end without any further open trouble. Now and then something
+was said about. Captain Aylmer; but it was very little, and Belton made
+no further reference to his own feelings. It had come to be understood
+that his visit was to be limited to a month; and to both him and Clara
+the month wore itself away slowly, neither of them having much pleasure
+in the society of the other. The old squire came downstairs once for an
+hour or two, and spent the whole time in bitter complaints. Everything
+was wrong, and everybody was ill-treating him. Even with Will he
+quarrelled, or did his best to quarrel, in regard to everything about
+the place, though at the same time he did not cease to grumble at his
+visitor for going away and leaving him. Belton bore it all so well that
+the grumbling and quarrelling did not lead to much; but it required all
+his good-humour and broad common sense to prevent serious troubles and
+misunderstanding.
+
+During the period of her cousin's visit at Belton, Clara received two
+letters from Captain Aylmer, who was spending the Christmas holidays
+with his father and mother, and on the day previous to that of her
+cousin's departure there came a third. In neither of these letters was
+there much said about Sir Anthony, but they were all very full of Lady
+Aylmer. In the first he wrote with something of the personal enthusiasm
+of a lover and therefore Clara hardly felt the little drawbacks to her
+happiness which were contained in certain innuendoes respecting Lady
+Aylmer's ideas, and Lady Aylmer's hopes, and Lady Aylmer's fears. Clara
+was not going to marry Lady Aylmer, and did not fear but that she could
+hold her own against any mother-in-law in the world when once they
+should be brought face to face. And as long as Captain Aylmer seemed to
+take her part rather than that of his mother it was all very well. The
+second letter was more trying to her temper, as it contained one or two
+small morsels of advice as to conduct which had evidently originated
+with her ladyship. Now there is nothing, I take it, so irritating to an
+engaged young lady as counsel from her intended husband's mamma. An
+engaged young lady, if she be really in love, will take almost anything
+from her lover as long as she is sure that it comes altogether from
+himself. He may take what liberties he pleases with her dress. He may
+prescribe high church or low church if he be not, as is generally the
+case, in a condition to accept, rather than to give, prescriptions on
+that subject. He may order almost any course of reading providing that
+he supply the books. And he may even interfere with the style of
+dancing, and recommend or prohibit partners. But he may not thrust his
+mother down his future wife's throat. In answer to the second letter,
+Clara did not say much to show her sense of objection. Indeed she said
+nothing. But in saying nothing she showed her objection, and Captain
+Aylmer understood it. Then came the third letter, and as it contained
+matter touching upon our story, it shall be given entire and I hope it
+may be taken by gentlemen about to marry as a fair specimen of the sort
+of letter they ought not to write to the girls of their hearts:
+
+Aylmer Castle
+
+19th January, 186 .
+
+'Dearest Clara I got your letter of the 16th yesterday, and was sorry
+you said nothing in reference to my mother's ideas as to the house at
+Perivale. Of course she knew that I heard from you, and was
+disappointed when, I was obliged to tell her, that you had not alluded
+to the subject. She is very anxious about you, and, having now given
+her assent to our marriage, is of course desirous of knowing that her
+kindly feeling is reciprocated. I assured her that my own Clara was the
+last person to be remiss in such a matter, and reminded her that young
+ladies are seldom very careful in their mode of answering letters.
+Remember, therefore, that I am now your guarantee, and send some
+message to relieve me from my liability.
+
+When I told her of your father's long illness, which she laments
+greatly, and of your cousin's continued presence at Belton Castle, she
+seemed to think that Mr Belton's visit should not be prolonged. When I
+told her that he was your nearest relative, she remarked that cousins
+are the same as any other people which indeed they are. I know that my
+Clara Will not suppose that I mean more by this than the words convey.
+Indeed I mean less. But not having the advantage of a mother of your
+own, you will not be sorry to know what are my mother's opinions on
+matters which so nearly concern you.
+
+And now I come to another subject, as to which what I shall say will
+surprise you very much. You know, I think, that my aunt Winterfield and
+I had some conversation about your neighbours, the Askertons; and you
+will remember that my aunt, whose ideas on such matters were always
+correct, was a little afraid that your father had not made sufficient
+inquiry respecting them before he allowed them to settle near him as
+tenants. It now turns out that she is very far, indeed, from what she
+ought to be. My mother at first thought of writing to you about this;
+but she is a little fatigued, and at last resolved that under all the
+circumstances it might be as well that I should tell you. It seems that
+Mrs Askerton was married before to a certain Captain Berdmore, and that
+she left her first husband during his lifetime under the protection of
+Colonel Askerton. I believe they, the Colonel and Mrs Askerton, have
+been since married. Captain Berdmore died about four years ago in
+India, and it is probable that such a marriage has taken place. But
+under these circumstances, as Lady Aylmer says, you will at once
+perceive that all acquaintance between you and the lady should be
+brought to an end. Indeed, your own sense of what is becoming to you,
+either as an unmarried girl or as my future wife, or indeed as a woman
+at all, will at once make you feel that this must be so. I think, if I
+were you, I would tell the whole to Mr Amedroz; but this I will leave
+to your own discretion. I can assure you that Lady Aylmer has full
+proof as to the truth of what I tell you.
+
+I go up to London in February. I suppose I may hardly hope to see you
+before the recess in July or August; but I trust that before that we
+shall have fixed the day when you will make me the happiest of men.
+
+Yours, with truest affection,
+
+F. F. AYLMER.'
+
+It was a disagreeable, nasty letter from the first line to the last.
+There was not a word in it which did not grate against Clara's feelings
+not a thought expressed which did not give rise to fears as to her
+future happiness. But the information which it contained about the
+Askertons 'the communication,' as Mrs Askerton herself would have
+called it made her for the moment almost forget Lady Aylmer and her
+insolence. Could this story be true? And if true, how far would it be
+imperative on her to take the hint,, or rather obey the order, which
+had been given her? What steps should she take to learn the truth? Then
+she remembered Mrs Askerton's promise 'If you want to ask any
+questions, and will ask them of me, I will answer them.' The
+communication, as to which Mrs Askerton had prophesied, had now been
+made but it had been made not by Will Belton, whom Mrs Askerton had
+reviled, but by Captain Aylmer, whose praises Mrs Askerton had so
+loudly sung. As Clara thought of this, she could not analyse her own
+feelings, which were not devoid of a certain triumph. She had known
+that Belton would not put on his armour to attack a woman. Captain
+Aylmer had done so, and she was hardly surprised at his doing it. Yet
+Captain Aylmer was the man she loved! Captain Aylmer was the man she
+had promised to marry. But, in truth, she hardly knew which was the man
+she loved!
+
+This letter came on a Sunday morning, and on that day she and Belton
+went to church together. On the following morning early he was to start
+for Taunton. At church they saw Mrs Askerton, whose attendance there
+was not very frequent. It seemed, indeed, as though she had come with
+the express purpose of seeing Belton once during his visit. As they
+left the church she bowed to him, and that was all they saw of each
+other throughout the month that he remained in Somersetshire.
+
+'Come to me tomorrow Clara,' Mrs Askerton said as they all passed
+through the village together. Clara muttered some reply, having not as
+yet made up her mind as to what her conduct must be. Early on the next
+morning Will Belton went away, and again Clara got up to give him his
+breakfast. On this occasion he had no thought of kissing her. He went
+away without having had a word said to him about Mrs Askerton, and then
+Clara settled herself down to the work of deliberation. What should she
+do with reference to the communication that had been made to her by
+Captain Aylmer?
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AYLMER PARK
+
+Aylmer Park and the great house of the Aylmers together formed an
+important and, as regarded in some minds, an imposing country
+residence. The park was large, including some three or four hundred
+acres, and was peopled, rather thinly, by aristocratic deer. It was
+surrounded by an aristocratic paling, and was entered, at three
+different points, by aristocratic lodges. The sheep were more numerous
+than the deer, because Sir Anthony, though he had a large income, was
+not in very easy circumstances. The ground was quite flat; and though
+there were thin belts of trees, and some ornamental timber here and
+there, it was not well wooded. It had no special beauty of its own, and
+depended for its imposing qualities chiefly on its size, on its three
+sets of double lodges, and on its old established character as an
+important family place in the county. The house was of stone, with a
+portico of Ionic columns which looked as though it hardly belonged of
+right to the edifice, and stretched itself out grandly, with two
+pretentious wings, which certainly gave it a just claim to be called a
+mansion. It required a great many servants to keep it in order, and the
+numerous servants required an experienced duenna, almost as grand in
+appearance as Lady Aylmer herself, to keep them in order. There was an
+open carriage and a close carriage, and a butler, and two footmen, and
+three gamekeepers, and four gardeners, and there was a coachman, and
+there were grooms, and sundry inferior men and boys about the place to
+do the work which the gardeners and game-keepers and grooms did not
+choose to do themselves. And they all became fat, and lazy, and stupid,
+and respectable together; so that, as the reader will at once perceive,
+Aylmer Park was kept up in the proper English style. Sir Anthony very
+often discussed with his steward the propriety of lessening the
+expenditure of his residence, and Lady Aylmer always attended and
+probably directed these discussions; but it was found that nothing
+could be done. Any attempt to remove a gamekeeper or a gardener would
+evidently throw the whole machinery of Aylmer Park out of gear. If
+retrenchment was necessary Aylmer Park must be abandoned, and the glory
+of the Aylmers must be allowed to pale. But things were not so had as
+that with Sir Anthony. The gardeners, grooms, and gamekeepers were
+maintained; ten domestic servants sat down to four heavy meals in the
+servants' hall every day, and Lady Aylmer contented herself with
+receiving little or no company, and with stingy breakfasts and bad
+dinners for herself and her husband and daughter. By all this it must
+be seen that she did her duty as the wife of an English country
+gentleman, and properly maintained his rank as a baronet.
+
+He was a heavy man, over seventy years of age, much afflicted with
+gout, and given to no pursuit on earth which was available for his
+comfort. He had been a hunting man, and he had shot also; but not with
+that energy which induces a sportsman to carry on those amusements in
+opposition to the impediments of age. He had been, and still was, a
+county magistrate; but he had never been very successful in the
+justice-room, and now seldom troubled the county with his judicial
+incompetence. He had been fond of good dinners and good wine, and
+still, on occasions, would make attempts at enjoyment in that line; but
+the gout and Lady Aylmer together were too many for him, and he had but
+small opportunity for filling up the blanks of his existence out of the
+kitchen or cellar. He was a big man, with a broad chest, and a red
+face, and a quantity of white hair and was much given to abusing his
+servants. He took some pleasure in standing, with two sticks, on the
+top of the steps before his own front door, and railing at any one who
+came in his way. But he could not do this when Lady Aylmer was by; and
+his dependents, knowing his habits, had fallen into an ill-natured way
+of deserting the side of the house which he frequented. With his eldest
+son, Anthony Aylmer, he was not on very good terms; and though there
+was no positive quarrel, the heir did not often come to Aylmer Park. Of
+his son Frederic he was proud and the best days of his life were
+probably those which Captain Aylmer spent at the house. The table was
+then somewhat more generously spread, and this was an excuse for having
+up the special port in which he delighted. Altogether his life was not
+very attractive; and though he bad been born to a baronetcy, and eight
+thousand a-year, and the possession of Aylmer Park, I do not think that
+he was, or had been, a happy man.
+
+Lady Aylmer was more fortunate. She had occupations of which her
+husband knew nothing, and for which he was altogether unfit. Though she
+could not succeed in making retrenchments, the could and did succeed in
+keeping the household books. Sir Anthony could only blow up the
+servants when they were thoughtless enough to come in his way, and in
+doing that was restricted by his wife's presence. But Lady Aylmer could
+get at them day and night. She had no gout to impede her progress about
+the house and grounds, and could make her way to places which the
+master never saw; and then she wrote many letters daily, whereas Sir
+Anthony hardly ever took a pen in his hand. And she knew the cottages
+of all the poor about the place, and knew also all their sins of
+omission and commission. She was driven out, too, every day, summer and
+winter, wet and dry, and consumed enormous packets of wool and worsted,
+which were sent to her monthly from York. And she had a companion in
+her daughter, whereas Sir Anthony had no companion. Wherever Lady
+Aylmer went, Miss Aylmer went with her, and relieved what might
+otherwise have been the tedium of her life. She had been a beauty on a
+large scale, and was still aware that she had much in her personal
+appearance which justified pride. She carried herself uprightly, with a
+commanding nose and broad forehead; and though the graces of her own
+hair had given way to a front, there was something even in the front
+which added to her dignity, if it did not make her a handsome woman.
+
+Miss Aylmer, who was the eldest of the younger generation, and who was
+now gently descending from her fortieth year, lacked the strength of
+her mother's character, but admired her mother's ways, and followed
+Lady Aylmer in all things at a distance. She was very good as indeed
+was Lady Aylmer entertaining a high idea of duty, and aware that her
+own life admitted of but little self- indulgence. She had no pleasures,
+she incurred no expenses ; and was quite alive to the fact that as
+Aylmer Park required a regiment of lazy, gormandizing servants to
+maintain its position in the county, the Aylmers themselves should not
+be lazy, and should not gormandize. No one was more careful with her
+few shillings than Miss Aylmer. She had, indeed, abandoned a life's
+correspondence with an old friend because she would not pay the postage
+on letters to Italy. She knew that it was for the honour of the family
+that one of her brothers should sit in Parliament, and was quite
+willing to deny herself a new dress because sacrifices must be made to
+lessen electioneering expenses. She knew that it was her lot to be
+driven about slowly in a carriage with a livery servant before her and
+another behind her, and then eat a dinner which the cook-maid would
+despise. She was aware that it was her duty to be snubbed by her
+mother, and to encounter her father's ill-temper, and to submit to her
+brother's indifference, and to have, so to say, the slightest possible
+modicum of personal individuality. She knew that she had never
+attracted a man's love, and might hardly hope to make friends for the
+comfort of her coming age. But still she was contented, and felt that
+she had consolation for it all in the fact that she was am. Aylmer. She
+read many novels, and it cannot but be supposed that something of
+regret would steal over her as she remembered that nothing of the
+romance of life had ever, or could ever, come in her way. She wept over
+the loves of many women, though she had never been happy or unhappy in
+her own. She read of gaiety, though she never encountered it, and must
+have known that the world elsewhere was less dull than it was at Aylmer
+Park. But she took her life as it came, without a complaint, and prayed
+that God would make her humble in the high position to which it had
+pleased Him to call her. She hated Radicals, and thought that Essays
+and Reviews, and Bishop Colenso, came direct from the Evil One. She
+taught the little children in the parish, being specially urgent to
+them always to courtesy when they saw any of the family and was as
+ignorant, meek, and stupid a poor woman as you shall find anywhere in
+Europe.
+
+It may be imagined that Captain Aylmer, who knew the comforts of his
+club and was accustomed to life in London, would feel the dullness of
+the paternal roof to be almost unendurable. In truth, he was not very
+fond of Aylmer Park, but he was more gifted with patience than most men
+of his age and position, and was aware that it behoved him to keep the
+Fifth Commandment if he expected to have his own days prolonged in the
+land. He therefore made his visits periodically, and contented himself
+with clipping a few days at both ends from the length prescribed by
+family tradition, which his mother was desirous of exacting. September
+was always to be passed at Aylmer Park, because of the shooting. In
+September, indeed, the eldest son himself was wont to be there probably
+with a friend or two and the fat old servants bestirred themselves, and
+there was something of life about the place. At Christmas, Captain
+Aylmer was there as the only visitor, and Christmas was supposed to
+extend from the middle of December to the opening of Parliament. It
+must, however, be explained, that on the present occasion his visit had
+been a matter of treaty and compromise. He had not gone to Aylmer Park
+at all till his mother had in some sort assented to his marriage with
+Clara Amedroz. To this Lady Aylmer had been very averse, and there had
+been many serious letters. Belinda Aylmer, the daughter of the house,
+had had a bad time in pleading her brother's cause and some very harsh
+words had been uttered but ultimately the matter had been arranged,
+and, as is usual in such contests, the mother had yielded to the son.
+Captain Aylmer had therefore gone down a few days before Christmas,
+with a righteous feeling that he owed much to his mother for her
+condescension, and almost prepared to make himself very disagreeable to
+Clara by way of atoning to his family for his folly in desiring to
+marry her.
+
+Lady Aylmer was very plain-spoken on the subject of all Clara's
+shortcomings very plain-spoken, and very inquisitive. 'She will never
+have one shilling, I suppose?' she said.
+
+'Yes, ma'am.' Captain Aylmer always called his mother 'ma'am'. 'She
+will have that fifteen hundred pounds that I told you of.'
+
+'That is to say, you will have back the money which you yourself have
+given her, Fred. I suppose that is the English of it?' Then Lady Aylmer
+raised her eyebrows and looked very wise.
+
+'Just so, ma'am.'
+
+'You can't call that having anything of her own. In point of fact she
+is penniless.'
+
+'It is no good harping on that,' said Captain Aylmer, somewhat sharply.
+
+'Not in the least, my dear; no good at all. Of course you have looked
+it all in the face. You will be a poor man instead of a rich man, but
+you will have enough to live on that is if she doesn't have a large
+family which of course she will.'
+
+'I shall do very well, ma'am.'
+
+'You might do pretty well, I dare say, if you could live privately at
+Perivale, keeping up the old family house there, and having no
+expenses; but you'll find even that close enough with your seat in
+Parliament, and the necessity there is that you should be half the year
+in London. Of course she won't go to London. She can't expect it. All
+that had better be made quite clear at once.' Hence had come the letter
+about the house at Perivale, containing Lady Aylmer's advice on that
+subject, as to which Clara made no reply.
+
+Lady Aylmer, though she had given her assent, was still not altogether
+without hope. It might be possible that the two young people could be
+brought to see the folly and error of their ways before it would be too
+late; and that Lady Aylmer, by a judicious course of constant advice,
+might be instrumental in opening the eyes, if not of ,the lady, at any
+rate of the gentleman. She had great reliance on her own powers, and
+knew well that a falling drop will hollow a stone. Her son manifested
+no hot eagerness to complete his folly in a hurry, and to cut the
+throat of his prospects out of hand. Time, therefore, would be allowed
+to her, and she was a woman who could use time with patience. Having,
+through her son, dispatched her advice about the house at Perivale
+which which simply amounted to this, that Clara should expressly state
+her willingness to live there alone whenever it might suit her husband
+to be in London or elsewhere she went to work on other points,
+connected with the Amedroz family, and eventually succeeded in learning
+something very much like the truth as to poor Mrs Askerton and her
+troubles. At first she was so comfortably horror-stricken by the
+iniquity she had unravelled  so delightfully shocked and astounded as
+to believe that the facts as they then stood would suffice to annul the
+match.
+
+'You don't tell me', she said to Belinda, 'that Frederic's wife will
+have been the friend of such a woman as that!' And Lady Aylmer, sitting
+upstairs with her household books before her, put up her great fat
+hands and her great fat arms, and shook her head front and all in most
+satisfactory dismay.
+
+'But I suppose Clara did not know it.' Belinda had considered it to be
+an act of charity to call Miss Amedroz Clara since the family consent
+had been given.
+
+'Didn't know it! They have been living in that sort of way that they
+must have been confidantes in everything. Besides, I always hold that a
+woman is responsible for her female friends.'
+
+'I think if she consents to drop her at once that is, absolutely to
+make a promise that she will never speak to her again Frederic ought to
+take that as sufficient. That is, of course, mamma, unless she has had
+anything to do with it herself.'
+
+'After this I don't know how I'm to trust her. I don't indeed. It seems
+to me that she has been so artful throughout. It has been a regular
+case of catching.'
+
+'I suppose, of course, that she has been anxious to marry Frederic but
+perhaps that was natural.'
+
+'Anxious look at her going there just when he had to meet his
+constituents. How young women can do such things passes me! And how it
+is that men don't see it all, when it's going on just under their
+noses, I can't understand. And then, her getting my poor dear sister to
+speak to him when she was dying! I didn't think your aunt would have
+been so weak.' It will be thus seen that there was entire confidence on
+this subject between Lady Aylmer and her daughter.
+
+We know what were the steps taken with reference to the discovery, and
+how the family were waiting for Clara's reply. Lady Aylmer, though in
+her words she attributed so much mean cunning to Miss Amedroz, still
+was disposed to believe that that lady would show rather a high spirit
+on this occasion; and trusted to that high spirit as the means for
+making the breach which she still hoped to accomplish. It had been
+intended or rather desired that Captain Aylmer's letter should have
+been much sharper and authoritative than he had really made it; but the
+mother could not write the letter herself, and had felt that to write
+in her own name would not have served to create anger on Clara's part
+against her betrothed. But she had quite succeeded in inspiring her son
+with a feeling of horror against the iniquity of the Askertons. He was
+prepared to be indignantly moral; and perhaps perhaps the misguided
+Clara might be silly enough to say a word for her lost friend! Such
+being the present position of affairs, there was certainly ground for
+hope.
+
+And now they were all waiting for Clara's answer. Lady Aylmer had well
+calculated the course of post, and knew that a letter might reach them
+by Wednesday morning. 'Of course she will not write on Sunday,' she had
+said to her son, 'but you have a right to expect that not another day
+should go by.' Captain Aylmer, who felt that they were putting Clara on
+her trial, shook his head impatiently, and made no immediate answer.
+Lady Aylmer, triumphantly feeling that she had the culprit on the hip,
+did not care to notice this. She was doing the best she could for his
+happiness as she had done for his health, when in days gone by she had
+administered to him his infantine rhubarb and early senna; but as she
+had never then expected him to like her doses, neither did she now
+expect that he should be well pleased at the remedial measures to which
+he was to be subjected.
+
+No letter came on the Wednesday, nor did any come on the Thursday, and
+then it was thought by the ladies at the Park that the time had come
+for speaking a word or two. Belinda, at her mother's instance, began
+the attack not in her mother's presence, but when she only was with her
+brother.
+
+'Isn't it odd, Frederic, that Clara shouldn't write about those people
+at Belton?'
+
+'Somersetshire is the other side of London, and letters take a long
+time.'
+
+'But if she had written on Monday, her answer would have been here on
+Wednesday morning indeed, you would have had it Tuesday evening, as
+mamma sent over to Whitby for the day mail letters.' Poor Belinda was a
+bad lieutenant, and displayed too much of her senior officer's tactics
+in thus showing how much calculation and how much solicitude there had
+been as to the expected letter.
+
+'If I am contented I suppose you may be,' said the brother.
+
+'But it does seem to me to be so very important! If she hasn't got your
+letter, you know, it would be so necessary that you should write again,
+so that the the the contamination should be stopped as soon as
+possible.' Captain Aylmer shook his head and walked away. He was, no
+doubt, prepared to be morally indignant morally very indignant at the
+Askerton iniquity; but he did not like the word contamination as
+applied to his future wife.
+
+'Frederic,' said his mother, later on the same day when the hardly-used
+groom had returned from his futile afternoon's inquiry at the
+neighbouring post. town 'I think you should do something in this
+affair.'
+
+'Do what, ma'am? Go off to Belton myself?'
+
+'No, no. I certainly would not do that. In the first place it would be
+very inconvenient to you, and in the next place it would not be fair
+upon us. I did not mean that at all. But I think that something should
+be done. She should be made to understand.'
+
+'You may be sure, ma'am, that she understands as well as anybody.'
+
+'I dare say she is clever enough at these kind of things.'
+
+'What kind of things?'
+
+'Don't bite my nose off, Frederic, because I am anxious about your
+wife.'
+
+'What is it that you wish me to do? I have written to her, and can only
+wait for her answer.'
+
+'It may be that she feels a delicacy in writing to you on such a
+subject; though I own However, to make a long story short, if you like,
+I will write to her myself.'
+
+'I don't see that that would do any good. It would only give her
+offence.'
+
+'Give her offence, Frederic, to receive a letter from her future
+mother-in-law from me! Only think, Frederic, what you are saying.'
+
+'If she thought she was being bullied about this, she would turn rusty
+at once.'
+
+'Turn rusty! What am I to think of a young lady who is prepared to turn
+rusty at once, too because she is cautioned by the mother of the man
+she professes to love against an improper acquaintance against an
+acquaintance so very improper?' Lady Aylmer's eloquence should have
+been heard to be appreciated. It is but tame to say that she raised her
+fat arms and fat hands, and wagged her front her front that was the
+more formidable as it was the old one, somewhat rough and dishevelled,
+which she was wont to wear in the morning. The emphasis of her words
+should have been heard, and the fitting solemnity of her action should
+have been seen. 'If there were any doubt,' she continued to say, 'but
+there is no doubt. There are the damning proofs.' There are certain
+words usually confined to the vocabularies of men, which women such as
+Lady Aylmer delight to use on special occasions, when strong
+circumstances demand strong language. As she said this she put her hand
+below the table, pressing it apparently against her own august person;
+but she was in truth indicating the position of a certain valuable
+correspondence, which was locked up in the drawer of her writing-table.
+
+'You can write if you like it, of course; but I think you ought to wait
+a few more days.'
+
+'Very well, Frederic; then I will wait. I will wait till Sunday. I do
+not wish to take any step of which you do not approve. If you have not
+heard by Sunday morning, then I will write to her on Monday.'
+
+On the Saturday afternoon life was becoming inexpressibly disagreeable
+to Captain Aylmer, and he began to meditate an escape from the Park. In
+spite of the agreement between him and his mother, which he understood
+to signify that nothing more was to be said as to Clara's wickedness,
+at any rate till Sunday after post-hour, Lady Aylmer had twice attacked
+him on the Saturday, and had expressed her opinion that affairs were in
+a very frightful position. Belinda went about the house in melancholy
+guise, with her eyes rarely lifted off the ground, as though she were
+prophetically weeping the utter ruin of her brother's respectability.
+And even Sir Anthony had raised his eyes and shaken his head, when, on
+opening the post-bag at the breakfast-table an operation which was
+always performed by Lady Aylmer in person her ladyship had exclaimed,
+'again no letter!' Then Captain Aylmer thought that he would fly, and
+resolved that, in the event of such flight, he would give special
+orders as to the re-direction of his own letters from the post-office
+at Whitby.
+
+That evening, after dinner, as soon as his mother and sister had left
+the room, he began the subject with his father. 'I think I shall go up
+to town on Monday, sir,' said he.
+
+'So soon as that. I thought you were to stop till the 9th.'
+
+'There are things I must see to in London, and I believe I had better
+go at once.'
+
+'Your mother will be greatly disappointed.'
+
+'I shall be sorry for that but business is business, you know.' Then
+the father filled his glass and passed the bottle. He himself did not
+at all like the idea of his son's going before the appointed time, but
+he did not say a word of himself. He looked at the red-hot coals, and a
+hazy glimmer of a thought passed through his mind, that he too would
+escape from Aylmer Park if it were possible.
+
+'If you'll allow me, I'll take the dog-cart over to Whitby on Monday,
+for the express train.'
+
+'You can do that certainly, but'
+
+'Sir?'
+
+'Have you spoken to your mother yet?'
+
+'Not yet. I will to-night.'
+
+'I think she'll be a little angry, Fred.' There was a sudden tone of
+subdued confidence in the old man's voice as he made this suggestion,
+which, though it was by no means a customary tone, his son well
+understood. 'Don't you think she will be eh, a little?'
+
+'She shouldn't go on as she does with me about Clara,' said the captain.
+
+'Ah I supposed there was something of that. Are you drinking port?
+
+'Of course I know that she means all that is good,' said the son,
+passing back the bottle.
+
+'Oh yes she means all that is good.'
+
+'She is the best mother in the world.'
+
+'You may say that, Fred and the best wife.'
+
+'But if she can't have her own way altogether ' then the son paused,
+and the father shook his head.
+
+'Of course she likes to have her own way,' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'It's all very well in some things.'
+
+'Yes it's very well in some things'
+
+'But there are things which a man must decide for himself.'
+
+'I suppose there are,' said Sir Anthony, not venturing to think what
+those things might be as regarded himself.
+
+'Now, with reference to marrying'
+
+'I don't know what you want with marrying at all, Fred. You ought to be
+very happy as you are. By heavens, I don't know any one who ought to be
+happier. If I were you, I know'
+
+'But you see, sir, that's all settled.'
+
+'If it's all settled, I suppose there's an end of it.'
+
+'It's no good my mother nagging at one.'
+
+'My dear boy, she's been nagging at me, as you call it, for forty
+years. That's her way. The best woman in the world, as we were saying
+but that's her way. And it's the way with most of them. They can do
+anything if they keep it up anything. The best thing is to bear it if
+you've got it to bear. But why on earth you should go and marry, seeing
+that you're not the eldest son, and that you've got everything on earth
+that you want as a bachelor, I can't understand. I can't indeed, Fred.
+By heaven, I can't!' Then Sir Anthony gave a long sigh, and sat musing
+awhile, thinking of the club in London to which he belonged, but which
+he never entered of the old days in which he had been master of a
+bedroom near St. James's Street of his old friends whom he never saw
+now, and of whom he never heard, except as one and another, year after
+year, shuffled away from their wives to that world in which there is no
+marrying or giving in marriage. Ah, well,' he said, 'I suppose we may
+as well go into the drawing-room. If it is settled, I suppose it is
+settled. But it really seems to me that your mother is trying to do the
+best she can for you. It really does.'
+
+Captain Aylmer did not say anything to his mother that night as to his
+going, but as he thought of his prospects in the solitude of his
+bedroom, he felt really grateful to his father for the solicitude which
+Sir Anthony had displayed on his behalf. It was not often that he
+received paternal counsel, but now that it had come he acknowledged its
+value. That Clara Amedroz was a self-willed woman he thought that he
+was aware. She was self-reliant, at any rate and by no means ready to
+succumb with that pretty feminine docility which he would like to have
+seen her evince. He certainly would not wish to be 'nagged' by his wife
+Indeed he knew himself well enough to assure himself that he would not
+stand it for a day. In his own house he would be master, and if there
+came tempests he would rule them. He could at least promise himself
+that. As his mother had been strong, so had his father been weak. But
+he had as he felt thankful in knowing inherited his mother's strength
+rather than his father's weakness. But, for all that, why have a
+tempest to rule at all? Even though a man do rule his domestic
+tempests, he cannot have a very quiet house with them. Then again he
+remembered how very easily Clara had been won. He wished to be just to
+all men and women, and to Clara among the number. He desired even to be
+generous to her with a moderate generosity. But above all things he
+desired not to be duped. What if Clara had in truth instigated her aunt
+to that deathbed scene, as his mother had more than once suggested! He
+did not believe it. He was sure that it had not been so. But what if it
+were so? His desire to be generous and trusting was moderate but his
+desire not to be cheated, not to be deceived, was immoderate. Upon the
+whole might it not be well for him to wait a little longer, and
+ascertain how Clara really intended to behave herself in this emergency
+of the Askertons? Perhaps, after all, his mother might be right.
+
+On the Sunday the expected letter came but before its contents are made
+known, it will be well that we should go back to Belton, and see what
+was done by Clara in reference to the tidings which her lover had sent
+her.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+MRS ASKERTON'S STORY
+
+When Clara received the letter from Captain Aylmer on which so much is
+supposed to hang, she made up her mind to say nothing of it to any one
+not to think of it if she could avoid thinking of it till her cousin
+should have left her. She could not mention it to him; for, though
+there was no one from whom she would sooner have asked advice than from
+him, even on so delicate a matter as this, she could not do so in the
+present case, as her informant was her cousin's successful rival. When,
+therefore, Mrs Askerton on leaving the church had spoken some customary
+word to Clara, begging her to come to the cottage on the following day,
+Clara had been unable to answer not having as yet made up her mind
+whether she would or would not go to the cottage again. Of course the
+idea of consulting her father occurred to her or rather the idea of
+telling him; but any such telling would lead to some advice from him
+which she would find it difficult to obey, and to which she would be
+unable to trust. And, moreover, why should she repeat this evil story
+against her neighbours?
+
+She had a long morning by herself after Will had started, and then she
+endeavoured to arrange her thoughts and lay down for herself a line of
+conduct. Presuming this story to be true, to what did it amount? It
+certainly amounted to very much. If, in truth, this woman had left her
+own husband and gone away to live with another man, she had by doing so
+at any rate while she was doing so fallen in such a way as to make
+herself unfit for the society of an unmarried young woman who meant to
+keep her name unblemished before the world. Clara would not attempt any
+further unravelling of the case, even in her own mind but on that point
+she could not allow herself to have a doubt. Without condemning the
+unhappy victim, she understood well that she would owe it to all those
+who held her dear, if not to herself, to eschew any close intimacy with
+one in such a position. The rules of the world were too plainly written
+to allow her to guide herself by any special judgment of her own in
+such a matter. But if this friend of hers having been thus unfortunate
+had since redeemed, or in part redeemed, her position by a second
+marriage, would it be then imperative upon her to remember the past for
+ever, and to declare that the stain was indelible? Clara felt that with
+a previous knowledge of such a story she would probably have avoided
+any intimacy with Mrs Askerton. She would then have been justified in
+choosing whether such intimacy should or should not exist, and would so
+have chosen out of deference to the world's opinion. But now it was too
+late for that. Mrs Askerton had for years been her friend; and Clara
+had to ask herself this question: was it now needful did her own
+feminine purity demand that she should throw her friend over because in
+past years her life had been tainted by misconduct.
+
+It was clear enough at any rate that this was expected from her nay,
+imperatively demanded by him who was to be her lord by him to whom her
+future obedience would be due. Whatever might be her immediate
+decision, he would have a right to call upon her to be guided by his
+judgment as soon as she would become his wife. And indeed, she felt
+that he had such right now unless she should decide that no such right
+should be his, now or ever. It was still within her power to say that
+she could not submit herself to such a rule as his but having received
+his commands she must do that or obey them. Then she declared to
+herself, not following the matter out logically, but urged to her
+decision by sudden impulse, that at any rate she would not obey Lady
+Aylmer. She would have nothing to do, in any such matter, with Lady
+Aylmer. Lady Aylmer should be no god to her. That question about the
+house at Perivale had been very painful to her. She felt that she could
+have endured the dreary solitude at Perivale without complaint, if,
+after her marriage, her husband's circumstances had made such a mode of
+living expedient. But to have been asked to pledge her consent to such
+a life before her marriage, to feel that he was bargaining for the
+privilege of being rid of her, to know that the Aylmer people were
+arranging that he, if he would marry her, should be as little troubled
+with his wife as possible all this had been very grievous to her. She
+had tried to console herself by the conviction that Lady Aylmer not
+Frederic had been the sinner; but even in that consolation there had
+been the terrible flaw that the words had come to her written by
+Frederic's hand. Could Will Belton have written such a letter to his
+future wife?
+
+In her present emergency she must be guided by her own judgment or her
+own instincts not by any edicts from Aylmer Park! If in what she might
+do she should encounter the condemnation of Captain Aylmer, she would
+answer him she would be driven to answer him by counter-condemnation of
+him and his mother. Let it be so. Anything would be better than a mean,
+truckling subservience to the imperious mistress of Aylmer Park.
+
+But what should she do as regarded Mrs Askerton? That the story was
+true she was beginning to believe. That there was some such history was
+made certain to her by the promise which Mrs Askerton had given her.
+
+'If you want to ask any questions, and will ask them of me, I will
+answer them.' Such a promise would not have been volunteered unless
+there was something special to be told. It would be best, perhaps, to
+demand from Mrs Askerton the fulfilment of this promise. But then in
+doing so she must own from whence her information had come. Mrs
+Askerton had told her that the 'communication' would be made by her
+Cousin Will. Her Cousin Will had gone away without a word of Mrs
+Askerton, and now the 'communication' had come from Captain Aylmer!
+
+The Monday and Tuesday were rainy days, and the rain was some excuse
+for her not going to the cottage. On the Wednesday her father was ill,
+and his illness made a further excuse for her remaining at home. But on
+the Wednesday evening there came a note to her from Mrs Askerton. 'You
+naughty girl, why do you not come to me? Colonel Askerton has been away
+since yesterday morning, and I am forgetting the sound of my own voice.
+I did not trouble you when your divine cousin was here for reasons; but
+unless you come to me now I shall think that his divinity has
+prevailed. Colonel Askerton is in Ireland, about some property, and
+will not be back till next week.'
+
+Clara sent back a promise by the messenger, and on the following
+morning she put on her hat and shawl, and started on her dreaded task.
+When she left the house she had not even yet quite made up her mind
+what she would do. At first she put her lover's letter into her pocket,
+so that she might have it for reference; but, on second thoughts, she
+replaced it in her desk, dreading lest she might be persuaded into
+showing or reading some part of it. There had come a sharp frost after
+the rain, and the ground was hard and dry. In order that she might gain
+some further last moment for thinking, she walked round, up among the
+rocks, instead of going straight to the cottage; and for a moment
+though the air was sharp with frost she sat upon the stone where she
+had been seated when her Cousin Will blurted out the misfortune of his
+heart. She sat there on purpose that she might think of him, and recall
+his figure, and the tones of his voice, and the look of his eyes, and
+the gesture of his face. What a man he was so tender, yet so strong; so
+thoughtful of others, and yet so self- sufficient! She had,
+unconsciously, imputed to him one fault, that he had loved and then
+forgotten his love unconsciously, for she had tried to think that this
+was a virtue rather than a fault but now with a full knowledge of what
+she was doing, but without any intention of doing it she acquitted him
+of that one fault. Now that she could acquit him, she owned that it
+would have been a fault. To have loved, and so soon to have forgotten
+it! No; he had loved her truly, and alas! he was one who could not be
+made to forget it. Then she went on to the cottage, exercising her
+thoughts rather on the contrast between the two men than on the subject
+to which she should have applied them.
+
+'So you have come at last!' said Mrs Askerton. 'Till I got your message
+I thought there was to be some dreadful misfortune.'
+
+'What misfortune?'
+
+'Something dreadful! One often anticipates something very bad without
+exactly knowing what. At least, I do. I am always expecting a
+catastrophe when I am alone that is and then I am so often alone.'
+
+'That simply means low spirits, I suppose?'
+
+'It's more than that, my dear.'
+
+'Not much more, I take it.'
+
+'Once when we were in India we lived close to the powder magazine, and
+we were always expecting to be blown up. You never lived near a powder
+magazine.'
+
+'No, never unless there's one at Belton. But I should have thought that
+was exciting.'
+
+'And then there was the gentleman who always had the sword hanging over
+him by the horse's hair.'
+
+'What do you mean, Mrs Askerton?'
+
+'Don't look so innocent, Clara. You know what I mean. What were the
+results at last of your cousin's diligence as a detective officer?'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, you wrong my cousin greatly. He never once mentioned
+your name while he was with us. He did not make a single allusion to
+you, or to Colonel Askerton, or to the cottage.'
+
+'He did not?'
+
+'Never once.'
+
+'Then I beg his pardon. But not the less has he been busy making
+inquiries.'
+
+'But why should you say that there is a powder magazine, or a sword
+hanging over your head?'
+
+'Ah, why?'
+
+Here was the subject ready opened to her hand, and yet Clara did not
+know how to go on with it. It seemed to her now that it would have been
+easier for her to commence it, if Mrs Askerton had made no commencement
+herself. As it was, she knew not how to introduce the subject of
+Captain Aylmer's letter, and was almost inclined to wait, thinking that
+Mrs Askerton might tell her own story without any such introduction.
+But nothing of the kind was forthcoming. Mrs Askerton began to talk of
+the frost, and then went on to abuse Ireland, complaining of the
+hardship her husband endured in being forced to go thither in winter to
+look after his tenants.
+
+'What did you mean', said Clara, at last, 'by the sword hanging over
+your head?'
+
+'I think I told you what I meant pretty plainly. If you did not
+understand me I cannot tell you more plainly.'
+
+'It is odd that you should say so much, and not wish to say more.'
+
+'Ah! you are making your inquiries now.'
+
+'In my place would not you do so too? How can I help it when you talked
+of a sword? Of course you make me ask what the sword is.'
+
+'And am I bound to satisfy your curiosity?'
+
+'You told me, just before my cousin came here, that if I asked any
+question you would answer me.'
+
+'And I am to understand that you are asking such a question now?'
+
+'Yes if it will not offend you.'
+
+'But what if it will offend me offend me greatly? Who likes to be
+inquired into?'
+
+'But you courted such inquiry from me.'
+
+'No, Clara, I did not do that. I'll tell you what I did. I gave you to
+understand that if it was needful that you should hear about me and my
+antecedents certain matters as to which Mr Belton had been inquiring
+into in a manner that I thought to be most unjustifiable I would tell
+you that story.'
+
+'And do so without being angry with me for asking.'
+
+'I meant, of course, that I would not make it a ground for quarrelling
+with you. If I wished to tell you, I could do so without any inquiry.'
+
+'I have sometimes thought that you did wish to tell me.'
+
+'Sometimes I have almost.'
+
+'But you have no such wish now?'
+
+'Can't you understand? It may well be that one so much alone as I am
+living here without a female friend, or even acquaintance, except
+yourself should often feel a longing for that comfort which full
+confidence between us would give me.'
+
+'Then why not'
+
+'Stop a moment. Can't you understand that I may feel this, and yet
+entertain the greatest horror against inquiry? We all like to tell our
+own sorrows, but who likes to be inquired into? Many a woman burns to
+make a full confession, who would be as mute as death before a
+policeman.'
+
+'I am no policeman.'
+
+'But you are determined to ask a policeman's questions?'
+
+To this Clara made no immediate reply. She felt that she was acting
+almost falsely in going on with such questions, while she was in fact
+aware of all the circumstances which Mrs Askerton could tell but she
+did not know how to declare her knowledge and to explain it. She
+sincerely wished that Mrs Askerton should be made acquainted with the
+truth; but she had fallen into a line of conversation which did not
+make her own task easy. But the idea of her own hypocrisy was
+distressing to her, and she rushed at the difficulty with hurried,
+eager words, resolving that, at any rate, there should be no longer any
+doubt between them.
+
+'Mrs Askerton,' she said, 'I know it all. There is nothing for you to
+tell. I know what the sword is.'
+
+'What is it that you know?'
+
+'That you were married long ago to Mr Berdmore.'
+
+'Then Mr Belton did do me the honour of talking about me when he was
+here?' As she said this she rose from her chair, and stood before Clara
+with flashing eyes.
+
+'Not a word. He never mentioned your name, or the name of any one
+belonging to you. I have heard it from another.'
+
+'From what other?'
+
+'I do not know that that signifies but I have learned it.'
+
+'Well and what next?'
+
+'I do not know what next. As so much has been told me, and as you had
+said that I might ask you, I have come to you, yourself. I shall
+believe your own story more thoroughly from yourself than from any
+other teller.'
+
+'And suppose I refuse to answer you?'
+
+'Then I can say nothing further.'
+
+'And what will you do?'
+
+'Ah that I do not know. But you are harsh to me, while I am longing to
+be kind to you. Can you not see that this has been all forced upon me
+partly by yourself?'
+
+'And the other part who has forced that upon you? Who is your
+informant? If you mean to be generous, be generous altogether. Is it a
+man or a woman that has taken the trouble to rip up old sorrows that my
+name may be blackened? But what matters? There I was married to Captain
+Berdmore. I left him, and went away with my present husband. For three
+years I was a man's mistress, and not his wife. When that poor creature
+died we were married, and then came here. Now you know it all all all
+though doubtless your informant has made a better story of it. After
+that, perhaps, I have been very wicked to sully the air you breathe by
+my presence.'
+
+'Why do you say that to me?'
+
+'But no you do not know it all. No one can ever know it all. No one can
+ever know how I suffered before I was driven to escape, or how good to
+me has been he who who who ' Then she turned her back upon Clara, and,
+walking off to the window, stood there, hiding the tears which clouded
+her eyes, and concealing the sobs which choked her utterance.
+
+For some moments for a space which seemed long to both of them Clara
+kept her seat in silence. She hardly dared to speak; and though she
+longed to show her sympathy, she knew not what to say. At last she too
+rose and followed the other to the window. She uttered no words,
+however, but gently putting her arm around Mrs Askerton's waist, stood
+there close to her, looking out upon the cold wintry flower-beds not
+venturing to turn her eyes upon her companion. The motion of her arm
+was at first very gentle, but after a while she pressed it closer, and
+thus by degrees drew her friend to her with an eager, warm, and
+enduring pressure. Mrs Askerton made some little effort towards
+repelling her, some faint motion of resistance; but as the embrace
+became warmer the poor woman yielded herself to it, and allowed her
+face to fall upon Clara's shoulder. So they stood, speaking no word,
+making no attempt to rid themselves of the tears which were blinding
+their eyes, but gazing out through the moisture on the bleak wintry
+scene before them. Clara's mind was the more active at the moment, for
+she was resolving that in this episode of her life she would accept no
+lesson whatever from Lady Aylmer's teaching no, nor any lesson whatever
+from the teaching of any Aylmer in existence. And as for the world's
+rules, she would fit herself to them as best she could; but no such
+fitting should drive her to the unwomanly cruelty of deserting this
+woman whom she had known and loved and whom she now loved with a
+fervour which she had never before felt towards her.
+
+'You have heard it all now,' said Mrs Askerton at last.
+
+'And is it not better so?'
+
+'Ah I do not know. How should I know?'
+
+'Do you not know?' And as she spoke, Clara pressed her arm still
+closer. 'Do you not know yet?' Then, turning herself half round, she
+clasped the other woman full in her arms, and kissed her forehead and
+her lips.
+
+'Do you not know yet?'
+
+'But you will go away, and people will tell you that you are wrong.'
+
+'What people?' said Clara, thinking as she spoke of the whole family at
+Aylmer Park.
+
+'Your husband will tell you so.'
+
+'I have no husband as yet to order me what to think or what not to
+think.'
+
+'No not quite as yet. But you will tell him all this.'
+
+'He knows it. It was he who told me.
+
+'What! Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes; Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'And what did he say?'
+
+'Never mind. Captain Aylmer is not my husband not as yet. If he takes
+me, he must take me as I am, not as he might possibly have wished me to
+be. Lady Aylmer'
+
+'And does Lady Aylmer know it?'
+
+'Yes. Lady Aylmer is one of those hard, severe women who never forgive.'
+
+'Ah, I see it all now. I understand it all. Clara, you must forget me,
+and come here no more. You shall not be ruined because you are
+generous.'
+
+'Ruined! If Lady Aylmer's displeasure can ruin me, I must put up with
+ruin. I will not accept her for my guide. I am too old, and have had my
+own way too long. Do not let that thought trouble you. In this matter I
+shall judge for myself. I have judged for myself already.'
+
+'And your father?'
+
+'Papa knows nothing of it.'
+
+'But you will tell him?'
+
+'I do not know. Poor papa is very ill. If he were well I would tell
+him, and he would think as I do.'
+
+'And your cousin?'
+
+'You say that he has heard it all.'
+
+'I think so. Do you know that I remembered him the first moment that I
+saw him? But what could I do? When you mentioned to me my old name, my
+real name, how could I be honest? I have been driven to do that which
+has made honesty to me impossible. My life has been a lie; and yet how
+could I help it? I must live somewhere and how could I live anywhere
+without deceit?'
+
+'And yet that is so sad.'
+
+'Sad indeed! But what could I do? Of course I was wrong in the
+beginning. Though how am I to regret it, when it has given me such a
+husband as I have? Ah if you could know it all, I think I think you
+would forgive me.'
+
+Then by degrees she told it all, and Clara was there for hours
+listening to her story. The reader will not care to hear more of it
+than he has heard. Nor would Clara have desired any closer revelation;
+but as it is often difficult to obtain a confidence, so is it
+impossible to stop it in the midst of its effusion. Mrs Askerton told
+the history of her life of her first foolish engagement, her belief,
+her half-belief, in the man's reformation, of the miseries which
+resulted from his vices, of her escape and shame, of her welcome
+widowhood, and of her second marriage. And as she told it, she paused
+at every point to insist on the goodness of him who was now her
+husband. 'I shall tell him this,' she said at last. 'as I do
+everything; and then he will know that I have in truth got a friend.'
+
+She asked again and again about Mr Belton, but Clara could only tell
+her that she knew nothing of her cousin's knowledge. Will might have
+heard it all, but if so he had kept his information to himself.
+
+'And now what shall you do?' Mrs Askerton asked of Clara, at length
+prepared to go.
+
+'Do? in what way? I shall do nothing.'
+
+'But you will write to Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes I shall write to him.'
+
+'And about this?'
+
+'Yes I suppose I must write to him.'
+
+'And what will you say?'
+
+'That I cannot tell. I wish I knew what to say. If it were to his
+mother I could write my letter easily enough.'
+
+'And what would you say to her?'
+
+'I would tell her that I was responsible for my own friends. But I must
+go now. Papa will complain that I am so long away.' Then there was
+another embrace, and at last Clara found her way out of the house and
+was alone again in the park.
+
+She clearly acknowledged to herself that she had a great difficulty
+before her. She had committed herself altogether to Mrs Askerton, and
+could no longer entertain any thought of obeying the very plainly
+expressed commands which Captain Aylmer had given her. The story as
+told by Captain Aylmer had been true throughout; but, in the teeth of
+that truth, she intended to maintain her acquaintance with Mrs
+Askerton. From that there was now no escape. She had been carried away
+by impulse in what she had done and said at the cottage, but she could
+not bring herself to regret it. She could not believe that it was her
+duty to throw over and abandon a woman whom she loved, because that
+woman had once, in her dire extremity, fallen away from the path of
+virtue. But how was she to write the letter?
+
+When she reached her father he complained of her absence, and almost
+scolded her for having been so long at the cottage. 'I cannot see',
+said he, 'what you find in that woman to make so much of her.'
+
+'She is the only neighbour I have, papa.'
+
+'And better none than her, if all that people say of her is true.'
+
+'All that people say is never true, papa.'
+
+'There is no smoke without fire. I am not at all sure that it's good
+for you to be so much with her.'
+
+'Oh, papa don't treat me like a child.'
+
+'And I'm sure it's not good for me that you should be so much away. For
+anything I have seen of you all day you might have been at Perivale.
+But you are going soon, altogether, so I suppose I may as well make up
+my mind to it.'
+
+'I'm not going for a long time yet, papa.'
+
+'What do you mean by that?'
+
+'I mean that there's nothing to take me away from here at present.'
+
+'You are engaged to be married.'
+
+'But it will be a long engagement. It is one of those engagements in
+which neither party is very anxious for an immediate change.' There was
+something bitter in Clara's tone as she said this, which the old man
+perceived, but could only half understand. Clara remained with him then
+for the rest of the day, going down-stairs for five minutes to her
+dinner, and then returning to him and reading aloud while he dozed. Her
+winter evenings at Belton Castle were not very bright, but she was used
+to them and made no complaint.
+
+When she left her father for the night she got out her desk and
+prepared herself for her letter to her lover. She was determined that
+it should be finished that night before she went to bed. And it was so
+finished; though the writing of it gave her much labour, and occupied
+her till the late hours had come upon her. When completed it was as
+follows:
+
+'Belton Castle,
+
+Thursday Night.
+
+Dear Frederic I received your letter last Sunday, but I could not
+answer it sooner, as it required much consideration, and also some
+information which I have only obtained today. About the plan of living
+at Perivale I will not say much now, as my mind is so full of other
+things. I think, however, I may promise that I will never make any
+needless difficulty as to your plans. My cousin Will left us on Monday,
+so your mother need not have any further anxiety on that head. It does
+papa good to have him here, and for that reason I am sorry that he has
+gone. I can assure you that I don't think what you said about him meant
+anything at all particular. Will is my nearest cousin, and of course
+you would be glad that I should like him which I do, very much.
+
+And now about the other subject, which I own has distressed me, as you
+supposed it would I mean about Mrs Askerton. I find it very difficult
+in your letter to divide what comes from your mother and what from
+yourself. Of course I want to make the division, as every word from you
+has great weight with me. At present I don't know Lady Aylmer
+personally, and I cannot think of her as I do of you. Indeed, were I to
+know her ever so well, I could not have the same deference for her that
+I have for the man who is to be my husband. I only say this, as I fear
+that Lady Aylmer and I may not perhaps agree about Mrs Askerton.
+
+I find that your story about Mrs Askerton is in the main true. But the
+person who told it you does not seem to have known any of the
+provocations which she received. She was very badly treated by Captain
+Berdmore, who, I am afraid, was a terrible drunkard; and at last she
+found it impossible to stay with him. So she went away. I cannot tell
+you how horrid it all was, but I am sure that if I could make you
+understand it, it would go a long way in inducing you to excuse her.
+She was married to Colonel Askerton as soon as Captain Berdmore died,
+and this took place before she came to Belton. I hope you will remember
+that. It all occurred out in India, and I really hardly know what
+business we have to inquire about it now.
+
+At any rate, as I have been acquainted with her a long time, and very
+intimately, and as I am sure that she has repented of anything that has
+been wrong, I do not think that I ought to quarrel with her now. Indeed
+I have promised her that I will not. I think I owe it you to tell you
+the whole truth, and that is the truth.
+
+Pray give my regards to your mother, and tell her that I am sure she
+would judge differently if she were in my place. This poor woman has no
+other friend here; and who am I, that I should take upon myself to
+condemn her? I cannot do it. Dear Frederic, pray do not be angry with
+me for asserting my own will in this matter. I think you would wish me
+to have an opinion of my own. In my present position I am bound to have
+one, as I am, as yet, responsible for what I do myself. I shall be
+very, very sorry, if I find that you differ from me; but still I cannot
+be made to think that I am wrong. I wish you were here, that we might
+talk it over together, as I think that in that case you would agree
+with me.
+
+If you can manage to come to us at Easter, or any other time when
+Parliament does not keep you in London, we shall be so delighted to see
+you.
+
+Dear Frederic,
+
+Yours very affectionately,
+
+Clara Amedroz.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MISS AMEDROZ HAS ANOTHER CHANCE
+
+It was on a Sunday morning that Clara's letter reached Aylmer Park,
+and Frederic Aylmer found it on his plate as he took his place at the
+breakfast-table. Domestic habits at Aylmer Park had grown with the
+growth of years till they had become adamantine, and domestic habits
+required prayers every morning at a quarter before nine o'clock. At
+twenty minutes before nine Lady Aylmer would always be in the
+dining-room to make the tea and open the post-bag, and as she was
+always there alone, she knew more about other people's letters than
+other people ever knew about hers. When these operations were over she
+rang the bell, and the servants of the family, who by that time had
+already formed themselves into line in the hail, would march in, and
+settle themselves on benches prepared for them near the sideboard which
+benches were afterwards carried away by the retiring procession. Lady
+Aylmer herself always read prayers, as Sir Anthony never appeared till
+the middle of breakfast. Belinda would usually come down in a scurry as
+she heard her mother's bell, in such a way as to put the army in the
+hail to some confusion; but Frederic Aylmer, when he was at home,
+rarely entered the room till after the service was over. At Perivale no
+doubt he was more strict in his conduct; but then at Perivale he had
+special interests and influences which were wanting to him at Aylmer
+Park. During those five minutes Lady Aylmer would deal round the
+letters to the several plates of the inmates of her house not without
+looking at the post-office marks upon them; and on this occasion she
+had dealt a letter from Clara to her son.
+
+The arrival of the letter was announced to Frederic Aylmer before he
+took his seat.
+
+'Frederic,' said her ladyship, in her most portentous voice, 'I am glad
+to say that at last there is a letter from Belton.'
+
+He made no immediate reply, but making his way slowly to his place,
+took up the little packet, turned it over in his hand, and then put it
+into his pocket. Having done this, he began very slowly with his tea
+and egg. For three minutes his mother was contented to make, or to
+pretend to make, some effort in the same direction. Then her impatience
+became too much for her, and she began to question him.
+
+'Will you not read it, Frederic?'
+
+'Of course I shall, ma'am.'
+
+'But why not do so now, when you know how anxious we are?'
+
+'There are letters which one would sooner read in private.'
+
+'But when a matter is of so much importance ,' said Belinda.
+
+'The importance, Bel, is to me, and not to you,' said her brother.
+
+'All we want to know is,' continued the sister, 'that she promises to
+be guided by you in this matter; and of course we feel quite sure that
+she will.'
+
+'If you are quite sure that must be sufficient for you.'
+
+'I really think you need not quarrel with your sister,' said Lady
+Aylmer, 'because she is anxious as to the the respectability, I must
+say, for there is no other word, of a young lady whom you propose to
+make your wife. I can assure you that I am very anxious myself very
+anxious indeed.'
+
+Captain Aylmer made no answer to this, but he did not take the letter
+from his pocket. He drank his tea in silence, and in silence sent up
+his cup to be refilled. In silence also was it returned to him. He ate
+his two eggs and his three bits of toast, according to his custom, and
+when he had finished, sat out his three or four minutes as was usual.
+Then be got up to retire to his room, with the envelope still unbroken
+in his pocket.
+
+'You will go to church with us, I suppose?' said Lady Aylmer.
+
+'I won't promise, ma'am; but if I do, I'll walk across the park so that
+you need not wait for me.'
+
+Then both the mother and sister knew that the Member for Perivale did
+not intend to go to church on that occasion. To morning service Sir
+Anthony always went, the habits of Aylmer Park having in them more of
+adamant in reference to him than they had as regarded his son.
+
+When the father, mother, and daughter returned, Captain Aylmer had read
+his letter, and bad, after doing so, received further tidings from
+Belton Castle further tidings which for the moment prevented the
+necessity of any reference to the letter, and almost drove it from his
+own thoughts. When his mother entered the library he was standing
+before the fire with a scrap of paper in his hand.
+
+'Since you have been at church there has come a telegraphic message,'
+he said.
+
+'What is it, Frederic? Do not frighten me if you can avoid it!'
+
+'You need not be frightened, ma'am, for you did not know him. Mr
+Amedroz is dead.'
+
+'No!' said Lady Aylmer, seating herself.
+
+'Dead!' said Belinda, holding up her hands.
+
+'God bless my soul!' said the baronet, who had now followed the ladies
+into the room. 'Dead! Why, Fred, he was five years younger than I am!'
+
+Then Captain Aylmer read the words of the message ' Mr Amedroz died
+this morning at five o'clock. I have sent word to the lawyer and to Mr
+Belton.'
+
+'Who does it come from?' asked Lady Aylmer.
+
+'From Colonel Askerton.'
+
+Lady Aylmer paused, and shook her head, and moved her foot uneasily
+upon the carpet. The tidings, as far as they went, might be
+unexceptionable, but the source from whence they had come had evidently
+polluted them in her ladyship's judgment. Then she uttered a series of
+inter-ejaculations, expressions of mingled sorrow and anger.
+
+'There was no one else near her,' said Captain Aylmer apologetically.
+
+'Is there no clergyman in the parish?'
+
+'He lives a long way off. The message had to be sent at once.'
+
+'Are there no servants in the house? It looks it looks . But I am the
+last person in the world to form a harsh judgment of a young woman at
+such a moment as this. What did she say in her letter, Fred?'
+
+Captain Aylmer had devoted two hours of consideration to the letter
+before the telegram had come to relieve his mind by a fresh subject,
+and in those two hours he had not been able to extract much of comfort
+out of the document. It was, as he felt, a stubborn, stiff-necked,
+disobedient, almost rebellious letter. It contained a manifest defiance
+of his mother, and exhibited doctrines of most questionable morality.
+It had become to him a matter of doubt whether he could possibly marry
+a woman who could entertain such ideas and write such a letter. If the
+doubt was to be decided in his own mind against Clara, he had better
+show the letter at once to his mother, and allow her ladyship to fight
+the battle for him a task which, as he well knew, her ladyship would
+not be slow to undertake. But he had not succeeded in answering the
+question satisfactorily to himself when the telegram arrived and
+diverted all his thoughts. Now that Mr Amedroz was dead, the whole
+thing might be different. Clara would come away from Belton and Mrs
+Askerton, and begin life, as it were, afresh It seemed as though in
+such an emergency she ought to have another chance; and therefore he
+did not hasten to pronounce his judgment. Lady Aylmer also felt
+something of this, and forbore to press her question when it was not
+answered.
+
+'She will have to leave Belton now, I suppose?' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'The property will belong to a distant cousin a Mr William Belton.'
+
+'And where will she go?' said Lady Aylmer. 'I suppose she has no place
+that she can call her home?'
+
+'Would it not be a good thing to ask her here?' said Belinda. Such a
+question as that was very rash on the part of Miss Aylmer. In the first
+place, the selection of guests for Aylmer Park was rarely left to her;
+and in this special case she should have understood that such a
+proposal should have been fully considered by Lady Aylmer before it
+reached Frederic's ears.
+
+'I think it would be a very good plan,' said Captain Aylmer, generously.
+
+Lady Aylmer shook her head. 'I should like much to know what she has
+said about that unfortunate connexion before I offer to take her by the
+hand myself. I'm sure Fred will feel that I ought to do so.'
+
+But Fred retreated from the room without showing the letter. He
+retreated from the room and betook himself to solitude, that he might
+again endeavour to make up his mind as to what he would do. He put on
+his hat and his great-coat and gloves, and went off without his
+luncheon that he might consider it all. Clara Amedroz had now no home
+and, indeed, very little means of providing one. If he intended that
+she should be his wife, he must furnish her with a home at once. It
+seemed to him that three houses might possibly be open to her of which
+one, the only one which under such circumstances would be proper, was
+Aylmer Park. The other two were Plaistow Hall and Mrs Askerton's
+cottage at Belton. As to the latter should she ever take shelter there,
+everything must be over between him and her. On that point there could
+be no doubt. He could not bring himself to marry a wife out of Mrs
+Askerton's drawing-room, nor could he expect his mother to receive a
+young woman brought into the family under such circumstances. And
+Plaistow Hall was almost as bad. It was as bad to him, though it would,
+perhaps, be less objectionable in the eyes of Lady Aylmer. Should Clara
+go to Plaistow Hall there must be an end to everything. Of that also he
+taught himself to be quite certain. Then he took out Clara's letter and
+read it again. She acknowledged the story about the woman to be true
+such a story as it was too and yet refused to quarrel with the woman
+had absolutely promised the woman not to quarrel with her! Then he read
+and re-read the passage in which Clara claimed the right of forming her
+own opinion in such matters. Nothing could be more indelicate nothing
+more unfit for his wife. He began to think that he had better show the
+letter to his mother, and acknowledge that the match must be broken
+off. That softening of his heart which had followed upon the receipt of
+the telegraphic message departed from him as he dwelt upon the
+stubborn, stiff-necked, unfeminine obstinacy of the letter. Then he
+remembered that nothing had as yet been done towards putting his aunt's
+fifteen hundred pounds absolutely into Clara's hands; and he remembered
+also that she might at the present moment be in great want. William
+Belton might, not improbably, assist her in her want, and this idea was
+wormwood to him in spite of his almost formed resolution to give up his
+own claims. He calculated that the income arising from fifteen hundred
+pounds would be very small, and he wished that he had counselled his
+aunt to double the legacy. He thought very much about the amount of the
+money and the way in which it might be beat expended, and was, after
+his cold fashion, really solicitous as to Clara's welfare. If he could
+have fashioned her future life, and his own too, in accordance with his
+own now existing wishes, I think he would have arranged that neither of
+them should marry at all, and that to him should be assigned the duty
+and care of being Clara's protector with full permission to tell her
+his mind as often as he pleased on the subject of Mrs Askerton. Then he
+went in and wrote a note to Mr Green, the lawyer, desiring that the
+interest of the fifteen hundred pounds for one year might be at once
+remitted to Miss Amedroz. He knew that he ought to write to her himself
+immediately, without loss of a post; but how was he to write while
+things were in their present position? Were he now to condole with her
+on her father's death, without any reference to the great Askerton
+iniquity, he would thereby be condoning all that was past, and
+acknowledging the truth and propriety of her arguments. And he would be
+doing even worse than that. He would be cutting the ground absolutely
+from beneath his own feet as regarded that escape from his engagement
+which he was contemplating.
+
+What a cold-hearted, ungenerous wretch he must have been! That will be
+the verdict against him. But the verdict will be untrue. Cold-hearted
+and ungenerous he was; but he was no wretch as men and women are
+now-a-days called wretches. He was chilly hearted, but yet quite
+capable of enough love to make him a good son, a good husband, and a
+good father too. And though he was ungenerous from the nature of his
+temperament, he was not close-fisted or over covetous. And he was a
+just man, desirous of obtaining nothing that was not fairly his own.
+But, in truth, the artists have been so much in the habit of painting
+for us our friends' faces without any of those flaws and blotches with
+which work and high living are apt to disfigure us, that we turn in
+disgust from a portrait in which the roughnesses and pimples are made
+apparent.
+
+But it was essential that he should now do something, and before he sat
+down to dinner he did show Clara's letter to his mother. 'Mother,' he
+said, as he sat himself down in her little room upstairs and she knew
+well by the tone of his voice, and by the mode of his address, that
+there was to be a solemn occasion, and a serious deliberative council
+on the present existing family difficulty 'mother, of course I have
+intended to let you know what is the nature of Clara's answer to my
+letter.'
+
+'I am glad there is to be no secret between us, Frederic. You know how
+I dislike secrets in families.' As she said this she took the letter
+out of her son's hands with an eagerness that was almost greedy. As she
+read it, he stood over her, watching her eyes, as they made their way
+down the first page and on to the second, and across to the third, and
+so, gradually on, till the whole reading was accomplished. What Clara
+had written about her Cousin Will, Lady Aylmer did not quite
+understand; and on this point now she was so little anxious that she
+passed over that portion of the letter readily. But when she came to
+Mrs Askerton and the allusions to herself, she took care to comprehend
+the meaning and weight of every word. 'Divide your words and mine! Why
+should we want to divide them? Not agree with me about Mrs Askerton!
+How is it possible that any decent young woman should not agree with
+me! It is a matter in which there is no room for a doubt. True the
+story true! Of course it is true. Does she not know that it would not
+have reached her from Aylmer Park if it were not true? Provocation!
+Badly treated! Went away! Married to Colonel Askerton as soon as
+Captain Berdmore died! Why, Frederic, she cannot have been taught to
+understand the first principle of morals in life! And she that was so
+much with my poor sister! Well, well!' The reader should understand
+that the late Mrs Winterfield and Lady Aylmer had never been able to
+agree with each other on religious subjects. 'Remember that they are
+married. Why should we remember anything of the kind? It does not make
+an atom of difference to the woman's character. Repented! How can Clara
+say whether she has repented or not? But that has nothing to do with
+it. Not quarrel with her as she calls it! Not give her up! Then,
+Frederic, of course it must be all over, as far as you are concerned.'
+When she had finished her reading, she returned the letter, still open,
+to her son, shaking her head almost triumphantly. As far as I am a
+judge of a young woman's character, I can only give you one counsel,'
+said Lady Aylmer solemnly.
+
+'I think that she should have another chance,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'What other chance can you give her? It seems to me that she is
+obstinately bent on her own destruction.'
+
+'You might ask her to come here, as Belinda suggested.'
+
+'Belinda was very foolish to suggest anything of the kind without more
+consideration.'
+
+'I suppose that my future wife would be made welcome here?
+
+'Yes, Frederic, certainly. I do not know who could be more welcome. But
+is she to be your wife?'
+
+'We are engaged.'
+
+'But does not that letter break any engagement? Is there not enough in
+that to make such a marriage quite out of the question? What do you
+think about it yourself, Frederic?'
+
+'I think that she should have another chance.'
+
+What would Clara have thought of all this herself if she could have
+heard the conversation between Lady Aylmer and her betrothed husband,
+and have known that her lover was proposing to give her 'another
+chance?' But it is lucky for us that we seldom know what our best
+friends say on our behalf, when they discuss us and our faults behind
+our backs.
+
+'What chance, Frederic, can she have? She knows all about this horrid
+woman, and yet refuses to give her up! What chance can she have after
+that?'
+
+'I think that you might have her here and talk to her.' Lady Aylmer, in
+answer to this, simply shook her head. And I think she was right in
+supposing that such shaking of her head was a sufficient reply to her
+son's proposition. What talking could possibly be of service to such a
+one as this Miss Amedroz? Why should she throw her pearls before swine?
+'We must either ask her to come here, or else I must go to her,' said
+Captain Aylmer.
+
+'I don't see that at all, Frederic.'
+
+'I think it must be so. As she is situated at present she has got no
+home; and I think it would be very horrid that she should be driven
+into that woman's house, simply because she has no other shelter for
+her head.'
+
+'I suppose she can remain where she is for the present?
+
+'She is all alone, you know; and it must be very gloomy and her cousin
+can turn her out at a moment's notice.'
+
+'But that would not entitle her to come here, unless'
+
+'No I quite understand that. But you cannot wonder that I should feel
+the hardship of her position.'
+
+'Who is to be blamed if it be hard? You see, Frederic, I take my
+standing upon that letter her own letter. How am I to ask a young woman
+into my house who declares openly that my opinion on such a matter goes
+for nothing with her? How am I to do it? That's what I ask you. How am
+I to do it? It's all very well for Belinda to suggest this and that.
+But how am I to do it? That's what I want to know.'
+
+But at last Lady Aylmer managed to answer the question for herself, and
+did do it. But this was not done on that Sunday afternoon, nor on the
+Monday, nor on the Tuesday. The question was closely debated, and at
+last the anxious mother perceived that the giving of the invitation
+would be more safe than withholding it. Captain Aylmer at last
+expressed his determination to go to Belton unless the invitation were
+given; and then, should he do that, there might be danger that he would
+never be again seen at Aylmer Park till he brought Clara Amedroz with
+him as his wife. The position was one of great difficulty, but the
+interests at stake were so immense that something must be risked. It
+might be that Clara would not come when invited, and in that case her
+obstinacy would be a great point gained. And if she came ! Well; Lady
+Aylmer admitted to herself that the game would be difficult difficult
+and very troublesome; but yet it might be played, and perhaps won. Lady
+Aylmer was a woman who had great confidence in herself. Not so utterly
+had victory in such contests deserted her hands, that she need fear to
+break a lance with Miss Amedroz beneath her own roof, when the occasion
+was so pressing.
+
+The invitation was therefore sent in a note written by herself, and was
+enclosed in a letter from her son. After much consultation and many
+doubts on the subject, it was at last agreed that nothing further
+should now be urged about Mrs Askerton. 'She shall have her chance,'
+said Lady Aylmer over and over again, repeating her son's words. 'She
+shall have her chance.' Lady Aylmer, therefore, in her note, confined
+herself strictly to the giving of the invitation, and to a suggestion
+that, as Clara had now no settled home of her own, a temporary sojourn
+at Aylmer Park might be expedient. And Captain Aylmer in his letter
+hardly said much more. He knew, as he wrote the words, that they were
+cold and comfortless, and that he ought on such an occasion to have
+written words that should have been warm at any rate, even though they
+might not have contained comfort. But, to have written with affection,
+he should have written at once, and he had postponed his letter from
+the Sunday till the Wednesday. It had been absolutely necessary that
+that important question as to the invitation should be answered before
+he could write at all.
+
+When all this was settled he went up to London; and there was an
+understanding between him and his mother that he should return to
+Aylmer Park with Clara, in the event of her acceptance of the
+invitation.
+
+'You won't go down to Belton for her?' said the mother.
+
+'No I do not think that will be necessary,' said the son.
+
+'I should think not,' said the mother.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+WILLIAM BELTON DOES NOT GO OUT HUNTING
+
+WE will now follow the other message which was sent down into Norfolk,
+and which did not get into Belton's hands till the Monday morning. He
+was sitting with his sister at breakfast, and was prepared for hunting,
+when the paper was brought into the room. Telegraphic messages were not
+very common at Plaistow Hall, and on the arrival of any that had as yet
+reached that house, something of that awe had been felt with which such
+missives were always accompanied in their earliest days. 'A telegruff
+message, mum, for Mr William,' said the maid, looking at her mistress
+with eyes opened wide, as she handed the important bit of paper to her
+master. Will opened it rapidly, laying down the knife and fork with
+which he was about to operate upon a ham before him. He was dressed in
+boots and breeches, and a scarlet coat in which garb he was, in his
+sister's eyes, the most handsome man in Norfolk.
+
+'Oh, Mary!' he exclaimed.
+
+'What is it, Will?'
+
+'Mr Amedroz is dead.'
+
+Miss Belton put out her hand for the paper before she spoke again, as
+though she could better appreciate the truth of what she heard when
+reading it herself on the telegraph slip than she had done from her
+brother's words. 'How sudden! how terribly sudden!' she said.
+
+'Sudden indeed. When I left him he was not well, certainly, but I
+should have said that he might have lived for twenty years. Poor old
+man! I can hardly say why it was so, but I had taken a liking to him.'
+
+'You take a liking to everybody, Will.'
+
+'No I don't. I know people I don't like.' Will Belton as he said this
+was thinking of Captain Aylmer, and he pressed the heel of his boot
+hard against the floor.
+
+'And Mr Amedroz is dead! It seems to be so terribly sudden. What will
+she do, Will?'
+
+'That's what I'm thinking about.'
+
+'Of course you are, my dear. I can see that. I wish I wish'
+
+'It's no good wishing anything, Mary. I don't think wishing ever did
+any good yet. If I might have my wish, I shouldn't know how to have it.'
+
+'I was wishing that you didn't think so much about it.'
+
+'You need not be troubled about me. I shall do very well. But what is
+to become of her now at once? Might she not come here? You are now the
+nearest female relation that she has.'
+
+Mary looked at him with her anxious, painful eyes, and he knew by her
+look that she did not approve of his plan. 'I could go away,' he
+continued. 'She could come to you without being troubled by seeing me.'
+
+'And where would you go, Will?'
+
+'What does it matter? To the devil, I suppose.'
+
+'Oh, Will, Will!'
+
+'You know what I mean. I'd go anywhere. Where is she to find a home
+till till she is married?' He had paused at the word; but was
+determined not to shrink from it, and bolted it out in a loud, sharp
+tone so that both he and she recognized all the meaning of the word all
+that was conveyed in the idea. He hated himself when he endeavoured to
+conceal from his own mind any of the misery that was coming upon him.
+He loved her. He could not get over it. The passion was on him like a
+palsy, for the shaking off of which no sufficient physical energy was
+left to him. It clung to him in his goings out and comings in with a
+painful, wearing tenacity, against which he would now and again
+struggle, swearing that it should be so no longer but against which he
+always struggled in vain. It was with him when he was hunting. He was
+ever thinking of it when the bird rose before his gun. As he watched
+the furrow, as his men and horses would drive it straight and deep
+through the ground, he was thinking of her and not of the straightness
+and depth of the furrow, as had been his wont in former years. Then he
+would turn away his f toe, and stand alone in his field, blinded by the
+salt drops in his eyes, weeping at his own weakness. And when he was
+quite alone, he would stamp his foot on the ground, and throw abroad
+his arms, and curse himself. What Nessus's shirt was this that had
+fallen upon him, and unmanned him from the sole of his foot to the top
+of his head? He went through the occupations of the week. He hunted,
+and shot, and gave his orders, and paid his men their wages but he did
+it all with a palsy of love upon him as he did it. He wanted her, and
+he could not overcome the want. He could not bear to confess to himself
+that the thing by which he had set so much store could never belong to
+him. His sister understood it all, and sometimes he was almost angry
+with her because of her understanding it. She sympathized with him in
+all his moods, and sometimes he would shake away her sympathy as though
+it scalded him. 'Where is she to find a home till till she is married?'
+he said.
+
+Not a word had as yet been said between them about the property which
+was now his estate. He was now Belton of Belton, and it must be
+supposed that both he and she had remembered that it was so. But
+hitherto not a word had been said between them on that point. Now she
+was compelled to allude to it. 'Cannot she live at the Castle for the
+present?
+
+'What all alone?'
+
+'Of course she is remaining there now.'
+
+'Yes,' said he, 'of course she is there now. Now! Why, remember what
+these telegraphic messages are. He died only on yesterday morning. Of
+course she is there, but I do not think it can be good that she should
+remain there. There is no one near her where she is but that Mrs
+Askerton. It can hardly be good for her to have no other female friend
+at such a time as this.'
+
+'I do not think that Mrs Askerton will hurt her.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton will not hurt her at all and as long as Clara does not
+know the story, Mrs Askerton may serve as well as another. But yet'
+
+'Can I go to her, Will?'
+
+'No, dearest. The journey would kill you in winter. And he would not
+like it. We are bound to think of that for her sake cold-hearted,
+thankless, meagre-minded creature as I know he is.'
+
+'I do not know why he should be so bad.'
+
+'No, nor I. But I know that he is. Never mind. Why should we talk about
+him? I suppose she'll have to go there to Aylmer Park. I suppose they
+will send for her, and keep her there till it's all finished. I'll tell
+you what, Mary I shall give her the place.'
+
+'What Belton Castle?'
+
+'Why not? Will it ever be of any good to you or me? Do you want to go
+and live there?'
+
+'No, indeed not for myself.'
+
+'And do you think that I could live there? Besides why should she be
+turned out of her father's house?
+
+'He would not be mean enough to take it.'
+
+'He would be mean enough for anything. Besides, I should take very good
+care that it should be settled upon her.'
+
+'That's nonsense, Will it is indeed. You are now William Belton of
+Belton, and you must remain so.'
+
+'Mary I would sooner be Will Belton with Clara Amedroz by my side to
+get through the world with me, and not the interest of an acre either
+at Belton Castle or at Plaistow Hall! And I believe I should be the
+richer man at the end if there were any good in that.' Then he went out
+of the room, and she heard him go through the kitchen, and knew that he
+passed out into the farm-yard, towards the stable, by the back-door. He
+intended, it seemed, to go on with his hunting in spite of this death
+which had occurred. She was sorry for it, but she could not venture to
+stop him. And she was sorry also that nothing had been settled as to
+the writing of any letter to Clara. She, however, would take upon
+herself to write while he was gone.
+
+He went straight out towards the stables, hardly conscious of what he
+was doing or where he was going, and found his hack ready saddled for
+him in the stall. Then he remembered that he must either go or come to
+some decision that he would not go. The horse that he intended to ride
+had been sent on to the meet, and if he were not to be used, some
+message must be dispatched as to the animal's return. But Will was half
+inclined to go, although he knew that the world would judge him to be
+heartless if he were to go hunting immediately on the receipt of the
+tidings which had reached him that morning. He thought that he would
+like to set the world at defiance in this matter. Let Frederic Aylmer
+go into mourning for the old man who was dead. Let Frederic Aylmer be
+solicitous for the daughter who was left lonely in the old house. No
+doubt. he, Will Belton, had inherited the dead man's estate, and
+should, therefore, in accordance with all the ordinary rules of the
+world on such matters, submit himself at any rate to the decency of
+funereal reserve. An heir should not be seen out hunting on the day on
+which such tidings as to his heritage had reached him. But he did not
+wish, in his present mood, to be recognized as the heir. He did not
+want the property. He would have preferred to rid himself altogether of
+any of the obligations which the ownership of the estate entailed upon
+him. It was not permitted to him to have the custody of the old
+squire's daughter, and therefore he was unwilling to meddle with any of
+the old squire's concerns.
+
+Belton had gone into the stable, and had himself loosed the animal,
+leading him out into the yard as though he were about to mount him.
+Then he had given the reins to a stable boy, and had walked away among
+the farm buildings, not thinking of what he was doing. The lad stood
+staring at him with open mouth, not at all understanding his master's
+hesitation. The meet, as the boy knew, was fourteen miles off, and
+Belton had not allowed himself above an hour and a half for the
+journey. It was his practice to jump into the saddle and bustle out of
+the place, as though seconds were important to him. He would look at
+his watch with accuracy, and measure his pace from spot to spot, as
+though minutes were too valuable to be lost. But now he wandered away
+like one distraught, and the stable boy knew that something was wrong.
+'I thout he was a thinken of the white cow as choked 'erself with the
+tunnup that was skipped in the chopping,' said the boy, as he spoke of
+his master afterwards to the old groom. At last, however, a thought
+seemed to strike Belton. 'Do you get on Brag,' he said to the boy, 'and
+ride off to Goldingham Corner, and tell Daniel to bring the horse home
+again. I shan't hunt today. And I think I shall go away from home. If
+so, tell him to be sure the horses are out every morning and tell him
+to stop their beans. I mightn't hunt again for the next month.' Then he
+returned into the house, and went to the parlour in which his sister
+was sitting. 'I shan't go out today,' he said.
+
+'I thought you would not, Will,' she answered.
+
+'Not that I see any harm in it.'
+
+'I don't say that there is any harm, but it is as well on such
+occasions to do as others do.'
+
+'That's humbug, Mary.'
+
+'No, Will; I do not think that. When any practice has become the fixed
+rule of the society in which we live, it is always wise to adhere to
+that rule, unless it call upon us to do something that is actually
+wrong. One should not offend the prejudices of the world, even if one
+is quite sure that they are prejudices.'
+
+'It hasn't been that that has brought me back, Mary. I'll tell you
+what. I think I'll go down to Belton after all.'
+
+His sister did not know what to say in answer to this. Her chief
+anxiety was, of course, on behalf of her brother. That he should be
+made to forget Clara Amedroz, if that were only possible, was her great
+desire; and his journey at such a time as this down to Belton was not
+the way to accomplish such forgetting. And then she felt that Clara
+might very possibly not wish to see him. Had Will simply been her
+cousin, such a visit might be very well; but he had attempted to be
+more than her cousin, and therefore it would probably not be well.
+Captain Aylmer might not like it; and Mary felt herself bound to
+consider even Captain Aylmer's likings in such a matter. And yet she
+could not bear to oppose him in anything. 'It would be a very long
+journey,' she said.
+
+'What does that signify?'
+
+'And then it might so probably be for nothing.'
+
+'Why should it be for nothing?'
+
+'Because '
+
+'Because what? Why don't you speak out? You need not be afraid of
+hurting me. Nothing that you can say can make it at all worse than it
+is.'
+
+'Dear Will, I wish I could make it better.'
+
+'But you can't. Nobody can make it either better or worse. I promised
+her once before that I would go to her when she might be in trouble,
+and I will be as good as my word. I said I would be a brother to her
+and so I will. So help me God, I will!' Then he rushed out of the room,
+striding through the door as though he would knock it down, and hurried
+up. stairs to his own chamber. When there he stripped himself of his
+hunting things, and dressed himself again with all the expedition in
+his power; and then he threw a heap of clothes into a large
+portmanteau, and set himself to work packing as though everything in
+the world were to depend upon his catching a certain train. And he went
+to a locked drawer, and taking out a cheque-book, folded it up and put
+it into his pocket. Then he rang the bell violently; and as he was
+locking the portmanteau, pressing down the lid with all his weight and
+all his strength, he ordered that a certain mare should be put into a
+certain dog-cart and that somebody might be ready to drive over with
+him to the Downham Station. Within twenty minutes of the time of his
+rushing upstairs he appeared again before his sister with a greatcoat
+on, and a railway rug hanging over his arm. 'Do you mean that you are
+going today?' said she.
+
+'Yes. I'll catch the 11.40 up-train at Downham. What's the good of
+going unless I go at once? If I can be of any use it will be at the
+first. It may be that she will have nobody there to do anything for
+her.'
+
+'There is the clergyman, and Colonel Askerton even if Captain Aylmer
+has not gone down.'
+
+'The clergyman and Colonel Askerton are nothing to her. And if that man
+is there I can come back again.'
+
+'You will not quarrel with him?'
+
+'Why should I quarrel with him? What is there to quarrel about? I'm not
+such a fool as to quarrel with a man because I hate him. If he is there
+I shall see her for a minute or two, and then I shall come back.'
+
+'I know it is no good my trying to dissuade you.'
+
+'None on earth. If you knew it all you would not try to dissuade me.
+Before I thought of asking her to be my wife and yet I thought of that
+very soon but before I ever thought of that, I told her that when she
+wanted a brother's help I would give it her. Of course I was thinking
+of the property that she shouldn't be turned out of her father's house
+like a beggar. I hadn't any settled plan then how could I? But I meant
+her to understand that when her father died I would be the same to her
+that I am to you. If you were alone, in distress, would I not go to
+you?'
+
+'But I have no one else, Will,' said she, stretching out her hand to
+him where he stood.
+
+'That makes no difference,' he replied, almost roughly. A promise is a
+promise, and I resolved from the first that my promise should hold good
+in spite of my disappointment. Dear, dear it seems but the other day
+when I made it and now, already, everything is changed.' As he was
+speaking the servant entered the room, and told him that the horse and
+gig were ready for him. 'I shall just do it nicely,' said he, looking
+at his watch. 'I have over an hour. God bless you, Mary. I shan't be
+away long. You may be sure of that.'
+
+'I don't suppose you can tell as yet, Will.'
+
+'What should keep me long? I shall see Green as I go by, and that is
+half of my errand. I dare say I shan't stay above a night down in
+Somersetshire.'
+
+'You'll have to give some orders about the estate.'
+
+'I shall not say a word on the subject to anybody; that is, not to
+anybody there. I am going to look after her, and not the estate.' Then
+he stooped down and kissed his sister, and in another minute was
+turning the corner out of the farm-yard on to the road at a quick pace,
+not losing a foot of ground in the turn, in that fashion of rapidity
+which the horses at Plaistow Hall soon learned from their master. The
+horse is a closely sympathetic beast, and will make his turns, and do
+his trottings, and comport himself generally in strict unison with the
+pulsation of his master's heart. When a horse won't jump it is
+generally the case that the inner man is declining to jump also, let
+the outer man seem ever so anxious to accomplish the feat.
+
+Belton, who was generally very communicative with his servants, always
+talking to any man he might have beside him in his dog-cart about the
+fields and cattle and tillage around him, said not a word to the boy
+who accompanied him on this occasion. He had a good many things to
+settle in his mind before he got to London, and he began upon the work
+as soon as he had turned the corner out of the farm-yard. As regarded
+this Belton estate, which was now altogether his own, he had always bad
+doubts and qualms qualms of feeling rather than of conscience; and he
+had, also, always entertained a strong family ambition. His people,
+ever so far back, had been Beltons of Belton. They told him that his
+family could be traced back to very early days before the Plantagenets,
+as he believed, though on this point of the subject he was very hazy in
+his information and he liked the idea of being the man by whom the
+family should be reconstructed in its glory. Worldly circumstances had
+been so kind to him, that he could take up the Belton estate with more
+of the prestige of wealth than had belonged to any of the owners of the
+place for many years past. Should it come to pass that living there
+would be desirable, he could rebuild the old house, and make new
+gardens, and fit himself out with all the pleasant braveries of a
+well-to-do English squire. There need be no pinching and scraping, no
+question whether a carriage would be possible, no doubt as to the
+prudence of preserving game. All this had given much that was
+delightful to his prospects. And he had, too, been instigated by a
+somewhat weak desire to emerge from that farmer's rank into which he
+knew that many connected with him had supposed him to have sunk. It was
+true that he farmed land that was half his own and that, even at
+Plaistow, he was a wealthy man; but Plaistow Hall, with all its
+comforts, was a farm-house; and the ambition to be more than a farmer
+had been strong upon him.
+
+But then there had been the feeling that in taking the Belton estate he
+would be robbing his Cousin Clara of all that should have been hers. It
+must be remembered that he had not been brought up in the belief that
+he would ever become the owner of Belton. All his high ambition in that
+matter had originated with the wretched death of Clara's brother. Could
+he bring himself to take it all with pleasure, seeing that it came to
+him by so sad a chance by a catastrophe so deplorable? When he would
+think of this, his mind would revolt from its own desires, and he would
+declare to himself that his inheritance would come to him with a stain
+of blood upon it. He, indeed, would have been guiltless; but how could
+he take his pleasure in the shades of Belton without thinking of the
+tragedy which had given him the property? Such had been the thoughts
+and desires, mixed in their nature and militating against each other,
+which had induced him to offer his first visit to his cousin's house.
+We know what was the effect of that visit, and by what pleasant scheme
+he had endeavoured to overcome all his difficulties, and so to become
+master of Belton that Clara Amedroz should also be its mistress. There
+had been a way which, after two days' intimacy with Clara, seemed to
+promise him comfort and happiness on all sides. But he had come too
+late, and that way was closed against him! Now the estate was his, and
+what was he to do with it? Clara belonged to his rival, and in what way
+would it become him to treat her? He was still thinking simply of the
+cruelty of the circumstances which had thrown Captain Aylmer between
+him and his cousin, when he drove himself up to the railway station at
+Downham.
+
+'Take her back steady, Jem,' he said to the boy.
+
+'I'll be sure to take her wery steady,' Jem answered, 'and tell Compton
+to have the samples of barley ready for me. I may be back any day, and
+we shall be sowing early this spring.'
+
+Then he left his cart, followed the porter who had taken his luggage
+eagerly, knowing that Mr Belton was always good for sixpence, and in
+five minutes' time he was again in motion.
+
+On his arrival in London he drove at once to the chambers of his
+friend, Mr Green, and luckily found the lawyer there. Had he missed
+doing this, it was his intention to go out to his friend's house; and
+in that case he could not have gone down to Taunton till the next
+morning; but now he would be able to say what he wished to say, and
+hear what he wished to hear, and would travel down by the night- mail
+train. He was anxious that Clara should feel that he had hurried to her
+without a moment's delay. It would do no good. He knew that. Nothing
+that he could do would alter her, or be of any service to him. She had
+accepted this man, and had herself no power of making a change, even if
+she should wish it. But still there was to him something of
+gratification in the idea that she should be made to feel that he,
+Belton, was more instant in his affection, more urgent in his good
+offices, more anxious to befriend her in her difficulties, than the man
+whom she had consented to take for her husband. Aylmer would probably
+go down to Belton, but Will was very anxious to be the first on the
+ground very anxious though his doing so could be of no use. All this
+was wrong on his part. He knew that it was wrong, and he abused himself
+for his own selfishness. But such self-abuse gave him no aid in
+escaping from his own wickedness. He would, if possible, be at Belton
+before Captain Aylmer; and he would, if possible, make Clara feel that,
+though he was not a Member of Parliament, though he was not much given
+to books, though he was only a farmer, yet he had at any rate as much
+heart and spirit as the fine gentleman whom she preferred to him.
+
+'I thought I should see you,' said the lawyer; 'but I hardly expected
+you so soon as this.'
+
+'I ought to have been a day sooner, only we don't get our telegraphic
+messages on a Sunday.'
+
+He still kept his greatcoat on; and it seemed by his manner that he had
+no intention of staying where he was above a minute or two.
+
+'You'll come out and dine with me today?' said Mr Green.
+
+'I can't do that, for I shall go down by the mail train.'
+
+'I never saw such a fellow in my life. What good will that do? It is
+quite right that you should be there in time for the funeral; but I
+don't suppose he will he buried before this day week.'
+
+But Belton had never thought about the funeral. When he had spoken to
+his sister of saying but a few words to Clara and then returning, he
+had forgotten that there would be any such ceremony, or that he would
+be delayed by any such necessity.
+
+'I was not thinking about the funeral,' said Belton. 'You'll only find
+yourself uncomfortable there.'
+
+'Of course I shall be uncomfortable.'
+
+'You can't do anything about the property, you know.'
+
+'What do you mean by doing anything?' said Belton, in an angry tone.
+
+'You can't very well take possession of the place, at any rate, till
+after the funeral. It would not be considered the proper thing to do.'
+
+'You think, then, that I'm a bird of prey, smelling the feast from afar
+off, and hurrying at the dead man's carcase as soon as the breath is
+out of his body?'
+
+'I don't think anything of the kind, my dear fellow.'
+
+'Yes, you do, or you wouldn't talk to me about doing the proper thing!
+I don't care a straw about the proper thing! If I find that there's
+anything to be done tomorrow that can be of any use, I shall do it,
+though all Somersetshire should think it improper! But I'm not going to
+look after my own interests!'
+
+'Take off your coat and sit down, Will, and don't look angry at me. I
+know that you're not greedy, well enough. Tell me what you are going to
+do, and let me see if I can help you.'
+
+Belton did as he was told; he pulled off his coat and sat himself down
+by the fire. 'I don't know that you can do anything to help me at
+least, not as yet. But I must go and see after her. Perhaps she may be
+all alone.'
+
+'I suppose she is all alone.'
+
+'He hasn't gone down, then?'
+
+'Who Captain Aylmer? No he hasn't gone down, certainly. He is in
+Yorkshire.'
+
+'I'm glad of that!'
+
+'He won't hurry himself. He never does, I fancy. I had a letter from
+him this morning about Miss Amedroz.'
+
+'And what did he say?'
+
+'He desired me to send her seventy-five pounds the interest of her
+aunt's money.'
+
+'Seventy-five pounds!' said Will Belton, contemptuously.
+
+'He thought she might want money at once; and I sent her the cheque
+today. It will go down by the same train that carries you.'
+
+'Seventy-five pounds! And you are sure that he has not gone himself?'
+
+'It isn't likely that he should have written to me, and passed through
+London himself, at the same time but it is possible, no doubt. I don't
+think he even knew the old squire; and there is no reason why he should
+go to the funeral.'
+
+'No reason at all,' said Belton who felt that Captain Aylmer's presence
+at the Castle would be an insult to himself. 'I don't know what on
+earth he should do there except that I think him just the fellow to
+intrude where he is not wanted.' And yet Will was in his heart
+despising Captain Aylmer because he had not already hurried down to the
+assistance of the girl whom he professed to love.
+
+'He is engaged to her, you know,' said the lawyer, in a low voice.
+
+'What difference does that make with such a fellow as he is a
+cold-blooded fish of a man, who thinks of nothing in the world but
+being respectable? Engaged to her! Oh, damn him!'
+
+'I've not the slightest objection. I don't think, however, that you'll
+find him at Belton before you. No doubt she will have heard from him;
+and it strikes me as very possible that she may go to Aylmer Park.'
+
+'What should she go there for?'
+
+'Would it not be the best place for her?'
+
+'No. My house would be the best place for her. I am her nearest
+relative. Why should she not come to us?'
+
+Mr Green turned round his chair and poked the fire, and fidgeted about
+for some moments before he answered. 'My dear fellow, you must know
+that that wouldn't do.' He then said, 'You ought to feel that it
+wouldn't do you ought indeed.'
+
+'Why shouldn't my sister receive Miss Amedroz as well as that old woman
+down in Yorkshire?'
+
+'If I may tell you, I will.'
+
+'Of course you may tell me.'
+
+'Because Miss Amedroz is engaged to be married to that old woman's son,
+and is not engaged to be married to your sister's brother. The thing is
+done, and what is the good of interfering? As far as she is concerned,
+a great burden is off your hands.'
+
+'What do you mean by a burden?'
+
+'I mean that her engagement to Captain Aylmer makes it unnecessary for
+you to suppose that she is in want of any pecuniary assistance. You
+told me once before that you would feel yourself called upon to see
+that she wanted nothing.'
+
+'So I do now.'
+
+'But Captain Aylmer will look after that.'
+
+'I tell you what it is, Joe; I mean to settle the Belton property in
+such a way that she shall have it, and that he shan't be able to touch
+it. And it shall go to some one who shall have my name William Belton.
+That's what I want you to arrange for me.'
+
+'After you are dead, you mean.'
+
+'I mean now, at once. I won't take the estate from her. I hate the
+place and everything belonging to it. I don't mean her. There is no
+reason for hating her.'
+
+'My dear Will, you are talking nonsense.'
+
+'Why is it nonsense? I may give what belongs to me to whom I please.'
+
+'You can do nothing of the kind at any rate, not by my assistance. You
+talk as though the world were all over with you as though you were
+never to be married or have any children of your own.'
+
+'I shall never marry.'
+
+'Nonsense, Will. Don't make such an ass of yourself as to suppose that
+you'll not get over such a thing as this. You'll be married and have a
+dozen children yet to provide for. Let the eldest have Belton Castle,
+and everything will go on then in the proper way.'
+
+Belton had now got the poker into his hands, and sat silent for some
+time, knocking the coals about. Then he got up, and took his hat, and
+put on his coat. Of course I can't make you understand me,' he said; at
+any rate not all at once. I'm not such a fool as to want to give up my
+property just because a girl is going to be married to a man I don't
+like. I'm not such an ass as to give him my estate for such a reason as
+that for it will be giving it to him, let me tie it up as I may. But
+I've a feeling about it which makes it impossible for me to take it.
+How would you like to get a thing by another fellow having destroyed
+himself
+
+'You can't help that. It's yours by law.'
+
+'Of course it is. I know that. And as it's mine I can do what I like
+with it. Well good-bye. When I've got anything to say, I'll write.'
+Then he went down to his cab and had himself driven to the Great
+Western Railway Hotel.
+
+Captain Aylmer had sent to his betrothed seventy. five pounds; the
+exact interest at five per cent, for one year of the sum which his aunt
+had left her. This was the first subject of which Belton thought when
+he found himself again in the railway carriage, and he continued
+thinking of it half the way down to Taunton. Seventy-five pounds! As
+though this favoured lover were prepared to give her exactly her due,
+and nothing more than her due! Had he been so placed, he, Will Belton,
+what would he have done? Seventy-five pounds might have been more money
+than she would have wanted, for he would have taken her to his own
+house to his own bosom as soon as she would have permitted, and would
+have so laboured on her behalf, taking from her shoulders all money
+troubles, that there would have been no question as to principal or
+interest between them. At any rate be would not have confined himself
+to sending to her the exact sum which was her due. But then Aylmer was
+a cold-blooded man more like a fish than a man. Belton told himself
+over and over again that he had discovered that at the single glance
+which he had had when he saw Captain Aylmer in Green's chambers.
+Seventy-five pounds indeed! He himself was prepared to give his whole
+estate to her, if she would take it even though she would not marry
+him, even though she was going to throw herself away upon that fish!
+Then he felt somewhat as Hamlet did when he jumped upon Laertes at the
+grave of Ophelia. Send her seventy-five pounds indeed, while he was
+ready to drink up Esil for her, or to make over to her the whole Belton
+estate, and thus abandon the idea for ever of being Belton of Belton!
+
+He reached Taunton in the middle of the night during the small hours of
+the morning in a winter night; but yet he could not bring himself to go
+to bed. So he knocked up an ostler at the nearest inn, and ordered out
+a gig. He would go down to the village of Redicote, on the Minehead
+road, and put up at the public-house there. He could not now have
+himself driven at once to Belton Castle, as he would have done had the
+old squire been alive. He fancied that his presence would be a nuisance
+if he did so. So he went to the little inn at Redicote, reaching that
+place between four and five o'clock in the morning; and very
+uncomfortable he was when he got there. But in his present frame of
+mind he preferred discomfort. He liked being tired and cold, and felt,
+when he was put into a chill room, without fire, and with a sanded
+floor, that things with him were as they ought to be.
+
+Yes he could have a fly over to Belton Castle after breakfast. Having
+learned so much, and ordered a dish of eggs and bacon for his morning's
+breakfast, be went upstairs to a miserable little bedroom, to dress
+himself after his night's journey.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+MRS ASKERTON'S GENEROSITY
+
+The death of the old man at Belton Castle had been very sudden. At
+three o'clock in the morning Clara had been called into his room, and
+at five o'clock she was alone in the world having neither father,
+mother, nor brother; without a home, without a shilling that she could
+call her own with no hope as to her future life, if as she had so much
+reason to suppose Captain Aylmer should have chosen to accept her last
+letter as a ground for permanent separation. But at this moment, on
+this saddest morning, she did not care much for that chance. It seemed
+to be almost indifferent to her, that question of Lady Aylmer and her
+anger. The more that she was absolutely in need of external friendship,
+the more disposed was she to reject it, and to declare to herself that
+she was prepared to stand alone in the world.
+
+For the last week she had understood from the doctor that her father
+was in truth sinking, and that she might hardly hope ever to see him
+again convalescent. She had therefore in some sort prepared herself for
+her loneliness, and anticipated the misery of her position. As soon as
+it was known to the women in the room that life had left the old man,
+one of them had taken her by the hand and led her back to her own
+chamber. 'Now, Miss Clara, you had better lie down on the bed again you
+had indeed; you can do nothing sitting up.' She took the old woman's
+advice, and allowed them to do with her as they would. It was true that
+there was no longer any work by which she could make herself useful in
+that house in that house, or, as far as she could see, in any other.
+Yes; she would go to bed, and lying there would feel how convenient it
+would be for many persons if she also could be taken away to her long
+rest, as her father, and aunt, and brother had been taken before her.
+
+Her name and family had been unfortunate, and it would be well that
+there should be no Amedroz left to trouble those more fortunate persons
+who were to come after them. In her sorrow and bitterness she included
+both her Cousin Will and Captain Aylmer among those more fortunate ones
+for whose sake it might be well that she should be made to vanish from
+off the earth. She had read Captain Aylmer's letter over and over again
+since she had answered it, and had read nearly as often the copy of her
+own reply and had told herself, as she read them, that of course he
+would not forgive her. He might perhaps pardon her, if she would submit
+to him in everything; but that she would not submit to his commands
+respecting Mrs Askerton she was fully resolved and, therefore, there
+could be no hope. Then, when she remembered how lately her dear
+father's spirit had fled, she hated herself for having allowed her mind
+to dwell on any. thing beyond her loss of him.
+
+She was still in her bedroom, having fallen into that half-waking
+slumber which the numbness of sorrow so often produces, when word was
+brought to her that Mrs Askerton was in the house. It was the first
+time that Mrs Askerton had ever crossed the door, and the remembrance
+that it was so came upon her at once. During her father's lifetime it
+had seemed to be understood that their neighbour should have no
+admittance there but now now that her father was gone the barrier was
+to be overthrown. And why not? Why should not Mrs Askerton come to her?
+Why, if Mrs Askerton chose to be kind to her, should she not altogether
+throw herself into her friend's arms? Of course her doing so would give
+mortal offence to everybody at Aylmer Park; but why need she stop to
+think of that? She had already made up her mind that she would not obey
+orders from Aylmer Park on this subject.
+
+She had not seen Mrs Askerton since that interview between them which
+was described some few chapters back. Then everything had been told
+between them, so that there was no longer any mystery either on the one
+side or on the other. Then Clara had assured her friend of her loving
+friendship in spite of any edicts to the contrary which might come from
+Aylmer Park; and after that what could be more natural than that Mrs
+Askerton should come to her in her sorrow? 'She says she'll come up to
+you if you'll let her,' said the servant. But Clara declined this
+proposition, and in a few minutes went down to the small parlour in
+which she had lately lived, and where she found her visitor.
+
+'My poor dear, this has been very sudden,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Very sudden very sudden. And yet, now that he has gone, I know that I
+expected it.'
+
+'Of course I came to you as soon as I heard of it, because I knew you
+were all alone. If there had been any one else I should not have come.'
+
+'It is very good of you.'
+
+'Colonel Askerton thought that perhaps he had better come. I told him
+of all that which we said to each other the other day. He thought at
+first that it would be better that I should not see you.'
+
+'It was very good of you to come,' said Clara again, and as she spoke
+she put out her hand and took Mrs Askerton's continuing to hold it for
+awhile; 'very good indeed.'
+
+'I told him that I could not but go down to you that I thought you
+would not understand it if I stayed away.'
+
+'At any rate it was good of you to come to me.'
+
+'I don't believe,' said Mrs Askerton, 'that what people call
+consolation is ever of any use. It is a terrible thing to lose a
+father.'
+
+'Very terrible. Ah, dear, I have hardly yet found out how sad it is. As
+yet I have only been thinking of myself, and wishing that I could be
+with him.'
+
+'Nay, Clara.'
+
+'How can I help it? What am I to do? Or where am I to go? Of what use
+is life to such a one as me? And for him who would dare to wish him
+back again? When people have fallen and gone down in the world, it is
+bad for them to go on living. Everything is a trouble, and there is
+nothing but vexation.'
+
+'Think what I have suffered, dear.'
+
+'But you have had somebody to care for you somebody whom you could
+trust.'
+
+'And have not you?'
+
+'No; no one.'
+
+'What do you mean, Clara?'
+
+'I mean what I say. I have no one. It is no use asking questions not
+now, at such a time as this. And I did not mean to complain.
+Complaining is weak and foolish. I have often told myself that I could
+bear anything, and so I will. When I can bring myself to think of what
+I have lost in my father I shall be better, even though I shall be more
+sorrowful. As it is, I hate myself for being so selfish.'
+
+'You will let me come and stay with you today, will you not?'
+
+'No, dear; not today.'
+
+'Why not today, Clara?'
+
+'I shall be better alone. I have so many things to think of.'
+
+'I know well that it would be better that you should not be alone much
+better. But I will not press it. I cannot insist with you as another
+woman would.'
+
+'You are wrong there; quite wrong. I would be led by you sooner than by
+any woman living. What other woman is there to whom I would listen for
+a moment?' As she said this, even in the depth of her sorrow she
+thought of Lady Aylmer, and strengthened herself in her resolution to
+rebel against her lover's mother. Then she continued, 'I wish I knew my
+Cousin Mary Mary Bolton; but I have never seen her.'
+
+'Is she nice?
+
+'So Will tells me; and I know that what he says must be true even about
+his sister.'
+
+'Will, Will! You are always thinking of your Cousin Will. If he be
+really so good he will show it now.'
+
+'How can he show it? What can he do?'
+
+'Does he not inherit all the property?'
+
+'Of course he does. And what of that? When I say that I have no friend
+I am not thinking of my poverty.'
+
+'If he has that regard for you which he pretends, he can do much to
+assist you. Why should he not come here at once?'
+
+'God forbid.'
+
+'Why? Why do you say so? He is your nearest relative.'
+
+'If you do not understand I cannot explain.'
+
+'Has he been told what has happened?' Mrs Askerton asked.
+
+'Colonel Askerton sent a message to him, I believe.'
+
+'And to Captain Aylmer also?'
+
+'Yes; and to Captain Aylmer. It was Colonel Askerton who sent it.'
+
+'Then he will come, of course.'
+
+'I think not. Why should he come? He did not even know poor papa.'
+
+'But, my dear Clara, has he not known you?'
+
+'You will see that he will not come. And I tell you beforehand that he
+will be right to stay away. Indeed, I do not know how he could come and
+I do not want him here.'
+
+'I cannot understand you, Clara.'
+
+'I suppose not. I cannot very well understand myself.'
+
+'I should not be at all surprised if Lady Aylmer were to come herself.'
+
+'Oh, heavens! How little you can know of Lady Aylmer's position and
+character!'
+
+'But if she is to be your mother-in-law?'
+
+'And even if she were! The idea of Lady Aylmer coming away from Aylmer
+Park all the way from Yorkshire, to such a house as this! If they told
+me that the Queen was coming it would hardly disconcert me more. But,
+dear, there is no danger of that at least.'
+
+'I do not know what may have passed between you and him; but unless
+there has been some quarrel he will come. That is, he will do so if he
+is at all like any men whom I have known.'
+
+'He will not come.'
+
+Then Mrs Askerton made some half-whispered offers of services to be
+rendered by Colonel Askerton, and soon afterwards took her leave,
+having first asked permission to come again in the afternoon, and when
+that was declined, having promised to return on the following morning.
+As she walked back to the cottage she could not but think more of
+Clara's engagement to Captain Aylmer than she did of the squire's
+death. As regarded herself, of course she could not grieve for Mr
+Amedroz; and as regarded Clara, Clara's father had for some time past
+been apparently so insignificant, even in his own house, that it was
+difficult to acknowledge the fact that the death of such a one as he
+might leave a great blank in the world. But what had Clara meant by
+declaring so emphatically that Captain Aylmer would not visit Belton,
+and by speaking of herself as one who had neither position nor friends
+in the world? If there had been a quarrel, indeed, then it was
+sufficiently intelligible and if there was any such quarrel, from what
+source must it have arisen? Mrs Askerton felt the blood rise to her
+cheeks as she thought of this, and told herself that there could be but
+one such source. Mrs Askerton knew that Clara had received orders from
+Aylmer Castle to discontinue all acquaintance with herself, and,
+therefore, there could be no doubt as to the cause of the quarrel. It
+had come to this then, that Clara was to lose her husband because she
+was true to her friend; or rather because she would not consent to cast
+an additional stone at one who for some years past had become a mark
+for many stones.
+
+I am not prepared to say that Mrs Askerton was a high-minded woman.
+Misfortunes had come upon her in life of a sort which are too apt to
+quench high nobility of mind in woman. There are calamities which, by
+their natural tendencies, elevate the character of women and add
+strength to the growth of feminine virtues but then, again, there are
+other calamities which few women can bear without some degradation,
+without some injury to that delicacy and tenderness which is
+essentially necessary to make a woman charming as a woman. In this, I
+think, the world is harder to women than to men; that a woman often
+loses much by the chance of adverse circumstances which a man only
+loses by his own misconduct. That there are women whom no calamity can
+degrade is true enough and so it is true that there are some men who
+are heroes; but such are exceptions both among men and women. Not such
+a one had Mrs Askerton been. Calamity had come upon her partly, indeed,
+by her own fault, though that might have been pardoned but the weight
+of her misfortunes had been too great for her strength, and she had
+become in some degree hardened by what she had endured; if not
+unfeminine, still she was feminine in an inferior degree, with womanly
+feelings of a lower order. And she had learned to intrigue, not being
+desirous of gaining aught by dishonest intriguing, but believing that
+she could only hold her own by carrying on her battle after that
+fashion. In all this I am speaking of the general character of the
+woman, and am not alluding to the one sin which she had committed.
+Thus, when she had first become acquainted with Miss Amedroz, her
+conscience had not rebuked her in that she was deceiving her new
+friend. When asked casually in conversation as to her maiden name, she
+had not blushed as she answered the question with a falsehood. When,
+unfortunately, the name of her first husband had in some way made
+itself known to Clara, she had been ready again with some prepared fib.
+And when she had recognized William Belton, she had thought that the
+danger to herself of having any one near her who might know her quite
+justified her in endeavouring to create ill-will between Clara and her
+cousin. 'Self-preservation is the first law of nature,' she would have
+said; and would have failed to remember, as she did always fail to
+remember that nature does not require by any of its laws that
+self-preservation should be aided by falsehood.
+
+But though she was not high-minded, so also was she not ungenerous; and
+now, as she began to understand that Clara was sacrificing herself
+because of that promise which had been given when they two had stood
+together at the window in the cottage drawing-room, she was capable of
+feeling more for her friend than for herself. She was capable even of
+telling herself that it was cruel on her part even to wish for any
+continuance of Clara's acquaintance. 'I have made my bed, and I must
+lie upon it,' she said to herself; and then she resolved that, instead
+of going up to the house on the following day, she would write to
+Clara, and put an end to the intimacy which existed between them. 'The
+world is hard, and harsh, and unjust,' she said, still speaking to
+herself. 'But that is not her fault; I will not injure her because I
+have been injured myself.'
+
+Colonel Askerton was up at the house on the same day, but he did not
+ask for Miss Amedroz, nor did she see him. Nobody else came to the
+house then, or on the following morning, or on that afternoon, though
+Clara did not fail to tell herself that Captain Aylmer might have been
+there if he had chosen to take the journey and to leave home as soon as
+he had received the message; and she made the same calculation as to
+her Cousin Will though in that calculation, as we know, she was wrong.
+These two days had been very desolate with her, and she had begun to
+look forward to Mrs Askerton's coming when instead of that there came a
+messenger with a letter from the cottage.
+
+'You can do as you like, my dear,' Colonel Askerton had said on the
+previous evening to his wife. He had listened to all she had been
+saying without taking his eyes from off his newspaper, though she had
+spoken with much eagerness.
+
+'But that is not enough. You should say more to me than that.'
+
+'Now I think you are unreasonable. For myself, I do not care how this
+matter goes; nor do I care one straw what any tongues may say. They
+cannot reach me, excepting so far as they may reach me through you.'
+
+'But you should advise me.'
+
+'I always do copiously, when I think that I know better than you; but
+in this matter I feel so sure that you know better than I, that I don't
+wish to suggest anything.' Then he went on with his newspaper, and she
+sat for a while looking at him, as though she expected that something
+more would be said. But nothing more was said, and she was left
+entirely to her own guidance.
+
+Since the days in which her troubles had come upon Mrs Askerton, Clara
+Amedroz was the first female friend who had come near her to comfort
+her, and she was very loth to abandon such comfort. There had, too,
+been something more than comfort, something almost approaching to
+triumph, when she found that Clara had clung to her with affection
+after hearing the whole story of her life. Though her conscience had
+not pricked her while she was exercising all her little planned
+deceits, she had not taken much pleasure in them. How should any one
+take pleasure in such work? Many of us daily deceive our friends, and
+are so far gone in deceit that the deceit alone is hardly painful to
+us. But the need of deceiving a friend is always painful. The treachery
+is easy; but to be treacherous to those we love is never easy never
+easy, even though it be so common. There had been a double delight to
+this poor woman in the near neighbourhood of Clara Amedroz since there
+had ceased to be a necessity for falsehood on her part. But now, almost
+before her joy had commenced, almost before she had realized the
+sweetness of her triumph, had come upon her this task of doing that
+herself which Clara in her generosity had refused to do. 'I have made
+my bed and I must lie upon it,' she said. And then, instead of going
+down to the house as she had promised, she wrote the following letter
+to Miss Amedroz:
+
+
+
+'The Cottage, Monday.
+
+Dearest Clara
+
+I need not tell you that I write as I do now with a bleeding heart. A
+few days since I should have laughed at any woman who used such a
+phrase of herself, and declared her to be an affected fool; but now I
+know how true such a word may be. My heart is bleeding, and I feel
+myself to be overcome by my disgrace. You told me that I did not
+understand you yesterday. Of course I understood you. Of course I know
+how it all is, and why you spoke as you did of Captain Aylmer. He has
+chosen to think that you could not know me without pollution, and has
+determined that you must give up either me or him. Though he has judged
+me, I am not going to judge him. The world is on his side; and,
+perhaps, he is right. He knows nothing of my trials and difficulties
+and why should he? I do not blame him for demanding that his future
+wife shall not be intimate with a woman who is supposed to have lost
+her fitness for the society of women.
+
+At any rate, dearest, you must obey him and we will see each other no
+more. I am quite sure that I should be very wicked were I to allow you
+to injure your position in life on my account. You at any rate love
+him, and would be happy with him, and as you are engaged to him, you
+have no just ground for resenting his interference.
+
+You will understand me now as well as though I were to fill sheets and
+sheets of paper with what I could say on the subject. The simple fact
+is, that you and I must forget each other, or simply remember one
+another as past friends. You will know in a day or two what your plans
+are. If you remain here, we will go away. If you go away, we will
+remain here that is, if your cousin will keep us as tenants. I do not,
+of course, know what you may have written to Captain Aylmer since our
+interview up here, but I beg that you will write to him now, and make
+him understand that he need have no fears in respect of me. You may
+send him this letter if you will. Oh, dear! If you could know what I
+suffer as I write this.
+
+I feel that I owe you an apology for harassing you on such a subject at
+such a time; but I know that I ought not to lose a day in tolling you
+that you are to see nothing more of the friend who has loved you.
+
+MARY ASKERTON.'
+
+Clara's first impulse on receiving this letter was to go off at once
+to the cottage, and insist on her privilege of choosing her own
+friends. If she preferred Mrs Askerton to Captain Aylmer, that was no
+one's business but her own. And she would have done so had she not been
+afraid of meeting with Colonel Askerton. To him she would not have
+known how to speak on such a subject nor would she have known how to
+conduct herself at the cottage without speaking of it. And then, after
+a while, she felt that were she to do so should she now deliberately
+determine to throw herself into Mrs Askerton's arms she must at the
+same time give up all ideas of becoming Captain Aylmer's wife. As she
+thought of this she asked herself various questions concerning him,
+which she did not find it easy to answer. Did she wish to be his wife?
+Could she assure herself that if they were married they would make each
+other happy? Did she love him? She was still able to declare to herself
+that the answer to the last question should be an affirmative; but,
+nevertheless, she thought that she could give him up without great
+unhappiness. And when she began to think of Lady Aylmer, and to
+remember that Frederic Aylmer's imperative demands upon her obedience
+had, in all probability, been dictated by his mother, she was again
+anxious to go at once to the cottage, and declare that she would not
+submit to any interference with her own judgment.
+
+On the next morning the postman brought to her a letter which was of
+much moment to her but he brought to her also tidings which moved her
+more even than the letter. The letter was from the lawyer, and enclosed
+a cheque for seventy-five pounds, which he had been instructed to pay
+to her, as the interest of the money left to her by her aunt. What
+should be her answer to that letter she knew very well, and she
+instantly wrote it, sending back the cheque to Mr Green. The postman's
+news, more important than the letter, told her that William Belton was
+at the inn at Redicote.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+PASSIONATE PLEADING
+
+Clara wrote her letter to the lawyer, returning the cheque, before she
+would allow herself a moment to dwell upon the news of her cousin's
+arrival. She felt that it was necessary to do that before she should
+even see her cousin thus providing against any difficulty which might
+arise from adverse advice on his part; and as soon as the letter was
+written she sent it to the post-office in the village. She would do
+almost any. thing that Will might tell her to do, but Captain Aylmer's
+money she would not take, even though Will might so direct her. They
+would tell her, no doubt, among them, that the money was her own that
+she might take it without owing any thanks for it to Captain Aylmer.
+But she knew better than that as she told herself over and over again.
+Her aunt had left her nothing, and nothing would she have from Captain
+Aylmer unless she had all that Captain Aylmer had to give, after the
+fashion in which women best love to take such gifts.
+
+Then, when she had done that, she was able to think of her cousin's
+visit. 'I knew he would come,' she said to herself, as she sat herself
+in one of the old chairs in the hall, with a large shawl wrapped round
+her shoulders. She had just been to the front door, with the nominal
+purpose of dispatching her messenger thence to the post-office; but she
+had stood for a minute or two under the portico, looking in the
+direction by which Belton would come from Redicote, expecting, or
+rather hoping, that she might see his figure or hear the sound of his
+gig. But she saw nothing and heard nothing, and so returned into the
+hall, slowly shutting the door. 'I knew that he would come,' she said,
+repeating to herself the same words over and over again. Yet when Mrs
+Askerton had told her that he would do this thing which he had now
+done, she had expressed herself as almost frightened by the idea. 'God
+forbid,' she had said. Nevertheless now that he was there at Redicote,
+she assured herself that his coming was a thing of which she had been
+certain; and she took a joy in the knowledge of his nearness to her
+which she did not attempt to define to herself. Had he not said that he
+would be a brother to her, and was it not a brother's part to go to a
+sister in affliction? 'I knew that he would come. I was sure of it. He
+is so true.' As to Captain Aylmer's not coming she said nothing, even
+to herself; but she felt that she had been equally sure on that
+subject. Of course, Captain Aylmer would not come! He had sent her
+seventy-five pounds in lieu of coming, and in doing so was true to his
+character. Both men were doing exactly that which was to have been
+expected of them. So at least Clara Amedroz now assured herself. She
+did not ask herself how it was that she had come to love the thinner
+and the meaner of the two men, but she knew well that such had been her
+fate.
+
+On a sudden she rose from her chair, as though remembering a duty to be
+performed, and went to the kitchen and directed that breakfast might be
+got ready for Mr Belton. He would have travelled all night and would be
+in want of food. Since the old squire's death there had been no regular
+meal served in the house, and Clara had taken such scraps of food and
+cups of tea as the old servant of the house had brought to her. But now
+the cloth must be spread again, and as she did this with her own hands
+she remembered the dinners which had been prepared for Captain Aylmer
+at Perivale after his aunt's death. It seemed to her that she was used
+to be in the house with death, and that the sadness and solemn
+ceremonies of woe were. becoming things familiar to her. There grew
+upon her a feeling that it must be so with her always. The
+circumstances of her life would ever be sad. What right had she to
+expect any other fate after such a catastrophe as that which her
+brother had brought upon the family? It was clear to her that she had
+done wrong in supposing that she could marry and live with a prosperous
+man of the world like Captain Aylmer. Their natures were different, and
+no such union could lead to any good. So she told herself, with much
+misery of spirit, as she was preparing the breakfast-table for William
+Belton.
+
+But William Belton did not come to eat the breakfast. He got what he
+wanted in that way at the inn at Redicote, and even then hesitated,
+loitering at the bar, before he would go over. What was he to say, and
+how would he be received? After all, had he not done amiss in coming to
+a house at which he probably might not be wanted? Would it not be
+thought that his journey had been made solely with a view to his own
+property? He would be regarded as the heir pouncing upon the
+inheritance before as yet the old owner was under the ground. At any
+rate it would be too early for him to make his visit yet awhile; and,
+to kill time, he went over to a carpenter who had been employed by him
+about the place at Belton. The carpenter spoke to him as though
+everything were his own, and was very intent upon future improvements.
+This made Will more disgusted with himself than ever, and before he
+could get out of the carpenter's yard he thoroughly wished himself back
+at Plaistow. But having come so far, he could hardly return without
+seeing his cousin, and at last he had himself driven over, reaching the
+house between eleven and twelve o'clock in the day.
+
+Clara met him in the hall, and at once led him into the room which she
+had prepared for him. He had given her his hand in the hall, but did
+not speak to her till she had spoken to him after the closing of the
+room door behind them. 'I thought that you would come' she said, still
+holding him by the hand.
+
+'I did not know what to do,' he answered. 'I couldn't say which was
+best. Now I am here I shall only be in your way.' He did not dare to
+press her hand, nor could he bring himself to take his away from her.
+
+'In my way yes; as an angel, to tell me what to do in my trouble. I
+knew you would come, because you are so good. But you will have
+breakfast see, I have got it ready for you.'
+
+'Oh no; I breakfasted at Redicote. I would not trouble you.'
+
+'Trouble me, Will! Oh, Will, if you knew!' Then there came tears in her
+eyes, and at the sight of them both his own were filled. How was he to
+stand it? To take her to his bosom and hold her there for always; to
+wipe away her tears so that she should weep no more; to devote himself
+and all his energy and all that was his comfort to her this he could
+have done; but he knew not how to do anything short of this. Every word
+that she spoke to him was an encouragement to this, and yet he knew
+that it could not be so. To say a word of his love, or even to look it,
+would now be an unmanly insult. And yet, how was he not to look it not
+to speak of it? 'It is such a comfort that you should be here with me,'
+she said.
+
+'Then I am glad I am here, though I do not know what I can do. Did he
+suffer much, Clara?'
+
+'No, I think not; very little. He sank at last quicker than I expected,
+but just as I thought he would go. He used to speak of you so often,
+and. always with regard and esteem!'
+
+' Dear old man!'
+
+'Yes, Will; he was, in spite of his little faults. No father ever loved
+his daughter better than he loved me.'
+
+After a while the servant brought in the tea, explaining to Belton that
+Miss Clara had neither eaten nor drank that morning. 'She wouldn't take
+anything till you came, sir.' Then Will added his entreaties, and Clara
+was persuaded, and by degrees there grew between them more ease of
+manner and capability for talking than had been within their reach when
+they first met. And during the morning many things were explained, as
+to which Clara would a few hours previously have thought it to be
+almost impossible that she should speak to her cousin. She had told him
+of her aunt's money, and the way in which she had on that very morning
+sent back the cheque to the lawyer; and she had said something also as
+to Lady Aylmer's views, and her own views as to Lady Aylmer. With Will
+this subject was one most difficult of discussion; and he blushed and
+fidgeted in his chair, and walked about the room, and found himself
+unable to look Clara in the face as she spoke to him. But she went on,
+goading him with the name, which of all names was the most distasteful
+to him; and mentioning that name almost in terms of reproach of
+reproach which he felt it would be ungenerous to reciprocate, but which
+he would have exaggerated to unmeasured abuse if he had given his
+tongue licence to speak his mind.
+
+'I was right to send back the money wasn't I, Will? Say that I was
+right. Pray tell me that you think so!'
+
+'I don't understand it at present, you see; I am no lawyer.'
+
+'But it doesn't want a lawyer to know that I couldn't take the money
+from him. I am sure you feel that.'
+
+'If a man owes money of course he ought to pay it.'
+
+'But he doesn't owe it, Will. It is intended for generosity.'
+
+'You don't want anybody's generosity, certainly.' Then he reflected
+that Clara must, after all, depend entirely on the generosity of some
+one till she was married; and he wanted to explain to her that
+everything he had in the world was at her service was indeed her own.
+Or he would have explained, if he knew how, that he did not intend to
+take advantage of the entail that the Belton estate should belong to
+her as the natural heir of her father. But he conceived that the moment
+for explaining this had hardly as yet arrived, and that he bad better
+confine himself to some attempt at teaching her that no extraneous
+assistance would be necessary to her, 'In money matters,' said he, 'of
+course you are to look to me. That is a matter of course. I'll see
+Green about the other affairs. Green and I are friends. We'll settle
+it.'
+
+'That's not what I meant, Will.'
+
+'But it's what I mean. This is one of those things in which a man has
+to act on his own judgment. Your father and I understood each other.'
+
+'He did not understand that I was to accept your bounty.'
+
+'Bounty is a nasty word, and I hate it. You accepted me as your
+brother, and as such I mean to act.' The word almost stuck in his
+throat, but be brought it out at last in a fierce tone, of which she
+understood accurately the cause and meaning. 'All money matters about
+the place must be settled by me. Indeed, that's why I came down.'
+
+'Not only for that, Will?'
+
+'Just to be useful in that way, I mean.'
+
+'You came to see me because you knew I should want you.' Surely this
+was malice prepense! Knowing what was his want, how could she
+exasperate it by talking thus of her own? 'As for money, I have no
+claim on any one. No creature was ever more forlorn. But I will not
+talk of that.'
+
+'Did you not say that you would treat me as a brother?'
+
+'I did not mean that I was to be a burden on you.'
+
+'I know what I meant, and that is sufficient.' Belton had been at the
+house some hours before he made any signs of leaving her, and when he
+did so he had to explain something of his plans. He would remain, he
+said, for about a week in the neighbourhood.
+
+She of course was obliged to ask him to stay at the house at the house
+which was in fact his own; but he declined to do this, blurting out his
+reason at last very plainly. 'Captain Aylmer would not like it, and I
+suppose you are bound to think of what he likes and dislikes.' 'I don't
+know what right Captain Aylmer would have to dislike any such thing,'
+said Clara. But, nevertheless, she allowed the reason to pass as
+current, and did not press her invitation. Will declared that he would
+stay at the inn at Redicote,, striving to explain in some very
+unintelligible manner that such an arrangement would be very
+convenient. He would remain at Redicote, and would come over to Belton
+every day during his sojourn in the country. Then he asked one question
+in a low whisper as to the last sad ceremony, and, having received an
+answer, started off with the declared intention of calling on Colonel
+Askerton.
+
+The next two or three days passed uncomfortably enough with Will
+Belton. He made his head- quarters at the little inn of Redicote, and
+drove himself backwards and forwards between that place and the estate
+which was now his own. On each of these days he saw Colonel Askerton,
+whom he found to be a civil pleasant man, willing enough to rid himself
+of the unpleasant task he had undertaken, but at the same time, willing
+also to continue his services if any further services were required of
+him. But of Mrs Askerton on these occasions Will saw nothing, nor had
+he ever spoken to her since the time of his first visit to the Castle.
+Then came the day of the funeral, and after that rite was over he
+returned with his cousin to the house. There was no will to be read.
+The old squire had left no will, nor was there anything belonging to
+him at the time of his death that he could bequeath. The furniture in
+the house, the worn-out carpets and old-fashioned chairs, belonged to
+Clara; but, beyond that, property had she none, nor had it been in her
+father's power to endow her with anything. She was alone in the world,
+penniless, with a conviction on her own mind that her engagement with
+Frederic Aylmer must of necessity come to an end, and with a feeling
+about her cousin which she could hardly analyse, but which told her
+that she could not go to his house in Norfolk, nor live with him at
+Belton Castle, nor trust herself in his hands as she would into those
+of a real brother.
+
+On the afternoon of the day on which her father had been buried, she
+brought to him a letter, asking him to read it, and tell her what she
+should do. The letter was from Lady Aylmer, and contained an invitation
+to Aylmer Castle. It had been accompanied, as the reader may possibly
+remember, by a letter from Captain Aylmer himself. Of this she of
+course informed her cousin; but she did not find it to be necessary to
+show the letter of one rival to the other. Lady Aylmer's letter was
+cold in its expression of welcome, but very dictatorial in pointing out
+the absolute necessity that Clara should accept the invitation so
+given. 'I think you will not fail to agree with me, dear Miss Amedroz,'
+the letter said, 'that under these strange and perplexing
+circumstances, this is the only roof which can, with any propriety,
+afford you a shelter.' 'And why not the poor-house?' she said, aloud to
+her cousin, when she perceived that his eye had descended so far on the
+page. He shook his head angrily, but said nothing; and when he had
+finished the letter he folded it and gave it back still in silence.
+'And what am I to do?' she said. 'You tell me that I am to come to you
+for advice in everything.'
+
+'You must decide for yourself here.'
+
+'And you won't advise me.. You won't tell me whether she is right?
+
+'I suppose she is right.'
+
+'Then I had better go?'
+
+'If you mean to marry Captain Aylmer, you had better go.'
+
+'I am engaged to him.'
+
+'Then you had better go.'
+
+'But I will not submit myself to her tyranny.'
+
+'Let the marriage take place at once, and you will have to submit only
+to his. I suppose you are prepared for that?'
+
+'I do not know. I do not like tyranny.'
+
+Again he stood silent for awhile, looking at her, and then he answered:
+' I should not tyrannize over you, Clara.'
+
+'Oh, Will, Will, do not speak like that. Do not destroy everything.'
+
+'What am I to say?'
+
+'What would you say if your sister, your real sister, asked advice in
+such a strait? If you had a sister, who came to you, and told you all
+her difficulty, you would advise her. You would not say words to make
+things worse for her.'
+
+'It would be very different.'
+
+'But you said you would be my brother.'
+
+'How am I to know what you feel for this man? It seems to me that you
+half hate him, half fear him, and sometimes despise him.'
+
+'Hate him! No I never hate him.'
+
+'Go to him, then, and ask him what you had better do. Don't ask me.'
+Then he hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind him. But
+before he had half gone down the stairs he remembered the ceremony at
+which he had just been present, and how desolate she was in the world,
+and he returned to her. 'I beg your pardon, Clara,' he said, 'I am
+passionate; but I must be a beast to show my passion to you on such a
+day as this. If I were you I should accept Lady Aylmer's invitation
+merely thanking her for it in the ordinary way. I should then go and
+see how the land lay. That is the advice I should give my sister.'
+
+'And I will if it is only because you tell me.'
+
+'But as for a home tell her you have one of your own at Belton Castle,
+from which no  one can turn you out, and where no one can intrude on
+you. This house belongs to you.' Then, before she could answer him, he
+had left the room and she listened to his heavy quick footsteps as he
+went across the hall and out of the front door.
+
+He walked across the park and entered the little gate of Colonel
+Askerton's garden, as though it were his habit to go to the cottage
+when he was at Belton. There had been various matters on which the two
+men had been brought into contact concerning the old squire's death and
+the tenancy of the cottage, so that they had become almost intimate.
+Belton had nothing new that he specially desired to say to Colonel
+Askerton, whom, indeed, he had seen only a short time before at the
+funeral; but he wanted the relief of speaking to some one before he
+returned to the solitude of the inn at Redicote. On this occasion,
+however, the colonel was out, and the maid asked him if he would see
+Mrs Askerton. When he said something about not troubling her, the girl
+told him that her mistress wished to speak to him, and then he had no
+alternative but to allow himself to be shown into the drawing-room.
+
+'I want to see you a minute,' said Mrs Askerton, bowing to him without
+putting out her hand, 'that I might ask you how you find your cousin.'
+
+'She is pretty well, I think'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has seen more of her than I have since her father's
+death, and he says that she does not bear it well. He thinks that she
+is ill.'
+
+'I do not think her ill. Of course she is not in good spirits.'
+
+'No; exactly. How should she be? But he thinks she seems so worn. I
+hope you will excuse me, Mr Belton, but I love her so well that I
+cannot bear to be quite in the dark as to her future. Is anything
+settled yet?'
+
+'She is going to Aylmer Castle.'
+
+'To Aylmer Castle! Is she indeed? At once?'
+
+'Very soon. Lady Aylmer has asked her.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer! Then I suppose'
+
+'You suppose what?' Will Belton asked.
+
+'I did not think she would have gone to Aylmer Castle though I dare say
+it is the best thing she could do She seemed to me to dislike the
+Aylmers that is, Lady Aylmer so much! But I suppose she is right?'
+
+'She is right to go if she likes it.'
+
+'She is circumstanced so cruelly! Is she not? Where else could she go?
+I do so feel for her. I believe I need hardly tell you, Mr Belton,
+that, she would be as welcome here as flowers in May but that I do not
+dare to ask her to come to us.' She said this in a low voice, turning
+her eyes away from him, looking first upon the ground, and then again
+up at the window but still not daring to meet his eye.
+
+'I don't exactly know about that,' said Belton awkwardly.
+
+'You know, I hope, that I love her dearly.'
+
+'Everybody does that,' said Will.
+
+'You do, Mr Belton.'
+
+'Yes I do; just as though she were my sister.'
+
+'And as your sister would you let her come here to us?' He sat silent
+for awhile, thinking, and she waited patiently for his answer. Bat she
+spoke again before he answered her. 'I am well aware that you know all
+my history, Mr Belton.'
+
+'I shouldn't tell it her, if you mean that, though she were my sister.
+If she were my wife I should tell her.'
+
+'And why your wife?'
+
+'Because then I should be sure it would do no harm.'
+
+'Then I find that you can be generous, Mr Belton. But she knows it all
+as well as you do.'
+
+'I did not tell her.'
+
+'Nor did I but I should have done so had not Captain Aylmer been before
+me. And now tell me whether I could ask her to come here.'
+
+'It would be useless, as she is going to Aylmer Castle'.
+
+'But she is going there simply to find a home having no other.'
+
+'That is not so, Mrs Askerton. She has a home as perfectly her own as
+any woman in the land. Belton Castle is hers, to do what she may please
+with it. She can live here if she likes it, and nobody can say a word
+to her. She need not go to Aylmer Castle to look for a home.'
+
+'You mean you would lend her the house?'
+
+'It is hers.'
+
+'I do not understand you, Mr Belton.'
+
+'It does not signify we will say no more about it.'
+
+'And you think she likes going to Lady Aylmer's?'
+
+'How should I say what she likes?'
+
+Then there was another pause before Mrs Askerton spoke again. 'I can
+tell you one thing,' she said: 'she does not like him.'
+
+'That is her affair.'
+
+'But she should be taught to know her own mind before she throws
+herself away altogether. You would not wish your cousin to marry a man
+whom she does not love because at one time she had come to think that
+she loved him. That is the truth of it, Mr Belton. If she goes to
+Aylmer Castle she will marry him and she will be an unhappy woman
+always afterwards. If you would sanction her coming here for a few
+days, I think all that would be cured. She would come in a moment, if
+you advised her.'
+
+Then he went away, allowing himself to make no further answer at the
+moment, and discussed the matter with himself as he walked back to
+Redicote, meditating on it with all his mind, and all his heart, and
+all his strength. And, as he meditated, it came on to rain bitterly a
+cold piercing February rain and the darkness of night came upon him,
+and he floundered on through the thick mud of the Somersetshire lanes,
+unconscious of the weather and of the darkness. There was a way open to
+him by which he might even yet get what he wanted. He thought he saw
+that there was a way open to him through the policy of this woman, whom
+he perceived to have become friendly to him. He saw, or thought that he
+saw, it all. No day had absolutely been fixed for this journey to
+Yorkshire; and if Clara were induced to go first to the cottage, and
+stay there with Mrs Askerton, no such journey might ever be taken. He
+could well understand that such a visit on her part would give a mortal
+offence to all the Aylmers. That tyranny of which Clara spoke with so
+much dread would be exhibited then without reserve, and so there would
+be an end altogether of the Aylmer alliance. But were she once to start
+for Aylmer Park, then there would be no hope for him. Then her fate
+would be decided -and his. As far as he could see, too as far as he
+could see then, there would be no dishonesty in this plan. Why should
+Clara not go to Mrs Askerton's house? What could be more natural than
+such a visit at such a time? If she were in truth his sister he would
+not interfere to prevent it if she wished it. He had told himself that
+the woman should be forgiven her offence, and had thought that that
+forgiveness should be complete. If the Aylmers were so unreasonable as
+to quarrel with her on this ground, let them quarrel with her. Mrs
+Askerton had told him that Clara did not really like Captain Aylmer.
+Perhaps it was so; and if so, what greater kindness could he do her
+than give her an opportunity for escaping such a union?
+
+The whole of the next day he remained at Redicote, thinking, doubting,
+striving to reconcile his wishes and his honesty. It rained all day,
+and as he sat alone, smoking in the comfortless inn, he told himself
+that the rain was keeping him but in truth it was not the rain. Had he
+resolved to do his best to prevent this visit to Yorkshire, or had he
+resolved to further it, I think he would have gone to Belton without
+much fear of the rain. On the second day after the funeral he did go,
+and he had then made up his mind. Clara, if she would listen to him,
+should show her independence of Lady Aylmer by staying a few days with
+the Askertons before she went to Yorkshire, and by telling Lady Aylmer
+that such was her intention. 'If she really loves the man,' he said to
+himself, 'she will go at once, in spite of anything that I can say. If
+she does not, I shall be saving her.'
+
+'How cruel of you not to come yesterday! ' Clara said, as soon as she
+saw him.,
+
+'It rained hard,' he answered.
+
+' But men like you care so little for rain; but that is when you have
+business to take you out or pleasure.'
+
+'You need not be so severe. The truth is I had things to trouble me.'
+
+'What troubled you, Will. I thought all the trouble was mine.'
+
+'I suppose everybody thinks that his own shoe pinches the hardest.'
+
+'Your shoe can't pinch you very bad, I should think. Sometimes when I
+think of you it seems that you are an embodiment of prosperity and
+happiness.'
+
+'I don't see it myself that's all. Did you write to Lady Aylmer, Clara?'
+
+'I wrote; but I didn't send it. I would not send any letter till I had
+shown it to you, as you are my confessor and adviser. There; read it.
+Nothing, I think, could be more courteous or less humble.' He took the
+letter and read it. Clara had simply expressed herself willing to
+accept Lady Aylmer's invitation, and asked her ladyship to fix a day.
+There was no mention of Captain Aylmer's name in the note.
+
+'And you think this is best?' he said. His voice was hardly like his
+own as he spoke. There was wanting to it that tone of self-assurance
+which his voice almost always possessed, even when self- assurance was
+lacking to his words.
+
+'I thought it was your own advice,' she said.
+
+'Well yes; that is, I don't quite know. You couldn't go for a week or
+so yet, I suppose.'
+
+'Perhaps in about a week.'
+
+'And what will you do till then.?'
+
+'What will I do!'
+
+'Yes where do you mean to stay?'
+
+'I thought, Will, that perhaps you would let me remain here.'
+
+'Let you! Oh, heavens! Look here, Clara.'
+
+'Before heaven I want what may be the best for you without thinking of
+you, if I could only help it.'
+
+'I have never doubted you. I never will doubt you. I believe in you
+next to my God. I do, Will; I do.' He walked up and down the room
+half-a-dozen times before he spoke again, while she stood by the table
+watching him. 'I wish,' she said, 'I knew what it is that troubles
+you.' To this he made no answer, but went on walking till she came up
+to him, and putting both her hands upon his arm said, 'It will be
+better, Will, that I should go will it not? Speak to me, and say so. I
+feel that it will be better.' Then he stopped in his walk and looked
+down upon her, as her hands still rested upon his shoulder. He gazed
+upon her for some few seconds, remaining quite motionless, and then,
+opening his arms, he surrounded her with his embrace, and pressing her
+with all his strength close to his bosom, kissed her forehead, and her
+cheeks, and her lips, and her eyes. His will was so masterful, his
+strength so great, and his motion so quick, that she was powerless to
+escape from him till he relaxed his hold. Indeed she hardly struggled,
+so much was she surprised and so soon released. But the moment that he
+left her he saw that her face was burning red, and that the tears were
+streaming from her eyes. She stood for a moment trembling, with her
+hands clenched, and with a look of scorn upon her lips and brow that he
+had never seen before; and then she threw herself on a sofa, and,
+burying her face, sobbed aloud; while her whole body was shaken as with
+convulsions. He leaned over her repentant, not knowing what to do, not
+knowing how to speak. All ideas of his scheme had gone from him now. He
+had offended her for ever past redemption. What could be the use now of
+any scheme? And as he stood there he hated himself because of his
+scheme. The utter misery and disgrace of the present moment had come
+upon him because he had thought more of himself than of her. It was but
+a few moments since she had told him that she trusted him next to her
+God; and yet in those few moments, he had shown himself utterly
+unworthy of that trust, and had destroyed all her confidence. But he
+could not leave, her without speaking to her. 'Clara!' he said 'Clara.'
+But she did not answer him. 'Clara; will you not speak to me? Will you
+not let me ask you to forgive me?' But still she only sobbed. For her,
+at that moment, we may say that sobbing was easier than speech. How was
+she to pardon so great an offence? How was she to resent such
+passionate love?
+
+But he could not continue to stand there motionless, all but
+speechless, while she lay with her face turned away from him. He must
+at any rate in some manner take himself away out of the room; and this
+he could not do, even in his present condition of unlimited disgrace,
+without a word of farewell. 'Perhaps I had better go and leave you,' he
+said.
+
+Then at last there came a voice, 'Oh, Will, why have you done this?
+Why have you treated me so badly?' When he had last seen her face her
+mouth had been full of scorn, but, there was, no scorn now in her
+voice. 'Why why why?'
+
+Why indeed except that it was needful for him that she should know the
+depth of his passion. 'If you will forgive me, Clara, I will not offend
+you so again,' he said.
+
+'You have offended me. What am I to say? What am I to do? I have no
+other friend.'
+
+'I am a wretch. I know that I am a wretch.'
+
+'I did not suspect that you would be so cruel. Oh, Will!'
+
+But before he went she told him that she had forgiven him, and she had
+preached to him a solemn, sweet sermon on the wickedness of yielding,
+to momentary impulses. Her low, grave words sank into his ears as
+though they were divine; and when she said a word to him, blushing as
+she spoke, of the sin of his passion and of what her sin would be, if
+she were to permit it, he sat by her weeping like an infant, tears
+which were certainly tears of innocence. She had been very angry with
+him; but I think she loved him better when, her sermon was finished
+than she had ever loved him before.
+
+There was no further question as to her going to Aylmer Castle, nor was
+any mention made of Mrs Askerton's invitation to the cottage. The
+letter for Lady Aylmer was sent, and it was agreed between them that
+Will should remain at Redicote till the answer from Yorkshire should
+come, and should then convey Clara as far as London on her journey. And
+when he took leave of her that afternoon, she was able to give him her
+hand in her old hearty, loving way, and to call him Will with the old
+hearty, loving tone. And he he was able to accept these tokens of her
+graciousness, as though they were signs of a pardon which she had been
+good to give, but which he certainly had not deserved.
+
+As he went back to Redicote, he swore to himself that he would never
+love any woman but her even though she must be the wife of Captain
+Aylmer.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE LAST DAY AT BELTON
+
+In course of post there came an answer from Lady Aylmer, naming a day
+for Clara's journey to Yorkshire, and also a letter from Captain
+Aylmer, in, which he stated that he would meet her in London and convey
+her down to Aylmer Park. 'The House is sitting,' he said, 'and
+therefore I shall be a little troubled about my time; but I cannot
+allow that your first meeting with my mother should take place in my
+absence.' This was all very well, but at the end of the letter there
+was a word of caution that was not so well. 'I am sure, my dear Clara,
+that you will remember how much is due to my mother's age, and
+character, and position. Nothing will be wanted to the happiness of our
+marriage, if you can succeed in gaining her affection, and therefore I
+make it my first request to you, that you should endeavour to win her
+good opinion.' There was nothing perhaps really amiss, certainly
+nothing unreasonable, in such words from a future husband to his future
+wife; but Clara, as she read them, shook her head and pressed her foot
+against the ground in anger. It would not do. Sorrow would come and
+trouble and disappointment. She did not say so, even to herself in
+words; but the words, though not spoken, were audible enough to
+herself. She could not, would not, bend to Lady Aylmer, and she knew
+that trouble would come of this visit.
+
+I fear that many ladies will condemn Miss Amedroz when I tell them that
+she showed this letter to her Cousin Will. It does not promise well for
+any of the parties concerned when a young woman with two lovers can
+bring herself to show the love-letters of him to whom she is engaged to
+the other lover whom she has refused! But I have two excuses to put
+forward in Clara's defence. In the first place, Captain Aylmer's
+love-letters were not in truth love-letters, but were letters of
+business; and in the next place, Clara was teaching herself to regard
+Will Belton as her brother, and to forget that he had ever assumed the
+part of a lover.
+
+She was so teaching herself, but I cannot say that the lesson was one
+easily learned; nor had the outrage upon her of which Will had been
+guilty, and which was described in the last chapter, made the teaching
+easier. But she had determined, nevertheless, that it should be so.
+When she thought of Will her heart would become very soft towards him;
+and sometimes, when she thought of Captain Aylmer, her heart would
+become anything but soft towards him. Unloving feelings would be very
+strong within her bosom as she re-read his letters, and remembered that
+he had not come to her, but had sent her seventy-five pounds to comfort
+her in her trouble! Nevertheless, he was to be her husband, and she
+would do her duty. What might have happened had Will Belton come to
+Belton Castle before she had known Frederic Aylmer of that she stoutly
+resolved that she would never think at all; and consequently the
+thought was always intruding upon her.
+
+'You will sleep one night in town, of course?' said Will.
+
+'I suppose so. You know all about it. I shall do as I'm told.'
+
+'You can't go down to Yorkshire from here in one day. Where would you
+like to stay in London?'
+
+'How on earth should I know? Ladies do sleep at hotels in London
+sometimes, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh yes. I can write and have rooms ready for you.'
+
+'Then that difficulty is over,' said Clara.
+
+But in Belton's estimation the difficulty was not exactly over. Captain
+Aylmer would, of course, be in London that night, and it was a question
+with Will whether or no Clara was not bound in honour to tell the
+accursed beast, I am afraid Mr Belton called him in his soliloquies
+where she would lodge on the occasion. Or would it suffice that he,
+Will, should hand her over to the enemy at the station of the Great
+Northern Railway on the following morning? All the little intricacies
+of the question presented themselves to Will's imagination. How careful
+he would be with her, that the inn accommodation should suffice for her
+comfort! With what pleasure would he order a little dinner for them
+two, making something of a gentle fˆte of the occasion! How sedulously
+would he wait upon her with those little attentions, amounting almost
+to worship, with which such men as Will Belton are prone to treat all
+women in exceptionable circumstances, when the ordinary routine of life
+has been disturbed! If she had simply been his cousin, and if he had
+never regarded her otherwise, how happily could he have done all this!
+As things now were, if it was left to him to do, he should do it, with
+what patience and grace might be within his power; he would do it,
+though he would be mindful every moment of the bitterness of the
+transfer which he would so soon be obliged to make; but he doubted
+whether it would not be better for Clara's sake that the transfer
+should be made overnight. He would take her up to London, because in
+that way he could be useful; and then he would go away and hide
+himself. 'Has Captain Aylmer said where he would meet you?' he asked
+after a pause.
+
+'Of course I must write and tell him.'
+
+'And is he to come to you when you reach London?'
+
+'He has said nothing about that. 'He will probably be at the House of
+Commons, or too busy somewhere to come to me then. But why do you ask?
+Do you wish to hurry through town?'
+
+'Oh dear, no.'
+
+'Or perhaps you have friends you want to see. Pray don't let me be in
+your way. I shall do very well, you know.'
+
+Belton rebuked her by a look before he answered her. 'I was only
+thinking,' he said, 'of what would be most convenient for yourself. I
+have nobody to see, and nothing to do, and nowhere to go to.' Then
+Clara understood it all, and said that she would write to Captain
+Aylmer and ask him, to join them at the hotel.
+
+She determined that she would see Mrs Askerton before she went; and as
+that lady did not come to the Castle, Clara called upon her at the
+cottage. This she did the day before she left, and she took her cousin
+with her. Belton had been at the cottage once or twice since the day on
+which Mrs Askerton had explained to him how the Aylmer alliance might
+be extinguished, but Colonel Askerton had always been there, and no
+reference had been made to the former conversation. Colonel Askerton
+was not there now, and Belton was almost afraid that words would be
+spoken to which he would hardly know how to listen.
+
+'And so you are really going?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Yes; we start tomorrow,' said Clara.
+
+'I am not thinking of the journey to London,' said Mrs Askerton, 'but
+of the danger and privations of your subsequent progress to the North.'
+
+'I shall do very well. I am not afraid that any one will eat me.'
+
+'There are so many different ways of eating people! Are there not, Mr
+Belton?'
+
+'I don't know about eating, but there are a great many ways of boring
+people,' said he.
+
+'And I should think they will be great at that kind of thing at Aylmer
+Castle. One never hears of Sir Anthony, but I can fancy Lady Aylmer to
+be a terrible woman.'
+
+'I shall manage to hold my own, I dare say,' said Clara.
+
+'I hope you will; I do hope you will,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I don't know
+whether you will be powerful to do so, or whether you will fail; my
+heart is not absolute; but I do know what will be the result if you are
+successful.'
+
+'It is much more then than I know myself.'
+
+'That I can believe too. Do you travel down to Yorkshire alone?'
+
+'No; Captain Aylmer will meet me in town.'
+
+Then Mrs Askerton looked at Mr Belton, but made no immediate reply; nor
+did she say anything further about Clara's journey. She looked at Mr
+Belton, and Will caught her eye, and understood that he was being
+rebuked for not having carried out that little scheme which, had been
+prepared for him. But he had come to hate the scheme, and almost hated
+Mrs Askerton for proposing it. He had declared to himself that her
+welfare, Clara's welfare, was the one thing which the should regard;
+and he had told himself that he was not strong enough, either in
+purpose or in wit, to devise schemes for her welfare. She was better
+able to manage things for herself than he was to manage them for her.
+If she loved this 'accursed beast,' let her marry him; only for that
+was now his one difficulty only he could not bring himself to think it
+possible that she should love him.
+
+'I suppose you will never see this place again?' said Mrs Askerton
+after a long pause.
+
+'I hope I shall, very often,' said Clara. 'Why should I not see it
+again? It is not going out of the family.'
+
+'No not exactly out of the family. That is, it will belong to your
+cousin.'
+
+'And cousins may be as far apart as strangers, you mean; but Will and I
+are not like that; are we, Will?'
+
+'I hardly know what we are like,' said he.
+
+'You do not mean to say that you will throw me over? But the truth is,
+Mrs Askerton, that I do not mean to be thrown over. I look upon him as
+my brother, and I intend to cling to him as sisters do cling.'
+
+'You will hardly come back here before you are married,' said Mrs
+Askerton. It was a terrible speech for her to make, and could only be
+excused on the ground that the speaker was in truth desirous of doing
+that which she thought would benefit both of those whom she addressed.
+
+'Of course you are going to your wedding now?'
+
+'I am doing nothing of the kind,' said Clara. 'How can you speak in
+that way to me so soon after my father's death? It is a rebuke to me
+for being here at all.'
+
+'I intend no rebuke, as you well know. What I mean is this; if you do
+not stay in Yorkshire till you are married, let the time be when it
+may, where do you intend to go in the meantime?'
+
+'My plans are not settled yet.'
+
+'She will have this house if she pleases,' said Will. 'There will be no
+one else here. It will be her own, to do as she likes with it.'
+
+'She will hardly come here to be alone.'
+
+'I will not be inquired into, my dear,' said Clara, speaking with
+restored good-humour. 'Of course I am an unprotected female, and
+subject to disadvantages. Perhaps I have no plans for the future; and
+if I have plans, perhaps I do not mean to divulge them.'
+
+'I had better come to the point at once,' said Mrs Askerton. 'If if if
+it should ever suit you, pray come here to us. Flowers shall not be
+more welcome in May. It is difficult to speak of it all, though you
+both understand everything as well as I do. I cannot press my
+invitation as another woman might.'
+
+'Yes, you can,' said Clara with energy. 'Of course you can.'
+
+'Can I? Then I do. Dear Clara, do come to us.' And then as she spoke
+Mrs Askerton knelt on the ground at her visitor's knees. 'Mr Belton, do
+tell her that when she is tired with the grandeur of Aylmer Park she
+may come to us here.'
+
+'I don't know anything about the grandeur of Aylmer Park,' said Will,
+suddenly.
+
+'But she may come here may she not?'
+
+'She will not ask my leave,' said he.
+
+'She says that you are her brother. Whose leave should she ask?'
+
+'He knows that I should ask his rather than that of any living person,'
+said Clara.
+
+'There, Mr Belton. Now you must say that she may come or that she may
+not.'
+
+'I will say nothing. She knows what to do much better than I can tell
+her.'
+
+Mrs Askerton was still kneeling, and again appealed to Clara. 'You hear
+what he says. What do you say yourself? Will you come to us? that is,
+if such a visit will suit you in point of convenience?'
+
+'I will make no promise; but I know no reason why I should not.'
+
+'And I must be content with that? Well: I will be content.' Then she
+got up. 'For such a one as I am, that is a great deal. And, Mr Belton,
+let me tell you this I can be grateful to you, though you cannot be
+gracious to me.'
+
+'I hope I have not been ungracious,' said he.
+
+'Upon my word, I cannot compliment you. But there is something so much
+better than grace, that I can forgive you. You know, at any rate, how
+thoroughly I wish you well.'
+
+Upon this Clara got up to take her leave, and the demonstrative
+affection of an embrace between the two women afforded a remedy for the
+awkwardness of the previous conversation.
+
+'God bless you, dearest,' said Mrs Askerton. 'May I write to you?'
+
+'Certainly,' said Clara.
+
+'And you will answer my letters?'
+
+'Of course I will. You must tell me everything about the place and
+especially as to Bessy. Bessy is never to be sold is she, Will? Bessy
+was the cow which Belton had given her.
+
+'Not if you choose to keep her.'
+
+'I will go down and see to her myself,' said Mrs Askerton, and will
+utter little prayers of my own over her horns that certain events that
+I desire may come to pass. Good-bye, Mr Belton. You may be as
+ungracious as you please, but it will not make any difference.'
+
+When Clara and her cousin left the cottage they did not return to the
+house immediately, but took a last walk round the park, and through the
+shrubbery, and up to the rocks on which a remarkable scene bad once
+taken place between them. Few words were spoken as they were walking,
+and there had been no agreement as to the path they would take. Each
+seemed to understand that there was much of melancholy in their present
+mood, and that silence was more fitting than speech. But when they
+reached the rocks Belton sat himself down, asking Clara's leave to stop
+there for a moment. 'I don't suppose I shall ever come to this place
+again,' said he.
+
+'You are as bad as Mrs Askerton,' said Clara.
+
+'I do not think I shall ever come to this place again,' said he,
+repeating his words very solemnly. At any rate, I will never do so
+willingly, unless'
+
+'Unless what?'
+
+'Unless you are either my wife, or have promised to become so.'
+
+'Oh, Will; you know that that is impossible.'
+
+'Then it is impossible that I should come here again.'
+
+'You know that I am engaged to another man.'
+
+'Of course I do. I am not asking you to break your engagement. I am
+simply telling you that in spite of that engagement I love you as well
+as I did love you before you had made it. I have a right to let you
+know the truth.' As if she had not known it without his telling it to
+her now! 'It was here that I told you that I loved you. I now repeat it
+here; and will never come here again unless I may say the same thing
+over and over and over. That is all. We might as well go on now.' But
+when he got up she sat down, as though unwilling to leave the spot. It
+was still winter, and the rock was damp with cold drippings from the
+trees, and the moss around was wet, and little pools of water had
+formed themselves in the shallow holes upon the surface. She did not
+speak as she seated herself; but he was of course obliged to wait till
+she should be ready to accompany him. 'It is too cold for you to sit
+there,' he said. 'Come, Clara; I will not have you loiter here. It is
+cold and wet.'
+
+'It is not colder for me than for you.'
+
+'You are not used to that sort of thing as I am.'
+
+'Will,' she said, ' you must never speak to me again as you spoke just
+now. Promise me that you will not.'
+
+'Promises will do no good in such a matter.'
+
+'It is almost a repetition of what you did before though of course it
+is not so bad as that.'
+
+'Everything I do is bad.'
+
+'No, Will dear Will! Almost everything you do is good. But of what use
+can it be to either of us for you to be thinking of that which can
+never be? Cannot you think of me as your sister and only as your sister?
+
+'No; I cannot.'
+
+'Then it is not right that we should be together.'
+
+'I know nothing of right. You ask me a question, and I suppose you
+don't wish that I should tell you a lie.'
+
+'Of course I do not wish that.'
+
+'Therefore I tell you the truth. I love you as any other man loves the
+girl that he does love; and, as far as I know myself now, I never can
+be happy unless you are my own.'
+
+'Oh, Will, how can that be when I am engaged to marry another man?'
+
+'As to your engagement I should care nothing. Does he love you as I
+love you? If he loves you, why is he not here? If he loves you, why
+does he let his mother ill-use you, and treat you with scorn? If he
+loves you as I love you, how could he write to you as he does write?
+Would I write to you such a letter as that? Would I let you be here
+without coming to you to be looked after by any one else? If you had
+said that you would be my wife, would I leave you in solitude and
+sorrow, and then send you seventy-five pounds to console you? If you
+think he loves you, Clara'
+
+'He thought he was doing right when he sent me the money.'
+
+'But he shouldn't have thought it right. Never mind. I don't want to
+accuse him; but this I know and you know; he does not love you as I
+love you.'
+
+'What can I say to answer you?'
+
+'Say that you will wait till you have seen him. Say that I may have a
+hope a chance; that if he is cold, and hard, and and and, just what we
+know he is, then I may have a chance.'
+
+'How can I say that when I am engaged to him? Cannot you understand
+that I am wrong to let you speak of him as you do?'
+
+'How else am I to speak of him? Tell me this. Do you love him?' 'Yes I
+do.'
+
+'I don't believe it!'
+
+'Will!'
+
+'I don't believe it. Nothing on earth shall make me believe it. It is
+impossible impossible!'
+
+'Do you mean to insult me, Will?'
+
+'No; I do not mean to insult you, but I mean to tell you the truth. I
+do not think you love that man as you ought to love the man whom you
+are going to marry. I should tell you just the same thing if I were
+really your brother. Of course it isn't that I suppose you love any one
+else me for instance. I'm not such a fool as that. But I don't think
+you love him; and I'm quite sure he doesn't love you. That's just what
+I believe; and if I do believe it, how am I to help telling you?'
+
+'You've no right to have such beliefs.'
+
+'How am I to help it? Well never mind. I won't let you sit there any
+longer. At any rate you'll be able to understand now that I shall never
+come to this place any more.' Clara, as she got up to obey him, felt
+that she also ought never to see it again unless, indeed unless
+
+They passed that evening together without any reference to the scene on
+the rock, or any allusion to their own peculiar troubles. Clara, though
+she would not admit to Mrs Askerton that she was going away from the
+place for ever, was not the less aware that such might very probably be
+the case. She had no longer any rights of ownership at Belton Castle,
+and all that had taken place between her and her cousin tended to make
+her feel that under no circumstances could she again reside there. Nor
+was it probable that she would be able to make to Mrs Askerton the
+visit of which they had been talking. If Lady Aylmer were wise so Clara
+thought there would be no mention of Mrs Askerton at Aylmer Park; and,
+if so, of course she would not outrage her future husband by proposing
+to go to a house of which she knew that he disapproved. If Lady Aylmer
+were not wise if she should take upon herself the task of rebuking
+Clara for her friendship then, in such circumstances as those, Clara
+believed that the visit to Mrs Askerton might be possible.
+
+But she determined that she would leave the home in which she had been
+born, and had passed so many happy and so many unhappy days, as though
+she were never to see it again. All her packing had been done, down to
+the last fragment of an old letter that was stuffed into her
+writing-desk; but, nevertheless, she went about the house with a candle
+in her hand, as though she were still looking that nothing had been
+omitted, while she was in truth saying farewell in her heart to every
+corner which she knew so well. When at last she came down to pour out
+for her desolate cousin his cup of tea, she declared that everything
+was done. 'You may go to work now, Will,' she said, and do what you
+please with the old place. My jurisdiction is over.'
+
+'Not altogether,' said he. He no longer spoke like a despairing lover.
+Indeed there was a smile round his mouth, and his voice was cheery.
+
+'Yes altogether. I give over my sovereignty from this moment and a
+dirty dilapidated sovereignty it is.'
+
+'That's all very well to say.'
+
+'And also very well to do. What best pleases me in going to Aylmer
+Castle just now is the power it gives me of doing at once that which
+otherwise I might have put off till the doing of it had become much
+more unpleasant. Mr Belton, there is the key of the cellar which I
+believe gentlemen always regard as the real sign of possession. I don't
+advise you to trust much to the contents.' He took the key from her,
+and without saying a word chucked it across the room on to an old sofa.
+'If you won't take it, you had better, at any rate, have it tied up
+with the others,' she said.
+
+'I dare say you'll know where to find it when you want it,' he answered.
+
+'I shall never want it.'
+
+'Then it's as well there as anywhere else.'
+
+'But you won't remember, Will.'
+
+'I don't suppose I shall have occasion for remembering.' Then he paused
+a moment before he went on. 'I have told you before that I do not
+intend to take possession of the place. I do not regard it as mine at
+all.'
+
+'And whose is it, then?'
+
+'Yours.'
+
+'No, dear Will; it is not mine. You know that.'
+
+'I intend that it shall be so, and therefore you might as well put the
+keys where you will know how to find them.'
+
+Alter he had gone she did take up the key, and tied it with sundry
+others, which she intended to give to the old servant who was to be
+left in charge of the house. But after a few moments' consideration she
+took the cellar key again off the bunch, and put it back upon the sofa
+in the place to which he had thrown it.
+
+On the following morning they started on their journey. The old fly
+from Redicote was not used on this occasion, as Belton had ordered a
+pair of post-horses and a comfortable carriage from Taunton. 'I think
+it such a shame,' said Clara, 'going away for the last time without
+having Jerry and the grey horse.' Jerry was the man who had once driven
+her to Taunton when the old horse fell with her on the road. 'But Jerry
+and the grey horse could not have taken you and me too, and all our
+luggage,' said Will. 'Poor Jerry! I suppose not,' said Clara; 'but
+still there is an injury done in going without him.'
+
+There were four or five old dependents of the family standing round the
+door to bid her adieu, to all of whom she gave her hand with a cordial
+pressure. They, at least, seemed to regard her departure as final. And
+of course it was final. She had assured herself of that during the
+night. And just as they were about to start, both Colonel and Mrs
+Askerton walked up to the door. 'He wouldn't let you go without bidding
+you farewell,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I am so glad to shake hands with
+him,' Clara answered. Then the colonel spoke a word to her, and, as he
+did so, his wife contrived to draw Will Belton for a moment behind the
+carriage. 'Never give it up, Mr Belton,' said she eagerly. 'If you
+persevere she'll be yours yet.' 'I fear not,' he said. 'Stick to her
+like a man,' said she, pressing his hand in her vehemence. 'If you do,
+you'll live to thank me for having told you so.' Will had not a word to
+say for himself, but he thought that he would stick to her. Indeed, he
+thought that he had stuck to her pretty well.
+
+At last they were off, and the village of Belton was behind them; Will,
+glancing into his cousin's face, saw that her eyes were laden with
+tears, and refrained from speaking. As they passed the ugly red-brick
+rectory. house, Clara for a moment put her face to the window, and then
+withdrew it. 'There is nobody there,' she said, 'who will care to see
+me. Considering that I have lived here all my life, is it not odd that
+there should be so few to bid me good-bye?'
+
+'People do not like to put themselves forward on such occasions,' said
+Will.
+
+'People there are no people. No one ever had so few to care for them as
+I have. And now But never mind; I mean to do very well, and I shall do
+very well.' Belton would not take advantage of her in her sadness, and
+they reached the station at Taunton almost without another word.
+
+Of course they had to wait there for half an hour, and of course the
+waiting was very tedious. To Will it was very tedious indeed, as he was
+not by nature good at waiting. To Clara, who on this occasion sat
+perfectly still in the waiting-room, with her toes on the fender before
+the fire, the evil of the occasion was not so severe. 'The man would
+take two hours for the journey, though I told him an hour and a half
+would be enough,' said Will, querulously.
+
+'But we might have had an accident.'
+
+'An accident! What accident? People don't have accidents every day.'
+
+At last the train came and they started. Clara, though she had with her
+her best friend I may almost say the friend whom in the world she loved
+the best did not have an agreeable journey. Belton would not talk; but
+as he made no attempt at reading, Clara did not like to have recourse
+to the book which she had in her travelling-bag. He sat opposite to
+her, opening the window and shutting it as he thought she might like
+it, but looking wretched and forlorn. At Swindon he brightened up for a
+moment under the excitement of getting her something to eat, but that
+relaxation lasted only for a few minutes. Alter that he relapsed again
+into silence till the train had passed Slough and he knew that in
+another half-hour they would be in London. Then he leant over her and
+spoke.
+
+'This will probably be the last opportunity I shall have of saying a
+few words to you alone.'
+
+'I don't know that at all, Will.'
+
+'It will be the last for a long time at any rate. And as I have got
+something to say, I might as well say it now. I have thought a great
+deal about the property the Belton estate, I mean; and I don't intend
+to take it as mine.'
+
+'That is sheer nonsense, Will. You must take it, as it is yours, and
+can't belong to any one else.'
+
+'I have thought it over, and I am quite sure that all the business of
+the entail was wrong radically wrong from first to last. You are to
+understand that my special regard for you has nothing whatever to do
+with it. I should do the same thing if I felt that I hated you.'
+
+'Don't hate me, Will!'
+
+'You know what I mean. I think the entail was all wrong, and I shan't
+take advantage of it. It's not common sense that I should have
+everything because of poor Charley's misfortune.'
+
+'But it seems to me that it does not depend upon you or upon me, or
+upon anybody. It is yours by law, you know.'
+
+'And therefore it won't be sufficient for me to give it up without
+making it yours by law also which I intend to do. I shall stay in town
+tomorrow and give instructions to Mr Green. I have thought it proper to
+tell you this now, in order that you may mention it to Captain Aylmer.'
+
+They were leaning over in the carriage one towards the other; her face
+had been slightly turned away from him; but now she slowly raised her
+eyes till they met his, and looking into the depth of them, and seeing
+there all his love and all his suffering, and the great nobility of his
+nature, her heart melted within her. Gradually, as her tears came would
+come, in spite of all her constraint, she again turned her face towards
+the window. 'I can't talk now,' she said, 'indeed I can't.'
+
+'There is no need for any more talking about it,' be replied. And there
+was no more talking between them, on that subject or on any other, till
+the tickets bad been taken and the train was again in motion. Then he
+referred to it again for a moment. 'You will tell Captain Aylmer, my
+dear.'
+
+'I will tell him what you say, that he may know your generosity. But of
+course he will agree with me that no such offer can be accepted. It is
+quite quite quite out of the question.'
+
+'You had better tell him and say nothing more; or you can ask him to
+see Mr Green after tomorrow. He, as a man who understands business,
+will know that this arrangement must he made, if I choose to make it.
+Come; here we are. Porter, a four-wheeled cab. Do you go with him, and
+I'll look after the luggage.'
+
+Clara, as she got into the cab, felt that she ought to have been more
+stout in her resistance to his offer. But it would be better, perhaps,
+that she should write to him from Aylmer Park, and get Frederic to
+write also.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY HOTEL
+
+At the door of the hotel of the Great Northern Railway Station they
+met Captain Aylmer. Rooms had been taken there because they were to
+start by an early train on that line in the morning, and Captain Aylmer
+had undertaken to order dinner. There was nothing particular in the
+meeting to make it unpleasant to our friend Will. The fortunate rival
+could do no more in the hall of the inn than give his hand to his
+affianced bride, as he might do to any other lady, and then suggest to
+her that she should go upstairs and see her room. When he had done
+this, he also offered his hand to Belton; and Will, though he would
+almost sooner have out off his own, was obliged to take it. In a few
+minutes the two men were standing alone together in the sitting-room.
+
+'I suppose you found it cold coming up?' said the captain.
+
+'Not particularly,' said Will.
+
+'It's rather a long journey from Belton.'
+
+'Not very long,' said Will.
+
+'Not for you, perhaps; but Miss Amedroz must be tired.'
+
+Belton was angry at having his cousin called Miss Amedroz feeling that
+the reserve of the name was intended to keep him at a distance. But he
+would have been equally angry had Aylmer called her Clara.
+
+'My cousin,' said Will, stoutly, 'is able to bear slight fatigue of
+that kind without suffering.'
+
+'I didn't suppose she suffered; but journeys are always tedious,
+especially where there is so much roadwork. I believe you are twenty
+miles from the station?'
+
+'Belton Castle is something over twenty miles from Taunton.'
+
+'We are seven from our station at Aylmer Park, and we think that a
+great deal.'
+
+'I'm more than that at Plaistow,' said Will.
+
+'Oh, indeed. Plaistow is in Norfolk, I believe?'
+
+'Yes Plaistow is in Norfolk.'
+
+'I suppose you'll leave it now and go into Somersetshire,' suggested
+Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Certainly not. Why should I leave it?'
+
+'I thought, perhaps as Belton Castle is now your own'
+
+'Plaistow Hall is more my own than Belton Castle, if that signifies
+anything which it doesn't.' This he said in an angry tone, which, as he
+became conscious of it, he tried to rectify. 'I've a deal of stock and
+all that sort of thing at Plaistow, and couldn't very well leave it,
+even if I wished it,' he said.
+
+'You've pretty good shooting too, I suppose,' said Aylmer.
+
+'As far as partridges go I'll back it against most properties of the
+same extent in any county.'
+
+'I'm too busy a man myself,' said the captain, 'to do much at
+partridges. We think more of pheasants down with us.'
+
+'I dare say.'
+
+'But a Norfolk man like you is of course keen about birds.'
+
+'We are obliged to put up with what we've got, you know not but what I
+believe there is a better general head of game in Norfolk than in any
+other county in England.'
+
+'That's what makes your hunting rather poor.'
+
+'Our hunting poor! Why do you say it's poor?'
+
+'So many of you are against preserving foxes.'
+
+'I'll tell you what, Captain Aylmer; I don't know what pack you hunt
+with, but I'll bet you a five- pound note that we killed more foxes
+last year than you did that is, taking three days a week. Nine-
+and-twenty brace and a half in a short season I don't call poor at all.'
+
+Captain Aylmer saw that the man was waxing angry, and made no further
+allusion either to the glories or deficiencies of Norfolk. As he could
+think of no other subject on which to speak at the spur of the moment,
+he sat himself down and took up a paper; Belton took up another, and so
+they remained till Clara made her appearance. That Captain Aylmer read
+his paper is probable enough. He was not a man easily disconcerted, and
+there was nothing in his present position to disconcert him. But I feel
+sure that Will Belton did not read a word. He was angry with this
+rival, whom he hated, and was angry with himself for showing his anger.
+He would have wished to appear to the best advantage before this man,
+or rather before Clara in this man's presence; and he knew that in
+Clara's absence be was making such a fool of himself that he would be
+unable to recover his prestige. He had serious thoughts within his own
+breast whether it would not be as well for him to get up from his seat
+and give Captain Aylmer a thoroughly good thrashing: 'Drop into him and
+punch his head,' as he himself would have expressed it. For the moment
+such an exercise would give him immense gratification. The final
+results would, no doubt, be disastrous; but then, all future results,
+as far as he could see them, were laden with disaster. He was still
+thinking of this, eyeing the man from under the newspaper, and telling
+himself that the feat would probably be too easy to afford much
+enjoyment, when Clara re-entered the room. Then he got up, acting on
+the spur of the moment got up quickly and suddenly, and began to bid
+her adieu.
+
+'But you are going to dine here, Will?' she said.
+
+'No; I think not.'
+
+'You promised you would. You told me you had nothing to do to-night.'
+Then she turned to Captain Aylmer. 'You expect my cousin to dine with
+us today?'
+
+'I ordered dinner for three,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'Oh, very well; it's all the same thing to me,' said Will.
+
+'And to me,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'It's not all the same thing to me,' said Clara. 'I don't know when I
+may see my cousin again. I should think it very bad of you, Will, if
+you went away this evening.'
+
+'I'll go out just for half an hour,' said he, 'and be back to dinner.'
+
+'We dine at seven,' said the captain. Then Belton took his hat and left
+the two lovers together.
+
+'Your cousin seems to be a rather surly sort of gentleman.' Those were
+the first words which Captain Aylmer spoke when he was alone with the
+lady of his love. Nor was he demonstrative of his affection by any of
+the usual signs of regard which are permitted to accepted lovers. He
+did not offer to kiss her, nor did he attempt to take her hand with a
+warmer pressure now that he was alone with her. He probably might have
+gone through some such ceremony had he first met Clara in a position
+propitious to such purposes; but, as it was, he had been a little
+ruffled by Will Belton's want of good breeding, and had probably
+forgotten that any such privileges might have been his. I wonder
+whether any remembrance flashed across Clara's mind at this moment of
+her Cousin Will's great iniquity in the sitting-room at Belton Castle.
+She thought of it very often, and may possibly have thought of it now.
+
+'I don't believe that he is surly, Frederic,' she said. 'He may,
+perhaps, be out of humour.'
+
+'And why should he be out of humour with me? I only suggested to him
+that it might suit him to live at Belton instead of at that farm of
+his, down in Norfolk.'
+
+'He is very fond of Plaistow, I fancy.'
+
+'But that's no reason why he should be cross with me. I don't envy him
+his taste, that's all. If he can't understand that he, with his name,
+ought to live on the family property which belongs to him, it isn't
+likely that anything that I can say will open his eyes upon the
+subject.'
+
+'The truth is, Frederic, he has some romantic notion about the Belton
+estate.'
+
+'What romantic notion?'
+
+'He thinks it should not be his at all.'
+
+'Whose then? Who does he think should have it?'
+
+'Of course there can be nothing in it, you know; of course, it's all
+nonsense.'
+
+'But what is his idea? Who does he think should be the owner?
+
+'He means that it should be mine. But of course, Frederic, it is all
+nonsense; we know that.'
+
+It did not seem to be quite clear at the moment that Frederic had
+altogether made up his mind upon the subject. As he heard those tidings
+from Clara there came across his face a puzzled, dubious look, as
+though he did not quite understand the proposition which had been
+suggested to him as though some consideration were wanted before he
+could take the idea home to himself and digest it, so as to enable
+himself to express an opinion upon it. There might be something in it
+some show of reason which did not make itself clear to Clara's feminine
+mind. 'I have never known what was the precise nature of your father's
+marriage settlement,' said he.
+
+Then Clara began to explain with exceeding eagerness that there was no
+question as to the accuracy of the settlement, or the legality of the
+entail that indeed there was no question as to anything. Her Cousin
+Will was romantic, and that was the end of it. Of course quite as a
+matter of course, this romance would lead to nothing; and she had only
+mentioned the subject now to show that her cousin's mind might possibly
+be disturbed when the question of his future residence was raised. 'I
+quite feel with you,' she said, 'that it will be much nicer that he
+should live at the old family place; but just at present I do not speak
+about it.'
+
+'If he is thinking of not claiming Belton, it is quite another thing,'
+said Aylmer.
+
+'It is his without any claiming,' said Clara.
+
+'Ah, well; it will all be settled before long,' said Aylmer.
+
+'It is settled already,' said Clara.
+
+At seven the three met again, and when the dinner was on the table
+there was some little trouble as to the helping of the fish. Which of
+the two men should take the lead on the occasion? But Clara decided the
+question by asking her cousin to make himself useful. There can be
+little doubt but that Captain Aylmer would have distributed the mutton
+chops with much more grace, and have carved the roast fowl with much
+more skill; but it suited Clara that Will should have the employment,
+and Will did the work. Captain Aylmer, throughout the dinner,
+endeavoured to be complaisant, and Clara exerted herself to talk as
+though all matters around them were easy. Will, too, made his effort,
+every now and then speaking a word, and restraining himself from
+snapping at his rival; but the restraint was in itself evident, and
+there were symptoms throughout the dinner that the untamed man was
+longing to fly at the throat of the man that was tamed.
+
+'Is it supposed that I ought to go away for a little while?' said
+Clara, as soon as she had drunk her own glass of wine.
+
+'Oh dear, no,' said the captain. 'We'll have a cup of coffee that is,
+if Mr Belton likes it.'
+
+'It's all the same to me,' said Will.
+
+'But won't you have some more wine?' Clara asked.
+
+'No more for me,' said Captain Aylmer.  'Perhaps Mr Belton'
+
+'Who; I? No; I don't want any more wine,' said Will; and then they were
+all silent.
+
+It was very hard upon Clara. After a while the coffee came, and even
+that was felt to be a comfort. Though there was no pouring out to be
+done, no actual employment enacted, still the manoeuvring of the cups
+created a diversion. 'If either of you like to smoke,' she said, 'I
+shan't mind it in the least.' But neither of them would smoke. 'At what
+hour shall we get to Aylmer Park tomorrow?' Clara asked.
+
+'At half-past four,' said the captain.
+
+'Oh, indeed so early as that.' What was she to say next? Will, who had
+not touched his coffee, and who was sitting stiffly at the table as
+though he were bound in duty not to move, was becoming more and more
+grim every moment. She almost repented that she had asked him to remain
+with them. Certainly there was no comfort in his company, either to
+them or to himself. 'How long shall you remain in town, Will, before
+you go down to Plaistow?' she asked.
+
+'One day,' he replied.
+
+'Give my kind love my very kindest love to Mary. I wish I knew her. I
+wish I could think that I might soon know her.'
+
+'You'll never know her,' said Belton. The tone of his voice was
+actually savage as he spoke so much so that Aylmer turned in his chair
+to look at him, and Clara did not dare to answer him. But now that he
+had been made to speak, it seemed that he was determined to persevere.
+'How should you ever know her? Nothing will ever bring you into
+Norfolk, and nothing will ever take her out of it.'
+
+'I don't quite see why either of those assertions should be made.'
+
+'Nevertheless they're both true. Had you ever meant to come to Norfolk
+you would have come now.' He had not even asked her to come, having
+arranged with his sister that in their existing circumstances any such
+asking would not be a kindness; and yet he rebuked her now for not
+coming!
+
+'My mother is very anxious that Miss Amedroz should pay her a visit at
+Aylmer Park,' said the captain.
+
+'And she's going to Aylmer Park, so your mother's anxiety need not
+disturb her any longer.'
+
+'Come, Will, don't be out of temper with us,' said Clara. 'It is our
+last night together. We, who are so dear to each other, ought not to
+quarrel.'
+
+'I'm not quarrelling with you, said he.
+
+'I can hardly suppose that Mr Belton wants to quarrel with me,' said
+Captain Aylmer, smiling.
+
+'I'm sure he does not,' said Clara. Belton sat silent, with his eyes
+fixed upon the table, and with a dark frown upon his brow. He did long
+to quarrel with Captain Aylmer; but was still anxious, if it might be
+possible, to save himself from what he knew would be a transgression.
+
+'To use a phrase common with us down in Yorkshire,' said Aylmer, 'I
+should say that Mr Belton had got out of bed the wrong side this
+morning.'
+
+'What the d  does it matter to you, sir, what side I got out of bed?'
+said Will, clenching both his fists. Oh if he might have only been
+allowed to have a round of five minutes with Aylmer, he would have been
+restored to good temper for that night, let the subsequent results have
+been what they might. He moved his feet impatiently on the floor, as
+though he were longing to kick something; and then he pushed his
+coffee-cup away from him, upsetting half the contents upon the table,
+and knocking down a wineglass, which was broken.
+
+'Will Will!' said Clara, looking at him with imploring eyes.
+
+'Then he shouldn't talk to me about getting out of bed on the wrong
+side; I didn't say anything to him.'
+
+'It is unkind of you, Will, to quarrel with Captain Aylmer because he
+is my friend.'
+
+'I don't want to quarrel with him; or, rather, as I won't quarrel with
+him because you don't wish it, I'll go away. I can't do more than that.
+I didn't want to dine with him here. There's my cousin Clara, Captain
+Aylmer; I love her better than all the world besides. Love her! It
+seems to me that there's nothing else in the world for me to love. I'd
+give my heart for her this minute. All that I have in the world is
+hers. Oh love her! I don't believe that it's in you to know what I mean
+when I say that I love her! She tells me that he's going to be your
+wife. You can't suppose that I can be very comfortable under those
+circumstances or that I can be very fond of you. I'm not very fond of
+you. Now I'll go away, and then I shan't trouble you any more. But look
+here if ever you should ill-treat her, whether you marry her or whether
+you don't, I'll crush every bone in your skin.' Having so spoken he
+went to the door, but stopped himself before he left the room.
+'Good-bye, Clara. I've got a word or two more to say to you, but I'll
+write you a line down-stairs. You can show it to him if you please.
+It'll only be about business. Good-night.'
+
+She had got up and followed him to the door, and he had taken her by
+the hand. 'You shouldn't let your passion get the better of you in this
+way,' she said; but the tone of her voice was very soft, and her eyes
+were full of love.
+
+'I suppose not,' said he.
+
+'I can forgive him,' said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'D  your forgiveness,' said Will Belton. Then Clara dropped the hand
+and started back, and the door was shut, and Will Belton was gone.
+
+'Your cousin seems to be a nice sort of young man,' said Aylmer.
+
+'Cannot you understand it all, Frederic, and pardon him?'
+
+'I can pardon him easily enough; but one doesn't like men who are given
+to threatening. He's not the sort of man that I took him to be.'
+
+'Upon my word I think he's as nearly perfect as a man can be.'
+
+'Then you like men to swear at you, and to swagger like Bobadils and to
+misbehave themselves, so that one has to blush for them if a servant
+chances to hear them. Do you really think that he has conducted himself
+today like a gentleman?'
+
+'I know that he is a gentleman,' said Clara.
+
+'I must confess I have no reason for supposing him to be so but your
+assurance.'
+
+'And I hope that is sufficient, Frederic.'
+
+Captain Aylmer did not answer her at once, but sat for awhile silent,
+considering what he would say. Clara, who understood his moods, knew
+that he did not mean to drop the subject, and resolved that she would
+defend her cousin, let Captain Aylmer attack him as he would.
+
+'Upon my word, I hardly know what to say about it,' said Aylmer.
+
+'Suppose then, that we say nothing more. Will not that be best?'
+
+'No, Clara. I cannot now let the matter pass by in that way. You have
+asked me whether I do not think Mr Belton to be a gentleman, and I must
+say that I doubt it. Pray hear me out before you answer me. I do not
+want to be harder upon him than I can help; and I would have borne, and
+I did bear from him, a great deal in silence. But he said that to me
+which I cannot allow to pass without notice. He had the bad taste to
+speak to me of his his regard for you.'
+
+'I cannot see what harm he did by that except to himself.'
+
+'I believe that it is understood among gentlemen that one man never
+speaks to another man about the lady the other man means to marry,
+unless they are very intimate friends indeed. What I mean is, that if
+Mr Belton had understood how gentlemen live together he would never
+have said anything to me about his affection for you. He should at any
+rate have supposed me to be ignorant of it. There is something in the
+very idea of his doing so that is in the highest degree in-delicate. I
+wonder, Clara, that you do not see this yourself.'
+
+'I think he was indiscreet.'
+
+'Indiscreet! Indiscreet is not the word for such conduct. I must say,
+that as far as my opinion goes, it was ungentlemanlike.'
+
+'I don't believe that there is a nobler-minded gentleman in all London
+than my Cousin Will.'
+
+'Perhaps it gratified you to hear from him the assurance of his love?'
+said Captain Aylmer.
+
+'If it is your wish to insult me, Frederic, I will leave you'.
+
+'It is my wish to make you understand that your judgment has been
+wrong.'
+
+'That is simply a matter of opinion, and as I do not wish to argue with
+you about it, I had better go. At any rate I am very tired. Goodnight,
+Frederic.' He then told her what arrangements he had made for the
+morrow, and what hour she would be called, and when she would have her
+breakfast. After that he let her go without making any further allusion
+to Will Belton.
+
+It must be admitted that the meeting between the lovers had not been
+auspicious; and it must be acknowledged, also, that Will Belton had
+behaved very badly. I am not aware of the existence of that special
+understanding among gentlemen in respect to the ladies they are going
+to marry which Captain Aylmer so eloquently described; but,
+nevertheless, I must confess that Belton would have done better had he
+kept his feelings to himself. And when he talked of crushing his
+rival's bones, he laid himself justly open to severe censure. But, for
+all that, he was no Bobadil. He was angry, sore, and miserable; and in
+his anger, soreness, and misery, he had allowed himself to be carried
+away. He felt very keenly his own folly, even as he was leaving the
+room, and as he made his way out of the hotel he hated himself for his
+own braggadocio. 'I wish some one would crush my bones,' he said to
+himself almost audibly. 'No one ever deserved to be crushed better than
+I do.'
+
+Clara, when she got to her own room, was very serious and very sad.
+What was to be the end of it all? This had been her first meeting after
+her father's death with the man whom she had promised to marry; indeed,
+it was the first meeting after her promise had been given; and they had
+only met to quarrel. There had been no word of love spoken between
+them. She had parted from him now almost in anger, without the
+slightest expression of confidence between them almost as those part
+who are constrained by circumstances to be together, but who yet hate
+each other and know that they hate each other. Was there in truth any
+love between him and her? And if there was none, could there be any
+advantage, any good either to him or to her, in this journey of hers to
+Aylmer Park? Would it not be better that she should send for him and
+tell him that they were not suited for each other, and that thus she
+should escape from all the terrors of Lady Aylmer? As she thought of
+this, she could not but think of Will Belton also. Not a gentleman! If
+Will Belton was not a gentleman, she desired to know nothing further of
+gentlemen. Women are so good and kind that those whom they love they
+love almost the more when they commit offences, because of the offences
+so committed. Will Belton had been guilty of great offences of offences
+for which Clara was pre. pared to lecture him in the gravest manner
+should opportunities for such lectures ever come but I think that they
+had increased her regard for him rather than diminished it. She could
+not, however, make up her mind to send for Captain Aylmer, and when she
+went to bed she had resolved that the visit to Yorkshire must be made.
+
+Before she left the room the following morning, a letter was brought to
+her from her cousin, which had been written that morning. She asked the
+maid to inquire for him, and sent down word to him that if he were in
+the house she specially wished to see him; but the tidings came from
+the hall porter that he had gone out very early, and had expressly said
+that he should not breakfast at the inn.
+
+The letter was as follows:
+
+
+
+'Dear Clara,
+
+I meant to have handed to you the enclosed in person, but I lost my
+temper last night like a fool as I am and so I couldn't do it. You need
+not have any scruple about the money which I send œ100 in ten ten-pound
+notes as it is your own. There is the rent due up to your father's
+death, which is more than what I now enclose, and there will be a great
+many other items, as to all of which you shall have a proper account.
+When you want more, you had better draw on me, till things are settled.
+It shall all be done as soon as possible. It would not be comfortable
+for you to go away without money of your own, and I suppose you would
+not wish that he should pay for your journeys and things before you are
+married.
+
+Of course I made a fool of myself yesterday. I believe that I usually
+do. It is not any good my begging your pardon, for I don't suppose I
+shall ever trouble you any more. Good-bye, and God bless you.
+
+Your affectionate Cousin,
+
+WILLIAM BELTON.
+
+It was a bad day for me when I made up my mind to go to Belton Castle
+last summer.'
+
+Clara, when she had read the letter, sat down and cried, holding the
+bundle of notes in her hand. What would she do with them? Should she
+send them back? Oh no she would do nothing to displease him, or to make
+him think that she was angry with him. Besides, she had none of that
+dislike to taking his money which she had felt as to receiving money
+from Captain Aylmer. He had said that she would be his sister, and she
+would take from him any assistance that a sister might properly take
+from a brother.
+
+She went down-stairs and met Captain Aylmer in the sitting-room. He
+stepped up to her as soon as the door was closed, and she could at once
+see that he had determined to forget the unpleasantness of the previous
+evening. He stepped up to her, and gracefully taking her by one hand,
+and passing the other behind her waist, saluted her in a becoming and
+appropriate manner. She did not like it. She especially disliked it,
+believing in her heart of hearts that she would never become the wife
+of this man whom she had professed to love and whom she really had once
+loved. But she could only bear it. And, to say the truth, there was not
+much suffering of that kind to be borne.
+
+Their journey down to Yorkshire was very prosperous. He maintained his
+good humour throughout the day, and never once said a word about Will
+Belton. Nor did he say a word about Mrs Askerton. 'Do your best to
+please my mother, Clara,' he said, as they were driving up from the
+park lodges to the house. This was fair enough, and she therefore
+promised him that she would do her best.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+MISS AMEDROZ HAS SOME HASHED CHICKEN
+
+Clara felt herself to be a coward as the Aylmer Park carriage, which
+had been sent to meet her at the station, was drawn up at Sir Anthony
+Aylmer's door. She had made up her mind that she would not bow down to
+Lady Aylmer, and yet she was afraid of the woman. As she got out of the
+carriage, she looked up, expecting to see her in the hall; but Lady
+Aylmer was too accurately acquainted with the weights and measures of
+society for any such movement as that. Had her son brought Lady Emily
+to the house as his future bride, Lady Aylmer would probably have been
+in the hall when the arrival took place; and had Clara possessed ten
+thousand pounds of her own, she would probably have been met at the
+drawing-room door; but as she had neither money nor title as she in
+fact brought with her no advantages of any sort Lady Aylmer was found
+stitching a bit of worsted, as though she had expected no one to come
+to her. And Belinda Aylmer was stitching also by special order from her
+mother. The reader will remember that Lady Aylmer was not without
+strong hope that the engagement might even yet be broken off. Snubbing,
+she thought, might probably be efficacious to this purpose, and so
+Clara was to be snubbed.
+
+Clara, who had just promised to do her best to gain Lady Aylmer's
+opinion, and who desired to be in some way true to her promise, though
+she thoroughly believed that her labour would be in vain, put on her
+pleasantest smile as she entered the room. Belinda, under the pressure
+of the circumstances, forgetting somewhat of her mother's injunctions,
+hurried to the door to welcome the stranger. Lady Aylmer kept her
+chair, and even maintained her stitch, till Clara was half across the
+room. Then she got up, and with great mastery over her voice, made her
+little speech.
+
+'We are delighted to see you, Miss Amedroz,' she said, putting out her
+hand of which Clara, however, felt no more than the finger.
+
+'Quite delighted,' said Belinda, yielding a fuller grasp. Then there
+were affectionate greetings between Frederic and his mother and
+Frederic and his sister, during which Clara stood by, ill at ease.
+Captain Aylmer said not a word as to the footing on which his future
+wife had come to his father's house. He did not ask his mother to
+receive her as another daughter, or his sister to take his Clara to her
+heart as a sister. There had been no word spoken of recognized
+intimacy. Clara knew that the Aylmers were cold people. She had learned
+as much as that from Captain Aylmer's words to herself, and from his
+own manner. But she had not expected to be so frozen by them as was the
+case with her now. In ten minutes she was sitting down with her bonnet
+still on, and Lady Aylmer was again at her stitches.
+
+'Shall I show you your room?' said Belinda.
+
+'Wait a moment, my dear,' said Lady Aylmer. 'Frederic has gone to see
+if Sir Anthony is in his study.'
+
+Sir Anthony was found in his study, and now made his appearance.
+
+'So this is Clara Amedroz,' he said. 'My dear, you are welcome to
+Aylmer Park.' This was so much better, that the kindness expressed
+though there was nothing special in it brought a tear into Clara's eye,
+and almost made her love Sir Anthony.
+
+'By the by, Sir Anthony, have you seen Darvel? Darvel was wanting to
+see you especially about Nuggins. Nuggins says that he'll take the
+bullocks now.' This was said by Lady Aylmer, and was skilfully arranged
+by her to put a stop to anything like enthusiasm on the part of Sir
+Anthony. Clara Amedroz had been invited to Aylmer Park, and was to be
+entertained there, but it would not be expedient that she should be
+made to think that anybody was particularly glad to see her, or that
+the family was at all proud of the proposed connexion. Within five
+minutes after this she was up in her room, and had received from
+Belinda tenders of assistance as to her lady's maid. Both the mother
+and daughter had been anxious to learn whether Clara would bring her
+own maid. Lady Aylmer, thinking that she would do so, had already
+blamed her for extravagance. 'Of course Fred will have to pay for the
+journey and all the rest of it,' she had said. But as soon as she had
+perceived that Clara had come without a servant, she had perceived that
+any young woman who travelled in that way must be unfit to be mated
+with her son. Clara, whose intelligence in such matters was sharp
+enough, assured Belinda that she wanted no assistance. 'I dare say you
+think it very odd,' she said, 'but I really can dress myself.' And when
+the maid did come to unpack the things, Clara would have sent her away
+at once had she been able. But the maid, who was not a young woman, was
+obdurate. 'Oh no, miss; my lady wouldn't be pleased. If you please,
+miss, I'll do it.' And so the things were unpacked.
+
+Clara was told that they dined at half-past seven, and she remained
+alone in her room till dinner- time, although it had not yet struck
+five when she had gone upstairs. The maid had brought her up a cup of
+tea, and she seated herself at her fire, turning over in her mind the
+different members of the household in which she found herself. It would
+never do. She told herself over and over again that it would never come
+to pass that that woman should be her mother-in-law, or that that other
+woman should be her sister. It was manifest to her that she was
+distasteful to them; and she had not lost a moment in assuring herself
+that they were distasteful to her. What purpose could it answer that
+she should strive not to like them, for no such strife was possible but
+to appear to like them? The whole place and everything about it was
+antipathetic to her. Would it not be simply honest to Captain Aylmer
+that she should tell him so at once, and go away? Then she remembered
+that Frederic had not spoken to her a single word since she had been
+under his father's roof. What sort of welcome would have been accorded
+to her had she chosen to go down to Plaistow Hall?
+
+At half-past seven she made her way by herself downstairs. In this
+there was some difficulty, as she remembered nothing of the rooms
+below, and she could not at first find a servant. But a man at last did
+come to her in the hall, and by him she was shown into the
+drawing-room. Here she was alone for a few minutes. As she looked about
+her, she thought that no room she had ever seen had less of the comfort
+of habitation. It was not here that she had met Lady Aylmer before
+dinner. There had, at any rate, been in that other room work things,
+and the look of life which life gives to a room. But here there was no
+life. The furniture was all in its place, and everything was cold and
+grand and comfortless. They were making company of her at Aylmer Park!
+
+Clara was intelligent in such matters, and understood it all thoroughly.
+
+Lady Aylmer was the first person to come to her. 'I hope my maid has
+been with you,' said she to which Clara muttered something intended for
+thanks. 'You'll find Richards a very clever woman, and quite a proper
+person.'
+
+'I don't at all doubt that.'
+
+'She has been here a good many years, and has perhaps little ways of
+her own but she means to be obliging.'
+
+'I shall give her very little trouble, Lady Aylmer. I am used to dress
+myself.' I am afraid this was not exactly true as to Clara's past
+habits; but she could dress herself, and intended to do so in future,
+and in this way justified the assertion to herself.
+
+'You had better let Richards come to you, my dear, while you are here,'
+said Lady Aylmer, with a slight smile on her countenance which outraged
+Clara more even than the words. 'We like to see young ladies nicely
+dressed here.' To be told that she was to be nicely dressed because she
+was at Aylmer Park! Her whole heart was already up in rebellion. Do her
+best to please Lady Aylmer! It would be utterly impossible to her to
+make any attempt whatever in that direction. There was something in her
+ladyship's eye a certain mixture of cunning, and power, and hardness in
+the slight smile that would gather round her mouth, by which Clara was
+revolted. She already understood much of Lady Aylmer, but in one thing
+she was mistaken. She thought that she saw simply the natural woman;
+but she did, in truth, see the woman specially armed with an intention
+of being disagreeable, made up to give offence, and prepared to create
+dislike and enmity. At the present moment nothing further was said, as
+Captain Aylmer entered the room, and his mother immediately began to
+talk to him in whispers.
+
+The first two days of Clara's sojourn at Aylmer Park passed by without
+the occurrence of anything that was remarkable. That which most
+surprised and annoyed her, as regarded her own position, was the
+coldness of all the people around her, as connected with the actual
+fact of her engagement. Sir Anthony was very courteous to her, but had
+never as yet once alluded to the fact that she was to become one of his
+family as his daughter-in-law. Lady Aylmer called her Miss Amedroz
+using the name with a peculiar emphasis, as though determined to show
+that Miss Amedroz was to be Miss Amedroz as far as any one at Aylmer
+Park was concerned and treated her almost as though her presence in the
+house was intrusive. Belinda was as cold as her mother in her mother's
+presence; but when alone with Clara would thaw a little. She, in her
+difficulty, studiously avoided calling the new-corner by any name at
+all. As to Captain Aylmer, it was manifest to Clara that he was
+suffering almost more than she suffered herself. His position was so
+painful that she absolutely pitied him for the misery to which he was
+subjected by his own mother. They still called each other Frederic and
+Clara, and that was the only sign of special friendship which
+manifested itself between them. And Clara, though she pitied him, could
+not but learn to despise him. She had hitherto given him credit at any
+rate for a will of his own. She had believed him to be a man able to
+act in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience. But now she
+perceived him to be so subject to his mother that he did not dare to
+call his heart his own. What was to be the end of it all? And if there
+could only be one end, would it not be well that that end should be
+reached at once, so that she might escape from her purgatory?
+
+But on the afternoon of the third day there seemed to have come a
+change over Lady Aylmer. At lunch she was especially civil civil to the
+extent of picking out herself for Clara, with her own fork, the breast
+of a hashed fowl from a dish that was before her. This she did with
+considerable care I may say, with a show of care; and then, though she
+did not absolutely call Clara by her Christian name, she did call her
+'my dear'. Clara saw it all, and felt that the usual placidity of the
+afternoon would be broken by some special event. At three o'clock, when
+the carriage as usual came to the door, Belinda was out of the way, and
+Clara was made to understand that she and Lady Aylmer were to be driven
+out without any other companion. 'Belinda is a little busy, my dear.
+So, if you don't mind, we'll go alone.' Clara of course assented, and
+got into the carriage with a conviction that now she would hear her
+fate. She was rather inclined to think that Lady Aylmer was about to
+tell her that she had failed in obtaining the approbation of Aylmer
+Park, and that she must be returned as goods of a description inferior
+to the order given. If such were the case, the breast of the chicken
+had no doubt been administered as consolation. Clara had endeavoured,
+since she had been at Aylmer Park, to investigate her own feelings in
+reference to Captain Aylmer; but had failed, and knew that she had
+failed. She wished to think that she loved him, as she could not endure
+the thought of having accepted a man whom she did not love. And she
+told herself that he bad done nothing to forfeit her love. A woman who
+really loves will hardly allow that her love should be forfeited by any
+fault. True love breeds forgiveness for all faults. And, after all, of
+what fault had Captain Aylmer been guilty? He had preached to her out
+of his mother's mouth. That had been all! She had first accepted him,
+and then rejected him, and then accepted him again; and now she would
+fain be firm, if firmness were only possible to her. Nevertheless, if
+she were told that she was to be returned as inferior, she would hold
+up her head under such disgrace as best she might, and would not let
+the tidings break her heart.
+
+'My dear,' said Lady Aylmer, as soon as the trotting horses and rolling
+wheels made noise enough to prevent her words from reaching the
+servants on the box. 'I want to say a few words to you and I think that
+this will be a good opportunity.'
+
+'A very good opportunity,' said Clara.
+
+'Of course, my dear, you are aware that I have heard of something going
+on between you and my son Frederic.' Now that Lady Aylmer had taught
+herself to call Clara 'my dear', it seemed that she could hardly call
+her so often enough.
+
+'Of course I know that Captain Aylmer has told you of our engagement.
+But for that, I should not be here.'
+
+'I don't know how that might be,' said Lady Aylmer; 'but at any rate,
+my dear, he has told me that since the day of my sister's death there
+has been in point of fact, a sort of engagement.'
+
+'I don't think Captain Aylmer has spoken of it in that way.'
+
+'In what way? Of course he has not said a word that was not nice and
+lover-like, and all that sort of thing. I believe he would have done
+anything in the world that his aunt had told him; and as to his'
+
+'Lady Aylmer!' said Clara, feeling that her voice was almost trembling
+with anger,' I am sure you cannot intend to be unkind to me?'
+
+'Certainly not.'
+
+'Or to insult me?'
+
+'Insult you, my dear! You should not use such strong words, my dear;
+indeed you should not. Nothing of the kind is near my thoughts.'
+
+'If you disapprove of my marrying your son, tell me so at once, and I
+shall know what to do.'
+
+'It depends, my dear it depends on circumstances, and that is just why
+I want to speak to you.'
+
+'Then tell me the circumstances though indeed I think it would have
+been better if they could have been told to me by Captain Aylmer
+himself.'
+
+'There, my dear, you must allow me to judge. As a mother, of course I
+am anxious for my son. Now Frederic is a poor man. Considering the kind
+of society in which he has to live, and the position which he must
+maintain as a Member of Parliament, he is a very poor man.'
+
+This was an argument which Clara certainly had not expected that any of
+the Aylmer family would condescend to use. She had always regarded
+Captain Aylmer as a rich man since he had inherited Mrs Winterfield's
+property, knowing that previously to that he had been able to live in
+London as rich men usually do live. 'Is he?' said she. 'It may seem odd
+to you, Lady Aylmer, but I do not think that a word has ever passed
+between me and your son as to the amount of his income.'
+
+'Not odd at all, my dear. Young ladies are always thoughtless about
+those things, and when they are looking to be married think that money
+will come out of the skies.'
+
+'If you mean that I have been looking to be married'
+
+'Well expecting. I suppose you have been expecting it.' Then she
+paused; but as Clara said nothing, she went on. 'Of course, Frederic
+has got my sister's moiety of the Perivale property about eight hundred
+a year, or something of that sort, when all deductions are made. He
+will have the moiety when I die, and if you and he can be satisfied to
+wait for that event which may not perhaps be very long '. Then there
+was another pause, indicative of the melancholy natural to such a
+suggestion, during which Clara looked at Lady Aylmer, and made up her
+mind that her ladyship would live for the next twenty-five years at
+least. 'If you can wait for that,' she continued, it may be all very
+well, and though you will be poor people, in Frederic's rank of life,
+you will be able to live.'
+
+'That will be so far fortunate,' said Clara.
+
+'But you'll have to wait,' said Lady Aylmer, turning upon her companion
+almost fiercely. 'That is, you certainly will have to do so if you are
+to depend upon Frederic's income alone.'
+
+'I have nothing of my own as he knows; absolutely nothing.'
+
+'That does not seem to be quite so clear,' said Lady Aylmer, speaking
+now very cautiously or rather with a purpose of great caution; 'I don't
+think that that is quite so clear. Frederic has been telling me that
+there seems to be some sort of a doubt about the settlement of the
+Belton estate.'
+
+'There is no sort of doubt whatsoever no shadow of a doubt. He is quite
+mistaken.'
+
+'Don't be in such a hurry, my dear. It is not likely that you yourself
+should be a very good lawyer.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer, I must be in a hurry lest there should be any mistake
+about this. There is no question here for lawyers. Frederic must have
+been misled by a word or two which I said to him with quite another
+purpose. Everybody concerned knows that the Belton estate goes to my
+cousin Will. My poor father was quite aware of it.'
+
+'That is all very well; and pray remember, my dear, that you need not
+attack me in this way. I am endeavouring, if possible, to arrange the
+accomplishment of your own wishes. It seems that Mr Belton himself does
+not claim the property.'
+
+'There is no question of claiming. Because he is a man more generous
+than any other person in the world romantic ally generous he has
+offered to give me the property which was my father's for his lifetime;
+but I do not suppose that you would wish, or that Captain Aylmer would
+wish, that I should accept such an offer as that.' There was a tone in
+her voice as she said this, and a glance in her eye as she turned her
+face full upon her companion, which almost prevailed against Lady
+Aylmer's force of character.
+
+'I really don't know, my dear,' said Lady Aylmer. 'You are so violent.'
+
+'I certainly am eager about this. No consideration on earth would
+induce me to take my cousin's property from him.'
+
+'It always seemed to me that that entail was a most unfair proceeding.'
+
+'What would it signify even if it were which it was not? Papa got
+certain advantages on those conditions. But what can all that matter?
+It belongs to Will Belton.'
+
+Then there was another pause, and Clara thought that that subject was
+over between them. But Lady Aylmer had not as yet completed her
+purpose. Shall I tell you, my dear, what I think you ought to do?'
+
+'Certainly, Lady Aylmer; if you wish it.'
+
+'I can at any rate tell you what it would become any young lady to do
+under such circumstances. I suppose you will give me credit for knowing
+as much as that. Any young lady placed as you are would be recommended
+by her friends if she had friends able and fit to give her advice to
+put the whole matter into the hands of her natural friends and her
+lawyer together. Hear me out, my dear, if you please. At least you can
+do that for me, as I am taking a great deal of trouble on your behalf.
+You should let Frederic see Mr Green. I understand that Mr Green was
+your father's lawyer. And then Mr Green can see Mr Belton. And so the
+matter can be arranged. It seems to me, from what I hear, that in this
+way, and in this way only; something can be done as to the proposed
+marriage. In no other way can anything be done.'
+
+Then Lady Aylmer had finished her argument, and throwing herself back
+into the carriage, seemed to intimate that she desired no reply. She
+had believed and did believe that her guest was so intent upon marrying
+her son, that no struggle would be regarded as too great for the
+achievement of that object. And such belief was natural on her part.
+Mothers always so think of girls engaged to their sons, and so think
+especially when the girls are penniless and the sons are well-to-do in
+the world. But such belief, though it is natural, is sometimes wrong
+and it was altogether wrong in this instance. 'Then,' said Clara,
+speaking very plainly,' nothing can be done.'
+
+'Very well, my dear.'
+
+After that there was not a word said between them till the carriage was
+once more within the park. Then Lady Aylmer spoke again. 'I presume you
+see, my dear, that under these circumstances any thought of marriage
+between you and my son must be quite out of the question at any rate
+for a great many years.'
+
+'I will speak to Captain Aylmer about it, Lady Aylmer.'
+
+'Very well, my dear. So do. Of course he is his own master. But he is
+my son as well, and I cannot see him sacrificed without an effort to
+save him.'
+
+When Clara came down to dinner on that day she was again Miss Amedroz,
+and she could perceive from Belinda's manner quite as plainly as from
+that of her ladyship that she was to have no more tit-bits of hashed
+chicken specially picked out for her by Lady Aylmer's own fork., That
+evening and the two next days passed, just as had passed the two first
+days, and everything was dull, cold, and uncomfortable. Twice she had
+walked out with Frederic, and on each occasion had thought that he
+would refer to what his mother had said; but he did not venture to
+touch upon the subject. Clara more than once thought that she would do
+so herself; but when the moment came she found that it was impossible.
+She could not bring herself to say anything that should have had the
+appearance of a desire on her part to hurry on a marriage. She could
+not say to him, 'If you are too poor to be married or even if you mean
+to put forward that pretence say so at once.' He still called her
+Clara, and still asked her to walk with him, and still talked, when
+they were alone together, in a distant cold way, of the events of their
+future combined life. Would they live at Perivale? Would it be
+necessary to refurnish the house? Should he keep any of the land on his
+own hands? These are all interesting subjects of discussion between an
+engaged man and the girl to whom he is engaged; but the man, if he wish
+to make them thoroughly pleasant to the lady, should throw something of
+the urgency of a determined and immediate purpose into the discussion.
+Something should be said as to the actual destination of the rooms. A
+day should be fixed for choosing the furnishing. Or the gentleman
+should declare that he will at once buy the cows for the farm. But with
+Frederic Aylmer all discussions seemed to point to some cold, distant
+future, to which Clara might look forward as she did to the joys of
+heaven. Will Belton would have bought the ring long since, and bespoken
+the priest, and arranged every detail of the honeymoon, tour and very
+probably would have stood looking into a cradle shop with longing eyes.
+
+At last there came an absolute necessity for some plain speaking.
+Captain Aylmer declared his intention of returning to London that he
+might resume his parliamentary duties. He had purposed to remain till
+after Easter, but it was found to be impossible. 'I find I must go up
+tomorrow,' he said at breakfast. 'They are going to make a stand about
+the poor-rates, and I must be in the House in the evening.' Clara felt
+herself to be very cold and uncomfortable. As things were at present
+arranged, she was to be left at Aylmer Park without a friend. And how
+long was she to remain there? No definite ending had been proposed for
+her visit. Something must be said and something settled before Captain
+Aylmer went away.
+
+'You will come down for Easter, of course,' said his mother.
+
+'Yes; I shall come down for Easter, I think or at any rate at
+Whitsuntide.'
+
+'You must come at Easter, Frederic,' said his mother.
+
+'I don't doubt but I shall,' said he.
+
+'Miss Amedroz should lay her commands upon him,' said Sir Anthony
+gallantly.
+
+'Nonsense, said Lady Aylmer.
+
+'I have commands to lay upon him all the same,' said Clara; 'and if he
+will give me half an hour this morning he shall have them.' To this
+Captain Aylmer, of course, assented as how could he escape from such
+assent and a regular appointment was made, Captain Aylmer and Miss
+Amedroz were to be closeted together in the little back drawing-room
+immediately after breakfast. Clara would willingly have avoided any
+such formality could she have done so compatibly with the exigencies of
+the occasion. She had been obliged to assert herself when Lady Aylmer
+had rebuked Sir Anthony, and then Lady Aylmer had determined that an
+air of business should be assumed. Clara, as she was marched off into
+the back drawing-room followed by her lover with more sheep-like gait
+even than her own, felt strongly the absurdity and the wretchedness of
+her position. But she was determined to go through with her purpose.
+
+'I am very sorry that I have to leave you so soon,' said Captain
+Aylmer, as soon as the door was shut and they were alone together.
+
+'Perhaps it may be better as it is, Frederic; as in this way we shall
+all come to understand each other, and something will be settled.'
+
+'Well, yes; perhaps that will be best.'
+
+'Your mother has told me that she disapproves of our marriage.'
+
+'No; not that, I think, I don't think she can have quite said that.'
+
+'She says that you cannot marry while she is alive that is, that you
+cannot marry me because your income would not be sufficient.'
+
+'I certainly was speaking to her about my income.'
+
+'Of course I have got nothing.' Here she paused. 'Not a penny-piece in
+the world that I can call my own.'
+
+'Oh yes, you have.'
+
+'Nothing. Nothing!'
+
+'You have your aunt's legacy?'
+
+'No; I have not. She left me no legacy. But as that is between you and
+me, if we think of marrying each other, that would make no difference.'
+
+'None at all, of course.'
+
+'But in truth I have got nothing. Your mother said something to me
+about the Belton estate; as though there was some idea that possibly it
+might come to me.'
+
+'Your cousin himself seemed to think so.'
+
+'Frederic, do not let us deceive ourselves. There can be nothing of the
+kind. I could not accept any portion of the property from my cousin
+even though our marriage were to depend upon it.'
+
+'Of course it does not.'
+
+'But if your means are not sufficient for your wants I am quite ready
+to accept that reason as being sufficient for breaking our engagement.'
+
+'There need be nothing of the kind.'
+
+'As for waiting for the death of another person for your mother's
+death, I should think it very wrong. Of course, if our engagement
+stands there need be no hurry; but some time should be fixed.' Clara as
+she said this felt that her face and forehead were suffused with a
+blush; but she was determined that it should be said, and the words
+were pronounced.
+
+'I quite think so too,' said he.
+
+'I am glad that we agree. Of course, I will leave it to you to fix the
+time.'
+
+'You do not mean at this very moment?' said Captain Aylmer, almost
+aghast.
+
+'No; I did not mean that.'
+
+'I'll tell you what. I'll make a point of coming down at Easter. I
+wasn't sure about it before, but now I will be. And then it shall be
+settled.'
+
+Such was the interview; and on the next morning Captain Aylmer started
+for London. Clara felt, aware that she had not done or said all that
+should have been done and said; but, nevertheless, a step in the right
+direction had been taken.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE AYLMER PARK HASHED CHICKEN COMES TO AN END
+
+Easter in this year fell about the middle of April, and it still
+wanted three weeks of that time when Captain Aylmer started for London.
+Clara was quite alive to the fact that the next three weeks would not
+be a happy time for her. She looked forward, indeed, to so much
+wretchedness during this period, that the days as they came were not
+quite so bad as she had expected them to be. At first Lady Aylmer said
+little or nothing to her. It seemed to be agreed between them that
+there was to be war, but that there was no necessity for any of the
+actual operations of war during the absence of Captain Aylmer. Clara
+had become Miss Amedroz again; and though an offer to be driven out in
+the carriage was made to her every day, she was in general able to
+escape the infliction so that at last it came to be understood that
+Miss Amedroz did not like carriage exercise. She has never been used to
+it,' said Lady Aylmer to her daughter. 'I suppose not,' said Belinda;
+'but if she wasn't so very cross she'd enjoy it just for that reason.'
+Clara sometimes walked about the grounds with Belinda, but on such
+occasions there was hardly anything that could be called conversation
+between them, and Frederic Aylmer's name was never mentioned.
+
+Captain Aylmer had not been gone many days before she received a letter
+from her cousin, in which he spoke with absolute certainty of his
+intention of giving up the estate. He had, he said, consulted Mr Green,
+and the thing was to be done. 'But it will be better, I think,' he went
+on to say, 'that I should manage it for you till after your marriage. I
+simply mean what I say. You are not to suppose that I shall interfere
+in any way afterwards. Of course there will be a settlement, as to
+which I hope you will allow me to see Mr Green on your behalf.' In the
+first draught of his letter he had inserted a sentence in which he
+expressed a wish that the property should be so settled that it might
+at last all come to some one bearing the name of Belton. But as he read
+this over, the condition for coming from him it would be a condition
+seemed to him to be ungenerous, and he expunged it. 'What does it
+matter who has it,' he said to himself bitterly, 'or what he is called?
+I will never set eyes upon his children, nor yet upon the place when he
+has become the master of it.' Clara wrote both to her cousin and to the
+lawyer, repeating her assurance with great violence, as Lady Aylmer
+would have said that she would have nothing to with the Belton estate.
+She told Mr Green that it would be useless for him to draw up any
+deeds. 'It can't be made mine unless I choose to have it,' she said,
+'and I don't choose to have it.' Then there came upon her a terrible
+fear. What if she should marry Captain Aylmer after all; and what if
+he, when he should be her husband, should take the property on her
+behalf! Something must be done before her marriage to prevent the
+possibility of such results something as to the efficacy of which for
+such prevention she could feel altogether certain.
+
+But could she marry Captain Aylmer at all in her present mood? During
+these three weeks she was unconsciously teaching herself to hope that
+she might be relieved from her engagement. She did not love him. She
+was becoming aware that she did not love him. She was beginning to
+doubt whether, in truth, she had ever loved him. But yet she felt that
+she could not, escape from her engagement if he should show himself to.
+be really actuated by any fixed purpose to carry it out; nor could she
+bring herself to be so weak before Lady Aylmer as to seem to yield. The
+necessity of not striking her colours was forced upon her by the
+warfare to which she was subjected. She was unhappy, feeling that her
+present position in life was bad, and unworthy of her. She could have
+brought herself almost to run away from Aylmer Park, as a boy runs away
+from school, were it not that she had no place to which to run. She
+could not very well make her appearance at Plaistow Hall, and say that
+she had come there for shelter and succour. She could, indeed, go to
+Mrs Askerton's cottage for awhile; and the more she thought of the
+state of her affairs, the more did she feel sure that that would,
+before long, be her destiny. It must be her destiny unless Captain
+Aylmer should return at Easter with purposes so firmly fixed that even
+his mother should not be able to prevail against them.
+
+And now, in these days, circumstances gave her a new friend or perhaps,
+rather, a new acquaintance, where she certainly had looked neither for
+the one or for the other. Lady Aylmer and Belinda and the carriage and
+the horses used, as I have said, to go off without her. This would take
+place soon after luncheon. Most of us know how the events of the day
+drag themselves on tediously in such a country house as Aylmer Park -a
+country house in which people neither read, nor flirt, nor gamble, nor
+smoke, nor have resort to the excitement of any special amusement.
+Lunch was on the table at half-past one, and the carriage was at the
+door at three. Eating and drinking and the putting on of bonnets
+occupied the hour and a half. From breakfast to lunch Lady Aylmer, with
+her old 'front', would occupy herself with her household accounts. For
+some days after Clara's arrival she put on her new 'front' before
+lunch; but of late since the long conversation in the carriage the new
+'front' did not appear till she came down for the carriage. According
+to the theory of her life, she was never to be seen by any but her own
+family in her old 'front'. At breakfast she would appear with head so
+mysteriously enveloped with such a bewilderment of morning caps that
+old 'front' or new 'front' was all the same. When Sir Anthony perceived
+this change when he saw that Clara was treated as though she belonged
+to Aylmer Park then he told himself that his son's marriage with Miss
+Amedroz was to be; and, as Miss Amedroz seemed to him to be a very
+pleasant young woman, he would creep out of his own quarters when the
+carriage was gone and have a little chat with her being careful to
+creep away again before her ladyship's return. This was Clara's new
+friend.
+
+'Have you heard from Fred since he has been gone?' the old man asked
+one day, when he had come upon Clara still seated in the parlour in
+which they had lunched. He had been out, at the front of the house,
+scolding the under-gardener; but the man had taken away his barrow and
+left him, and Sir Anthony had found himself without employment.
+
+'Only a line to say that he is to be here on the sixteenth.'
+
+'I don't think people write so many love-letters as they did when I was
+young,' said Sir Anthony.
+
+'To judge from the novels, I should think not. The old novels used to
+be full of love-letters.'
+
+'Fred was never good at writing, I think.'
+
+'Members of Parliament have too much to do, I suppose,' said Clara.
+
+'But he always writes when there is any business. He's a capital man of
+business. I wish I could say as much for his brother or for myself.'
+
+'Lady Aylmer seems to like work of that sort.'
+
+'So she does. She's fond of it I am not. I sometimes think that Fred
+takes after her. Where was it you first knew him?'
+
+'At Perivale. We used, both of us, to be staying with Mrs Winterfield.'
+
+'Yes, yes; of course. The most natural thing in life. Well, my dear, I
+can assure you that I am quite satisfied.'
+
+'Thank you, Sir Anthony. I'm glad to hear you say even as much as that.'
+
+'Of course money is very desirable for a man situated like Fred; but
+he'll have enough, and if he is pleased, I am. Personally, as regards
+yourself, I am more than pleased. I am indeed.'
+
+'It's very good of you to say so.'
+
+Sir Anthony looked at Clara, and his heart was softened towards her as
+he saw that there was a tear in her eye. A man's heart must be very
+hard when it does not become softened by the trouble of a woman with
+whom he finds himself alone. 'I don't know how you and Lady Aylmer get
+on together,' he said; 'but it will not be my fault if we are not
+friends.'
+
+'I am afraid that Lady Aylmer does not like me,' said Clara.
+
+'Indeed. I was afraid there was something of that. But you must
+remember she is hard to please. You'll find she'll come round in time.'
+
+'She thinks that Captain Aylmer should not marry a woman without money.'
+
+'That's all very well; but I don't see why Fred shouldn't please
+himself, He's old enough to know what he wants.'
+
+'Is he, Sir Anthony? That's just the question. I'm not quite sure that
+he does know what he wants.'
+
+'Fred doesn't know, do you mean?'
+
+'I don't quite think he does, sir. And the worst of it is, I am in
+doubt as well as he.'
+
+'In doubt about marrying him?'
+
+'In doubt whether it will be good for him or for any of us. I don't
+like to come into a family that does not desire to have me.'
+
+'You shouldn't think so much of Lady Aylmer as all that, my dear.'
+
+'But I do think a great deal of her.'
+
+'I shall be very glad to have you as a daughter-in-law. And as for Lady
+Aylmer between you and me, my dear, you shouldn't take every word she
+says so much to heart. She's the best woman in the world, and I'm sure
+I'm bound to say so. But she has her temper, you know; and I don't
+think you ought to give way to her altogether. There's the carriage. It
+won't do you any good if we're found together talking over it all; will
+it?' Then the baronet hobbled off, and Lady Aylmer, when she entered
+the room, found Clara sitting alone.
+
+Whether it was that the wife was clever enough to extract from her
+husband something of the conversation that had passed between him and
+Clara, or whether she had some other source of information or whether
+her conduct might proceed from other grounds, we need not inquire; but
+from that afternoon Lady Aylmer's manner and words to Clara became much
+less courteous than they had been before. She would always speak as
+though some great iniquity was being committed, and went about the
+house with a portentous frown, as though some terrible measure must
+soon be taken with the object of putting an end to the present
+extremely improper state of things. All this was so manifest to Clara,
+that she said to Sir Anthony one day that she could no longer bear the
+look of Lady Aylmer's displeasure and that she would be forced to leave
+Aylmer Park before Frederic's return, unless the evil were mitigated.
+She had by this time told Sir Anthony that she much doubted whether the
+marriage would be possible, and that she really believed that it would
+be best for all parties that the idea should be abandoned. Sir Anthony,
+when he heard this, could only shake his head and hobble away. The
+trouble was too deep for him to cure.
+
+But Clara still held on; and now there wanted but two days to Captain
+Aylmer's return, when, all suddenly, there arose a terrible storm at
+Aylmer Park, and then came a direct and positive quarrel between Lady
+Aylmer and Clara a quarrel direct and positive and, on the part of both
+ladies, very violent.
+
+Nothing had hitherto been said at Aylmer Park about Mrs Askerton
+nothing, that is, since Clara's arrival. And Clara had been thankful
+for this silence. The letter which Captain Aylmer had written to her
+about Mrs Askerton will perhaps be remembered, and Clara's answer to
+that letter. The Aylmer Park opinion as to this poor woman, and as to
+Clara's future conduct towards the poor woman, had been expressed very
+strongly; and Clara had as strongly resolved that she would not be
+guided by Aylmer Park opinions in that matter. She had anticipated much
+that was disagreeable on this subject, and had therefore congratulated
+herself not a little on the absence of all allusion to it. But Lady
+Aylmer had, in truth, kept Mrs Askerton in reserve, as a battery to be
+used against Miss Amedroz if all other modes of attack should fail as a
+weapon which would be powerful when other weapons had been powerless.
+For a while she had thought it possible that Clara might be the owner
+of the Belton estate, and then it had been worth the careful mother's
+while to be prepared to accept a daughter-in-law so dowered. We have
+seen how the question of such ownership had enabled her to put forward
+the plea of poverty which she had used on her son's behalf. But since
+that, Frederic had declared his intention of marrying the young woman
+in spite of his poverty, and Clara seemed to be equally determined. 'He
+has been fool enough to speak the word, and she is determined to keep
+him to it,' said Lady Aylmer to her daughter. Therefore the Askerton
+battery was brought to bear not altogether unsuccessfully.
+
+The three ladies were sitting together in the drawing-room, and had
+been as mute as fishes for half an hour. In these sittings they were
+generally very silent, speaking only in short little sentences. 'Will
+you drive with us today, Miss Amedroz?' 'Not today, I think, Lady
+Aylmer.' 'As you are reading, perhaps you won't mind our leaving you?'
+'Pray do not put yourself to inconvenience for me, Miss Aylmer,' Such
+and such like was their conversation; but on a sudden, after a full
+half- hour's positive silence, Lady Aylmer asked a question altogether
+of another kind. 'I think, Miss Amedroz, my son wrote to you about a
+certain Mrs Askerton?'
+
+Clara put down her work and sat for a moment almost astonished. It was
+not only that Lady Aylmer had asked so very disagreeable a question,
+but that she had asked it with so peculiar a voice a voice as it were a
+command, in a manner that was evidently intended to be taken as
+serious, and with a look of authority in her eye, as though she were
+resolved that this battery of hers should knock the enemy absolutely in
+the dust! Belinda gave a little spring in her chair, looked intently at
+her work, and went on stitching faster than before. 'Yes, he did,' said
+Clara, finding that an answer was imperatively demanded from her.
+
+'It was quite necessary that he should write. I believe it to be an
+undoubted fact that Mrs Askerton is is is not at all what she ought to
+be.'
+
+'Which of us is what we ought to be?' said Clara.
+
+'Miss Amedroz, on this subject I am not at all inclined to joke. Is it
+not true that Mrs Askerton'
+
+'You must excuse me, Lady Aylmer, but what I know of Mrs Askerton, I
+know altogether in confidence; so that I cannot speak to you of her
+past life.'
+
+'But, Miss Amedroz, pray excuse me if I say that I must speak of it.
+When I remember the position in which you do us the honour of being our
+visitor here, how can I help speaking of it?' Belinda was stitching
+very hard, and would not even raise her eyes. Clara, who still held her
+needle in her hand, resumed her work, and for a moment or two made no
+further answer. But Lady Aylmer had by no means completed her task.
+'Miss Amedroz,' she said, 'you must allow me to judge for myself in
+this matter. The subject is one on which I feel myself obliged to speak
+to you.'
+
+'But I have got nothing to say about it.'
+
+'You have, I believe, admitted the truth of the allegations made by us
+as to this woman.' Clara was becoming very angry. A red spot showed
+itself on each cheek, and a frown settled upon her brow. She did not as
+yet know what she would say or how she would conduct herself. She was
+striving to consider how best she might assert her own independence.
+But she was fully determined that in this matter she would not bend an
+inch to Lady Aylmer. 'I believe we may take that as admitted?', said
+her ladyship.
+
+'I am not aware that I have admitted anything to you, Lady Aylmer, or
+said anything that can justify you in questioning me on the subject.'
+
+'Justify me in questioning a young woman who tells me that she is to be
+my future daughter-in-law!'
+
+'I have not told you so. I have never told you anything of the kind.'
+
+'Then on what footing, Miss Amedroz, do you do us the honour of being
+with us here at Aylmer Park?'
+
+'On a very foolish footing.'
+
+'On a foolish footing! What does that mean?'
+
+'It means that I have been foolish in coming to a house in which I am
+subjected to such questioning.'
+
+'Belinda, did you ever hear anything like this? Miss Amedroz, I must
+persevere, however much you may dislike it. The story of this woman's
+life whether she be Mrs Askerton or not, I don't know'
+
+'She is Mrs Askerton,' said Clara.
+
+'As to that I do not profess to know, and I dare say that you are no
+wiser than myself. But what she has been we do know.' Here Lady Aylmer
+raised her voice and continued to speak with all the eloquence which
+assumed indignation could give her. 'What she has been we do know, and
+I ask you, as a duty which I own to my son, whether you have put an end
+to your acquaintance with so very disreputable a person a person whom
+even to have known is a disgrace?'
+
+'I know her, and'
+
+'Stop one minute, if you please. My questions are these Have you put an
+end to that acquaintance? Are you ready to give a promise that it shall
+never be resumed?
+
+'I have not put an end to that acquaintance or rather that affectionate
+friendship as I should call it, and I am ready to promise that it shall
+be maintained with all my heart.'
+
+'Belinda, do you hear her?'
+
+'Yes, mamma.' And Belinda slowly shook her head, which was now bowed
+lower than ever over her lap.
+
+'And that is your resolution?'
+
+'Yes, Lady Aylmer; that is my resolution.'
+
+'And you think that becoming to you, as a young woman?'
+
+'Just so; I think that becoming to me as a young woman.'
+
+'Then let me tell you, Miss Amedroz, that I differ from you altogether
+altogether.' Lady Aylmer, as she repeated the last word, raised her
+folded hands as though she were calling upon heaven to witness how
+thoroughly she differed from the young woman!
+
+'I don't see how I am to help that, Lady Aylmer. I dare say we may
+differ on many subjects.'
+
+'I dare say we do. I dare say we do. And I need not point out to you
+how very little that would be a matter of regret to me but for the hold
+you have upon my unfortunate son.'
+
+'Hold upon him, Lady Aylmer! How dare you insult me by such language?'
+Hereupon Belinda again jumped in her chair; but Lady Aylmer looked as
+though she enjoyed the storm.
+
+'You undoubtedly have a hold upon him, Miss Amedroz, and I think that
+it is a great misfortune. Of course, when he hears what your conduct is
+with reference to this person, he will release himself from his
+entanglement.'
+
+'He can release himself from his entanglement whenever he chooses,'
+said Clara, rising from her chair. 'Indeed, he is released. I shall let
+Captain Aylmer know that our engagement must be at an end, unless he
+will promise that I shall never in future be subjected to the
+unwarrantable insolence of his mother.' Then she walked off to the
+door, not regarding, and indeed not hearing, the parting shot that was
+fired at her.
+
+And now what was to be done! Clara went up to her own room, making
+herself strong and even comfortable, with an inward assurance that
+nothing should ever induce her even to sit down to table again with
+Lady Aylmer. She would not willingly enter the same room with Lady
+Aylmer, or have any speech with her. But what should she at once do?
+She could not very well leave Aylmer Park without settling whither she
+would go; nor could she in any way manage to leave the house on that
+afternoon. She almost resolved that she would go to Mrs Askerton.
+Everything was of course over between her and Captain Aylmer, and
+therefore there was no longer any hindrance to her doing so on that
+score. But what would be her Cousin Will's wish? He, now, was the only
+friend to whom she could trust for good counsel. What would be his
+advice? Should she write and ask him? No she could not do that. She
+could not bring herself to write to him, telling him that the Aylmer
+'entanglement' was at an end. Were she to do so, he, with his
+temperament, would take such letter as meaning much more than it was
+intended to mean. But she would write a letter to Captain Aylmer. This
+she thought that she would do at once, and she began it.
+
+She got as far as 'My dear Captain Aylmer,' and then she found that the
+letter was one which could not be written very easily. And she
+remembered, as the greatness of the difficulty of writing the letter
+became plain to her, that it could not now be sent so as to reach
+Captain Aylmer before he would leave London. If written at all, it must
+be addressed to him at Aylmer Park, and the task might be done tomorrow
+as well as today. So that task was given up for the present.
+
+But she did write a letter to Mrs Askerton a letter which she would
+send or not on the morrow, according to the state of her mind as it
+might then be. In this she declared her purpose of leaving Aylmer Park
+on the day after Captain Aylmer's arrival, and asked to be taken in at
+the cottage. An answer was to be sent to her, addressed to the Great
+Northern Railway Hotel.
+
+Richards, the maid, came up to her before dinner, with offers of
+assistance for dressing offers made in a tone which left no doubt on
+Clara's mind that Richards knew all about the quarrel. But Clara
+declined to be dressed, and sent down a message saying that she would
+remain in her room, and begging to be supplied with tea. She would not
+even condescend to say that she was troubled with a headache. Then
+Belinda came up to her, just before dinner was announced, and with a
+fluttered gravity advised Miss Amedroz to come down-stairs. 'Mamma
+thinks it will be much better that you should show yourself, let the
+final result be what it may.'
+
+'But I have not the slightest desire to show myself.'
+
+'There are the servants, you know.'
+
+'But, Miss Aylmer, I don't care a straw for the servants really not a
+straw.'
+
+'And papa will feel it so.'
+
+'I shall be sorry if Sir Anthony is annoyed but I cannot help it. It
+has not been my doing.'
+
+'And mamma says that my brother would of course wish it.'
+
+'After what your mother has done, I don't see what his wishes would
+have to do with it even if she knew them which I don't think she does.'
+
+'But if you will think of it, I'm sure you'll find it is the proper
+thing to do. There is nothing to be avoided so much as an open quarrel,
+that all the servants can see.'
+
+'I must say, Miss Aylmer, that I disregard the servants. After what
+passed downstairs, of course I have had to consider what I should do.
+Will you tell your mother that I will stay here, if she will permit it?'
+
+'Of course. She will be delighted.'
+
+'I will remain, if she will permit it, till the morning after Captain
+Aylmer's arrival. Then I shall go.'
+
+'Where to, Miss Amedroz?'
+
+'I have already written to a friend, asking her to receive me.'
+
+Miss Aylmer paused a moment before she asked her next question but she
+did ask it, showing by her tone and manner that she had been driven to
+summon up all her courage to enable her to do so. 'To what friend, Miss
+Amedroz? Mamma will be glad to know.'
+
+'That is a question which Lady Aylmer can have no right to ask,' said
+Clara.
+
+'Oh very well. Of course, if you don't like to tell, there's no more to
+be said.'
+
+'I do not like to tell, Miss Aylmer.'
+
+Clara had her tea in her room that evening, and lived there the whole
+of the next day. The family downstairs was not comfortable. Sir Anthony
+could not be made to understand why his guest kept her room which was
+not odd, as Lady Aylmer was very sparing in the information she gave
+him; and Belinda found it to be impossible to sit at table, or to say a
+few words to her father and mother, without showing at every moment her
+consciousness that a crisis had occurred. By the next day's post the
+letter to Mrs Askerton was sent, and at the appointed time Captain
+Aylmer arrived. About an hour after he entered the house, Belinda went
+upstairs with a message from him would Miss Amedroz see him? Miss
+Amedroz would see him, but made it a condition of doing so that she
+should not be required to meet Lady Aylmer. She need not be afraid,'
+said Lady Aylmer. 'Unless she sends me a full apology, with a promise
+that she will have no further intercourse whatever with that woman, I
+will never willingly see her again.' A meeting was therefore arranged
+between Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz in a sitting-room upstairs.
+
+'What is all this, Clara?' said Captain Aylmer, at once.
+
+'Simply this that your mother has insulted me most wantonly.'
+
+'She says that it is you who have been uncourteous to her.'
+
+'Be it so you can of course believe whichever you please, and it is
+desirable, no doubt, that you should prefer to believe your mother.'
+
+'But I do not wish there to be any quarrel.'
+
+'But there is a quarrel, Captain Aylmer, and I must leave your father's
+house. I cannot stay here after what has taken place. Your mother told
+me I cannot tell you what she told me, but she made against me just
+those accusations which she knew it would be the hardest for me to
+bear.'
+
+'I'm sure you have mistaken her.'
+
+'No; I have not mistaken her.'
+
+'And where do you propose to go?'
+
+'To Mrs Askerton.'
+
+'Oh, Clara!'
+
+'I have written to Mrs Askerton to ask her to receive me for awhile.
+Indeed, I may almost say that I had no other choice.'
+
+'If you go there, Clara, there will be an end to everything.'
+
+'And there must be an end of what you call everything, Captain Aylmer,'
+said she, smiling. 'It cannot be for your good to bring into your
+family a wife of whom your mother would think so badly as she thinks of
+me.'
+
+There was a great deal said, and Captain Aylmer walked very often up
+and down the room, endeavouring to make some arrangement which might
+seem in some sort to appease his mother. Would Clara only allow a
+telegram to be sent to Mrs Askerton, to explain that she had changed
+her mind? But Clara would allow no such telegram to be sent, and on
+that evening she packed up all her things. Captain Aylmer saw her again
+and again, sending Belinda backwards and forwards, and making different
+appointments up to midnight; but it was all to no purpose, and on the
+next morning she took her departure alone in the Aylmer Park carriage
+for the railway station. Captain Aylmer had proposed to go with her;
+but she had so stoutly declined his company that he was obliged to
+abandon his intention. She saw neither of the ladies on that morning,
+but Sir Anthony came out to say a word of farewell to her in the hall.
+'I am very sorry for all this,' said he. 'It is a pity,' said Clara,
+'but it cannot be helped. Good-bye, Sir Anthony.' 'I hope we may meet
+again under pleasanter circumstances,' said the baronet. To this Clara
+made no reply, and was then handed into the carriage by Captain Aylmer.
+
+'I am so bewildered,' said he, 'that I cannot now say anything
+definite, but I shall write to you, and probably follow you.'
+
+'Do not follow me, pray, Captain Aylmer,' said she, Then she was driven
+to the station; and as she passed through the lodges of the park
+entrance she took what she intended to be a final farewell of Aylmer
+Park.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+ONCE MORE BACK TO BELTON
+
+When the carriage was driven away, Sir Anthony and Captain Aylmer were
+left standing alone at the ball door of the house. The servants had
+slunk off, and the father and son, looking at each other, felt that
+they also must slink away, or else have some words together on the
+subject of their guest's departure. The younger gentleman would have
+preferred that there should be no words, but Sir Anthony was curious to
+know something of what had passed in the house during the last few
+days. 'I'm afraid things are not going quite comfortable,' he said.
+
+'It seems to me, sir,' said his son, 'that things very seldom do go
+quite comfortable.'
+
+'But, Fred what is it all about? Your mother says that Miss Amedroz is
+behaving very badly.'
+
+'And Miss Amedroz says that my mother is behaving very badly.'
+
+'Of course that's only natural. And what do you say?'
+
+'I say nothing, sir. The less said the soonest mended.'
+
+'That's all very well; but it seems to me that you, in your position,
+must say something. The long and the short of it is this. Is she to be
+your wife?'
+
+'Upon my word, sir, I don't know.'
+
+They were still standing out under the portico, and as Sir Anthony did
+not for a minute or two ask any further questions, Captain Aylmer
+turned as though he were going into the house. But his father had still
+a word or two to say. Stop a moment, Fred. I don't often trouble you
+with advice.'
+
+'I'm sure I'm always glad to hear it when you offer any.'
+
+'I know very well that in most things your opinion is better than mine.
+You've had advantages which I never had. But I've had more experience
+than you, my dear boy. It stands to reason that in some things I must
+have had more experience than you.' There was a tone of melancholy in
+the father's voice as he said this which quite touched his son, and
+which brought the two closer together out in the porch. 'Take my word
+for it,' continued Sir Anthony, 'that you are much better off as you
+are than you could be with a wife.'
+
+'Do you mean to say that no man should marry?'
+
+'No I don't mean to say that. An eldest son ought to marry, so that the
+property may have an heir. And poor men should marry, I suppose, as
+they want wives to do for them. And sometimes, no doubt, a man must
+marry when he has got to be very fond of a girl, and has compromised
+himself, and all that kind of thing. I would never advise any man to
+sully his honour.' As Sir Anthony said this he raised himself a little
+with his two sticks and spoke out in a bolder voice. The voice however,
+sank again as he descended from the realms of honour to those of
+prudence. 'But none of these cases are yours, Fred. To be sure you'll
+have the Perivale property; but that is not a family estate, and you'll
+be much better off by turning it into money. And in the way of comfort,
+you can be a great deal more comfortable without a wife than you can
+with one. What do you want a wife for? And then, as to Miss Amedroz for
+myself I must say that I like her uncommonly. She has been very
+pleasant in her ways with me. But somehow or another, I don't think you
+are so much in love with her but what you can do without her.' Hereupon
+he paused and looked his son full in the face. Fred had also been
+thinking of the matter in his own way, and asking himself the same
+question whether he was in truth so much in love with Clara that he
+could not live without her. 'Of course I don't know,' continued Sir
+Anthony, ' what has taken place just now between you and her, or what
+between her and your mother; but I suppose the whole thing might fall
+through without any further trouble to you or without anything
+unhandsome on your part?' But Captain Aylmer still said nothing. The
+whole thing might, no doubt, fall through, but he wished to be neither
+unjust nor ungenerous and he specially wished to avoid anything
+unhandsome. After a further pause of a few minutes, Sir Anthony went on
+again, pouring forth the words of experience. 'Of course marriage is
+all very well. I married rather early in life, and have always found
+your mother to be a most excellent woman. A better woman doesn't
+breathe. I'm as sure of that as I am of anything. But God bless me of
+course you can see. I can't call anything my own. I'm tied down here
+and I can't move. I've never got a shilling to spend, while all these
+lazy hounds about the place are eating me up. There isn't a clerk with
+a hundred a year in London that isn't better off than I am as regards
+ready money. And what comfort have I in a big house, and no end of
+gardens, and a place like this? What pleasures do I get out of it? That
+comes of marrying and keeping up one's name in the county respectably!
+What do I care for the county? D   the county! I often wish that I'd
+been a younger son as you are.'
+
+Captain Aylmer had no answer to make to all this. It was, no doubt, the
+fact that age and good living had made Sir Anthony altogether incapable
+of enjoying the kind of life which he desiderated, and that he would
+probably have eaten and drunk himself into his grave long since had
+that kind of life been within his reach. This, however, the son could
+not explain to the father. But in fitting, as he endeavoured to do, his
+father's words to his own case, Captain Aylmer did perceive that a
+bachelor's life might perhaps be the most suitable to his own peculiar
+case. Only he would do nothing unhandsome. As to that he was quite
+resolved. Of course Clara must show herself to be in some degree
+amenable to reason and to the ordinary rules of the world; but he was
+aware that his mother was hot. tempered, and he generously made up his
+mind that he would give Miss Amedroz even yet another chance.
+
+At the hotel in London Clara found a short note from Mrs Askerton, in
+which she was warmly assured that everything should be done to make her
+comfortable at the cottage as long as she should wish to stay there.
+But the very warmth of affection thus expressed made her almost shrink
+from what she was about to do. Mrs Askerton was no doubt anxious for
+her coming; but would her Cousin Will Belton approve of the visit; and
+what would her Cousin Mary say about it? If she was being driven into
+this step against her own approval, by the insolence of Lady Aylmer if
+she was doing this thing simply because Lady Aylmer had desired her not
+to do it, and was doing it in opposition to the wishes of the man she
+had promised to marry as well as to her own judgment, there could not
+but be cause for shrinking. And yet she believed that she was right. If
+she could only have had some one to tell her some one in whom she could
+trust implicitly to direct her! She had hitherto been very much prone
+to rebel against authority. Against her aunt she had rebelled, and
+against her father, and against her lover. But now she wished with all
+her heart that there might be some one to whom she could submit with
+perfect faith. If she could only know what her Cousin Will would think.
+In him she thought she could have trusted with that perfect faith if
+only he would have been a brother to her.
+
+But it was too late now for doubting, and on the next day she found
+herself getting out of the old Redicote fly, at Colonel Askerton's
+door. He came out to meet her, and his greeting was very friendly.
+Hitherto there had been no great intimacy between him and her, owing
+rather to the manner of life adopted by him than to any cause of mutual
+dislike between them. Mrs Askerton had shown herself desirous of some
+social intercourse since she had been at Belton, but with Colonel
+Askerton there had been nothing of this. He had come there intending to
+live alone, and had been satisfied to carry out his purpose. But now
+Clara had come to his house as a guest, and he assumed towards her
+altogether a new manner. 'We are so glad to have you,' he said, taking
+both her hands. Then she passed on into the cottage, and in a minute
+was in her friend's arms.
+
+'Dear Clara dearest Clara, I am so glad to have you here.'
+
+'It is very good of you.'
+
+'No, dear; the goodness is with you to come. But we won't quarrel about
+that. We will both be ever so good. And he is so happy that you should
+be here. You'll get to know him now. But come upstairs. There's a fire
+in your room, and I'll be your maid for the occasion because then we
+can talk.' Clara did as she was bid and went upstairs; and as she sat
+over the fire while her friend knelt beside her for Mrs Askerton was
+given to such kneelings she could not but tell herself that Belton
+Cottage was much more comfortable than Aylmer Park. During the whole
+time of her sojourn at Aylmer Park no word of real friendship had once
+greeted her ears. Everything there had been cold and formal, till
+coldness and formality had given way to violent insolence.
+
+'And so you have quarrelled with her ladyship,' said Mrs Askerton. 'I
+knew you would.'
+
+'I have not said anything about quarrelling with her.'
+
+'But of course you have. Come, now; don't make yourself disagreeable.
+You have had a downright battle have you not?'
+
+'Something very like it, I'm afraid.'
+
+'I am so glad,' said Mrs Askerton, rubbing her hands.
+
+'That is ill-natured.'
+
+'Very well. Let it be ill-natured. One isn't to be good-natured all
+round, or what would be the use of it? And what sort of a woman is she?'
+
+'Oh dear; I couldn't describe her. She is very large, and wears a great
+wig, and manages everything herself, and I've no doubt she's a very
+good woman in her own way.'
+
+'I can see her at once and a very pillar of virtue as regards morality
+and going to church. Poor me! Does she know that you have come here?'
+
+'I have no doubt she does. I did not tell her, nor would I tell her
+daughter; but I told Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'That was right. That was very right. I'm so glad of that. But who
+would doubt that you would show a groper spirit? And what did he say?'
+
+'Not much, indeed.'
+
+'I won't trouble you about him. I don't in the least doubt but all that
+will come right. And what sort of man is Sir Anthony?'
+
+'A common-place sort of a man; very gouty, and with none of his wife's
+strength. I liked him the best of them all.'
+
+'Because you saw the least of him, I suppose.'
+
+'He was kind in his manner to me.'
+
+'And they were like she-dragons. I understand it all, and can see them
+just as though I had been there. I felt that I knew what would come of
+it when you first told me that you were going to Aylmer Park, I did,
+indeed. I could have prophesied it all.'
+
+'What a pity you did not.'
+
+'It would have done no good and your going there has done good. It has
+opened your eyes to more than one thing, I don't doubt. But tell me
+have you told them in Norfolk that you were coming here?'
+
+'No I have not written to my cousin.'
+
+'Don't be angry with me if I tell you something. I have.'
+
+'Have what?'
+
+'I have told Mr Belton that you were coming here. It was in this way. I
+had to write to him about our continuing in the cottage. Colonel
+Askerton always makes me write if it's possible, and of course we were
+obliged to settle something as to the place.'
+
+'I'm sorry you said anything about me.'
+
+'How could I help it? What would you have thought of me, or what would
+he have thought, if, when writing to him, I had not mentioned such a
+thing as your visit? Besides, it's much better that he should know.'
+
+'I am sorry that you said anything about it.'
+
+'You are ashamed that he should know that you are here,' said Mrs
+Askerton, in a tone of reproach.
+
+'Ashamed! No; I am not ashamed. But I would sooner that he had not been
+told as yet. Of course he would have been told before long.'
+
+'But you are not angry with me?'
+
+'Angry! How can I be angry with any one who is so kind to me?'
+
+That evening passed by very pleasantly, and when she went again to her
+own room, Clara was almost surprised to find how completely she was at
+home. On the next day she and Mrs Askerton together went up to the
+house, and roamed through all the rooms, and Clara seated herself in
+all the accustomed chairs. On the sofa, just in the spot to which
+Belton had thrown it, she found the key of the cellar. She took it up
+in her band, thinking that she would give it to the servant; but again
+she put it back upon the sofa. It was his key, and he had left it
+there, and if ever there came an occasion she would remind him where he
+had put it. Then they went out to the cow, who was at her ease in a
+little home paddock.
+
+'Dear Bessy,' said Clara, 'see how well she knows me.' But I think the
+tame little beast would have known any one else as well who had gone up
+to her as Clara did, with food in her hand. 'She is quite as sacred as
+any cow that ever was worshipped among the cow-worshippers,' said Mrs
+Askerton. I suppose they milk her and sell the butter, but otherwise
+she is not regarded as an ordinary cow at all.' 'Poor Bessy,' said
+Clara. 'I wish she had never come here. What is to be done with her?'
+'Done with her! She'll stay here till she dies a natural death, and
+then a romantic pair of mourners will follow her to her grave, mixing
+their sympathetic tears comfortably as they talk of the old days; and
+in future years, Bessy will grow to be a divinity of the past, never to
+be mentioned without tenderest reminiscences. I have not the slightest
+difficulty in prophesying as to Bessy's future life and posthumous
+honours.' They roamed about the place the whole morning, through the
+garden and round the farm buildings, and in and out of the house; and
+at every turn something was said about Will Belton. But Clara would not
+go up to the rocks, although Mrs Askerton more than once attempted to
+turn in that direction. He had said that he never would go there again
+except under certain circumstances. She knew that those circumstances
+would never come to pass; but yet neither would she go there. She would
+never go there till her cousin was married. Then, if in those days she
+should ever be present at Belton Castle, she would creep up to the spot
+all alone, and allow herself to think of the old days.
+
+On the following morning there came to her a letter bearing the Downham
+post-mark but at the first glance she knew that it was not from her
+Cousin Will. Will wrote with a bold round hand, that was extremely
+plain and caligraphic when he allowed him. self time for the work in
+hand, as he did with the commencement of his epistles, but which would
+become confused and altogether anti- caligraphic when he fell into a
+hurry towards the end of his performance as was his wont. But the
+address of this letter was written in a pretty, small, female hand very
+careful in the perfection of every letter, and very neat in every
+stroke. It was from Mary Briton, between whom and Clara there had never
+hitherto been occasion for correspondence. The letter was as follows:
+
+'Plaistow Hall, April, 186 .
+
+My Dear Cousin Clara,
+
+William has heard from your friends at Belton, who are tenants on the
+estate, and as to whom there seems to be some question whether they are
+to remain. He has written, saying, I believe, that there need be no
+difficulty if they wish to stay there. But we learn, also, from Mrs
+Askerton's letter, that you are expected at the cottage, and therefore
+I will address this to Belton, supposing that it may find you there.
+
+You and I have never yet known each other which has been a grief to me;
+but this grief, I hope, may be cured some day before long. I myself, as
+you know, am such a poor creature that I cannot go about the world to
+see my friends as other people do at least, not very well; and
+therefore I write to you with the object of asking you to come and see
+me here. This is an interesting old house in its way; and though I must
+not conceal from you that life here is very, very quiet, I would do my
+best to make the days pass pleasantly with you. I had heard that you
+were gone to Aylmer Park. Indeed, William told me of his taking you up
+to London. Now it seems you have left Yorkshire, and I suppose you will
+not return there very soon. If it be so, will it not be well that you
+should come to me for a short time?
+
+Both William and I feel that just for the present for a little time you
+would perhaps prefer to be alone with me. He must go to London for
+awhile, and then on to Belton, to settle your affairs and his. He
+intends to be absent for six weeks. If you would not be afraid of the
+dullness of this house for so long a time, pray come to us. The
+pleasure to me would be very great, and I hope that you have some of
+that feeling, which with me is so strong, that we ought not to be any
+longer personally strangers to each other. You could then make up your
+mind as to what you would choose to do afterwards. I think that by the
+end of that time that is, when William returns my uncle and aunt from
+Sleaford will be with us. He is a clergyman, you know; and if you then
+like to remain, they will be delighted to make your acquaintance.
+
+It seems to be a long journey for a young lady to make alone, from
+Belton to Plaistow; but travelling is so easy now-a-days, and young
+ladies seem to be so independent, that you may be able to manage it.
+Hoping to see you soon, I remain
+
+Your affectionate Cousin,
+
+MARY BELTON.'
+
+This letter she received before breakfast, and was therefore able to
+read it in solitude, and to keep its receipt from the knowledge of Mrs
+Askerton, if she should be so minded. She understood at once all that
+it intended to convey a hint that Plaistow Hall would be a better
+resting place for her than Mrs Askerton's cottage; and an assurance
+that if she would go to Plaistow Hall for her convenience, no advantage
+should be taken of her presence there by the owner of the house for his
+convenience. As she sat thinking of the offer which had been made to
+her she fancied that she could see and hear her Cousin Will as he
+discussed the matter with his sister, and with a half assumption of
+surliness declared his own intention of going away. Captain Aylmer,
+after that interview in London, had spoken of Belton's conduct as being
+unpardonable; but Clara had not only pardoned him, but had, in her own
+mind, pronounced his virtues to be so much greater than his vices as to
+make him almost perfect. 'But I will not drive him out of his own
+house,' she said. 'What does it matter where I go?'
+
+'Colonel Askerton has had a letter from your cousin,' said Mrs Askerton
+as soon as the two ladies were alone together.
+
+'And what does he say?'
+
+'Not a word about you.'
+
+'So much the better. I have given him trouble enough, and am glad to
+think that he should be free of me for awhile. Is Colonel Askerton to
+stay at the cottage?'
+
+'Now, Clara, you are a hypocrite. You know that you are a hypocrite.'
+
+'Very likely but I don't know why you should accuse me just now.'
+
+'Yes, you do. Have not you heard from Norfolk also?' 'Yes I have.'
+
+'I was sure of it. I knew he would never have written in that way, in
+answer to my letter, ignoring your visit here altogether, unless he had
+written to you also.'
+
+'But he has not written to me. My letter is from his sister. There it
+is.' Whereupon she handed the letter to Mrs Askerton, and waited
+patiently while it was being read. Her friend returned it to her
+without a word, and Clara was the first to speak again. 'It is a nice
+letter, is it not? I never saw her, you know.'
+
+'So she says.'
+
+'But is it not a kind letter?'
+
+'I suppose it is meant for kindness. It is not very complimentary to
+me. It presumes that such a one as I may be treated without the
+slightest consideration. And so I may. It is only fit that I should be
+so treated. If you ask my advice, I advise you to go at once at once.'
+
+'But I have not asked your advice, dear; nor do I intend to ask it.'
+
+'You would not have shown it me if you had not intended to go.'
+
+'How unreasonable you are! You told me just now that I was a hypocrite
+for not telling you of my letter, and now you are angry with me because
+I have shown it you.'
+
+'I am not angry. I think you have been quite right to show it me. I
+don't know how else you could have acted upon it.'
+
+'But I do not mean to act upon it. I shall not go to Plaistow. There
+are two reasons against it, each sufficient. I shall not leave you just
+yet unless you send me away; and I shall not cause my cousin to be
+turned out of his own house.'
+
+'Why should he be turned out? Why should you not go to him? You love
+him and as for him, he is more in love than any man I ever knew. Go to
+Plaistow Hall, and everything will run smooth.'
+
+'No, dear; I shall not do that.'
+
+'Then you are foolish. I am bound to tell you so, as I have inveigled
+you here.'
+
+'I thought I had invited myself.'
+
+'No; I asked you to come, and when I asked you I knew that I was wrong.
+Though I meant to be kind, I knew that I was unkind. I saw that my
+husband disapproved it, though he had not the heart to tell me so. I
+wish he had. I wish he had.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I cannot tell you how much you wrong yourself, and how
+you wrong me also. I am more than contented to be here.'
+
+'But you should not be contented to be here. It is just that. In
+learning to love me or rather, perhaps, to pity me, you lower yourself.
+Do you think that I do not see it all, and know it all? Of course it is
+bad to be alone, but I have no right not to be alone.' There was
+nothing for Clara to do but to draw herself once again close to the
+poor woman, and to embrace her with protestations of fair, honest,
+equal regard and friendship. 'Do you think I do not understand that
+letter?' continued Mrs Askerton. 'If it had come from Lady Aylmer I
+could have laughed at it, because I believe Lady Aylmer to be an
+overbearing virago, whom it is good to put down in every way possible.
+But this comes from a pure-minded woman, one whom I believe to be
+little given to harsh judgments on her fellow-sinners; and she tells
+you, in her calm wise way, that it is bad for you to be here with me.'
+
+'She says nothing of the kind.'
+
+'But does she not mean it? Tell me honestly do you not know that she
+means it?'
+
+'I am not to be guided by what she means.'
+
+'But you are to be guided by what her brother means. It is to come to
+that, and you may as well bend your neck at once. It is to come to
+that, and the sooner the better for you. it is easy to see that you are
+badly off for guidance when you take up me as your friend.' When she
+had so spoken Mrs Askerton got up and went to the door. 'No, Clara, do
+not come with me; not now,' she said, turning to her companion, who had
+risen as though to follow her. 'I will come to you soon, but I would
+rather be alone now. And, look here, dear; you must answer your
+cousin's letter. Do so at once, and say that you will go to Plaistow.
+In any event it will be better for you.'
+
+Clara, when she was alone, did answer her cousin's letter, but she did
+not accept the invitation that had been given her. She assured Miss
+Belton that she was most anxious to know her, and hoped that she might
+do so before long, either at Plaistow or at Belton; but that at present
+she was under an engagement to stay with her friend Mrs Askerton. In an
+hour or two Mrs Askerton returned, and Clara handed to her the note to
+read. 'Then all I can say is you are very silly, and don't know on
+which side your bread is buttered.' It was evident from Mrs Askerton's
+voice that she had recovered her mood and tone of mind. 'I don't
+suppose it will much signify, as it will all come right at last,' she
+said afterwards. And then, after luncheon, when she had been for a few
+minutes with her husband in his own room, she told Clara that the
+colonel wanted to speak to her. 'You'll find him as grave as a judge,
+for he has got something to say to you in earnest. Nobody can be so
+stern as he is when he chooses to put on his wig and gown.' So Clara
+went into the colonel's study, and seated herself in a chair which he
+had prepared for her.
+
+She remained there for over an hour, and during the hour the
+conversation became very animated. Colonel Askerton's assumed gravity
+had given way to ordinary eagerness, during which he walked about the
+room in the vehemence of his argument; and Clara, in answering him, had
+also put forth all her strength. She had expected that he also was
+going to speak to her on the propriety of her going to Norfolk; but he
+made no allusion to that subject, although all that he did say was
+founded on Will Belton's letter to himself. Belton, in speaking of the
+cottage, had told Colonel Askerton that Miss Amedroz would be his
+future landlord, and had then gone on to explain that it was his,
+Belton's, intention to destroy the entail, and allow the property to
+descend from the father to the daughter. 'As Miss Amedroz is with you
+now,' he said, 'may I beg you to take the trouble to explain the matter
+to her at length, and to make her understand that the estate is now, at
+this moment, in fact her own. Her possession of it does not depend on
+any act of hers or, indeed, upon her own will or wish in the matter.'
+On this subject Colonel Askerton had argued, using all his skill to
+make Clara in truth perceive that she was her father's heiress through
+the generosity undoubtedly of her cousin and that she had no
+alternative but to assume the possession which was thus thrust upon her.
+
+And so eloquent was the colonel that Clara was staggered, though she
+was not convinced. 'It is quite impossible,' she said. 'Though he may
+be able to make it over to me, I can give it back again.'
+
+'I think not. In such a matter as this a lady in your position can only
+be guided by her natural advisers her father's lawyer and other family
+friends.'
+
+'I don't know why a young lady should be in any way different from an
+old gentleman.'
+
+'But an old gentleman would not hesitate under such circumstances. The
+entail in itself was a cruelty, and the operation of it on your poor
+brother's death was additionally cruel.'
+
+'It is cruel that any one should be poor,' argued Clara; 'but that does
+not take away the right of a rich man to his property.'
+
+There was much more of this sort said between them, till Clara was at
+any rate convinced that Colonel Askerton believed that she ought to be
+the owner of the property. And then at last he ventured upon another
+argument which soon drove Clara out of the room. 'There is, I believe,
+one way in which it can all be made right,' said he.
+
+'What way? 'said Clara, forgetting in her eagerness the obviousness of
+the mode which her companion was about to point out.
+
+'Of course, I know nothing of this myself,' he said smiling; 'but Mary
+thinks that you and your cousin might arrange it between you if you
+were together.'
+
+'You must not listen to what she says about that, Colonel Askerton.'
+'Must I not? Well; I will not listen to more than I can help; but Mary,
+as you know, is a persistent talker. I, at any rate, have done my
+commission.' Then Clara left him and was alone for what remained of the
+afternoon.
+
+It could not be, she said to herself, that the property ought to be
+hers. It would make her miserable, were she once to feel that she had
+accepted it. Some small allowance out of it, coming to her from the
+brotherly love of her cousin some moderate stipend sufficient for her
+livelihood, she thought she could accept from him. It seemed to her
+that it was her destiny to be dependent on charity to eat bread given
+to her from the benevolence of a friend; and she thought that she could
+endure his benevolence better than that of any other. Benevolence from
+Aylmer Park or from Perivale would be altogether unendurable.
+
+But why should it not be as Colonel Askerton had proposed? That this
+cousin of hers loved her with all his heart with a constancy for which
+she had at first given him no credit she was well aware. And, as
+regarded herself, she loved him better than all the world beside. She
+had at last become conscious that she could not now marry Captain
+Aylmer without sin without false vows, and fatal injury to herself and
+him. To the prospect of that marriage, as her future fate, an end must
+be put at any rate an end, if that which had already taken place was
+not to be regarded as end enough. But yet she had been engaged to
+Captain Aylmer was engaged to him even now. When last her cousin had
+mentioned to her Captain Aylmer's name she had declared that she loved
+him still. How then could she turn round now, and so soon accept the
+love of another man? How could she bring herself to let her cousin
+assume to himself the place of a lover, when it was but the other day
+that she had rebuked him for expressing the faintest hope in that
+direction?
+
+But yet yet ! As for going to Plaistow, that was quite out of the
+question.
+
+'So you are to be the heiress after all,' said Mrs Askerton to her that
+night in her bedroom.
+
+'No; I am not to be the heiress after all,' said Clara, rising against
+her friend impetuously.
+
+'You'll have to be lady of Belton in one way or the other at any rate,'
+said Mrs Askerton.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+MISS AMEDROZ IS PURSUED
+
+'I suppose now, my dear, it may be considered that everything is
+settled about that young lady,' said Lady Aylmer to her son, on the
+same day that Miss Amedroz left Aylmer Park.
+
+'Nothing is settled, ma'am,' said the captain.
+
+'You don't mean to tell me that after what has passed you intend to
+follow her up any farther.'
+
+'I shall certainly endeavour to see her again.'
+
+'Then, Frederic, I must tell you that you are very wrong indeed almost
+worse than wrong. I would say wicked, only I feel sure that you will
+think better of it. You cannot mean to tell me that you would marry her
+after what has taken place?'
+
+'The question is whether she would marry me.'
+
+'That is nonsense, Frederic. I wonder that you, who are so generally so
+clear-sighted, cannot see more plainly than that. She is a scheming,
+artful young woman, who is playing a regular game to catch a husband.'
+
+'If that were so, she would have been more humble to you, ma'am.'
+
+'Not a bit, Fred. That's just it. That has been her cleverness. She
+tried that on at first, and found that she could not get round me.
+Don't allow yourself to be deceived by that, I pray. And then there is
+no knowing how she may be bound up with those horrid people, so that
+she cannot throw them over, even if she would.'
+
+'I don't think you understand her, ma'am.'
+
+'Oh very well. But I understand this, and you had better understand it
+too that she will never again enter a house of which I am the mistress;
+nor can I ever enter a house in which she is received. If you choose to
+make her your wife after that, I have done.' Lady Aylmer had not done,
+or nearly done; but we need hear no more of her threats or entreaties.
+Her son left Aylmer Park immediately after Easter Sunday, and as he
+went, the mother, nodding her head, declared to her daughter that that
+marriage would never come off, let Clara Amedroz be ever so sly, or
+ever so clever.
+
+'Think of what I have said to you, Fred,' said Sir Anthony, as he took
+his leave of his son.
+
+'Yes, sir, I will.'
+
+'You can't be better off than you are you can't, indeed.' With these
+words in his ears Captain Aylmer started for London, intending to
+follow Clara down to Belton. He hardly knew his own mind on this matter
+of his purposed marriage. He was almost inclined to agree with his
+father that he was very well off as he was. He was almost inclined to
+agree with his mother in her condemnation of Clara's conduct. He was
+almost inclined to think that he had done enough towards keeping the
+promise made to his aunt on her death. bed but still he was not quite
+contented with himself. He desired to be honest and true, as far as his
+ideas went of honesty and truth, and his conscience told him that Clara
+had been treated with cruelty by his mother. I am inclined to think
+that Lady Aylmer, in spite of her high experience and character for
+wisdom, had not fought her battle altogether well. No man likes to be
+talked out of his marriage by his mother, and especially not so when
+the talking takes the shape of threats. When she told him that under no
+circumstances would she again know Clara Amedroz, he was driven by his
+spirit of manhood to declare to himself that that menace from her
+should not have the slightest influence on him. The word or two which
+his father said was more effective. After all it might be better for
+him in his peculiar position to have no wife at all. He did begin to
+believe that he had no need for a wife. He had never before thought so
+much of his father's example as he did now. Clara was manifestly a
+hot-tempered woman a very hot-tempered woman indeed! Now his mother was
+also a hot-tempered woman, and he could see the result in the present
+condition of his father's life. He resolved that he would follow Clara
+to Belton, so that some final settlement might be made between them;
+but in coming to this resolution he acknowledged to himself that should
+she decide against him he would not break his heart. She, however,
+should have her chance. Undoubtedly it was only right that she should
+have her chance.
+
+
+
+But the difficulty of the circumstances in which he was placed was so
+great, that it was almost impossible for him to make up his mind
+fixedly to any purpose in reference to Clara. As he passed through
+London on his way to Belton he called at Mr Green's chambers with
+reference to that sum of fifteen hundred pounds, which it was now
+absolutely necessary that he should make over to Miss Amedroz, and from
+Mr Green he learned that William Belton had given positive instructions
+as to the destination of the Belton estate. He would not inherit it, or
+have anything to do with it under the entail from the effects of which
+he desired to be made entirely free. Mr Green, who knew that Captain
+Aylmer was engaged to marry his client, and who knew nothing of any
+interruption to that agreement, felt no hesitation in explaining all
+this to Captain Aylmer. 'I suppose you had heard of it before,' said Mr
+Green. Captain Aylmer certainly had heard of it, and had been very much
+struck by the idea; but up to this moment he had not quite believed in
+it. Coming simply from William Belton to Clara Amedroz, such an offer
+might be no more than a strong argument used in love- making. 'Take
+back the property, but take me with it, of course.' That Captain Aylmer
+thought might have been the correct translation of Mr William Belton's
+romance. But he was forced to look  at the matter differently when he
+found that it had been put into a lawyer's hands. 'Yes,' said he,' I
+have heard of it. Mr Belton mentioned it to me himself.' This was not
+strictly true. Clara had mentioned it to him; but Belton had come into
+the room immediately afterwards, and Captain Aylmer might probably have
+been mistaken.
+
+'He's quite in earnest,' said Mr Green.
+
+'Of course, I can say nothing, Mr Green, as I am myself so nearly
+interested in the matter. It is a great question, no doubt, how far
+such an entail as that should be allowed to operate.'
+
+'I think it should stand, as a matter of course. I think Belton is
+wrong,' said Mr Green.
+
+'Of course I can give no opinion,' said the other.
+
+'I'll tell you what you can do, Captain Aylmer. You can suggest to Miss
+Amedroz that there should be a compromise. Let them divide it. They are
+both clients of mine, and in that way I shall do my duty to each. Let
+them divide it. Belton has money enough to buy up the other moiety, and
+in that way would still be Belton of Belton.'
+
+Captain Aylmer had not the slightest objection to such a plan. Indeed,
+he regarded it as in all respects a wise and salutary arrangement. The
+moiety of the Belton estate might probably be worth twenty-five
+thousand pounds, and the addition of such a sum as that to his existing
+means would make all the difference in the world as to the expediency
+of his marriage. His father's arguments would all fall to the ground if
+twenty-five thousand pounds were to be obtained in this way; and he had
+but little doubt that such a change in affairs would go far to mitigate
+his mother's wrath. But he was by no means mercenary in his views so,
+at least, he assured himself. Clara should have her chance with or
+without the Belton estate or with or without the half of it. He was by
+no means mercenary. Had he not made his offer to her and repeated it
+almost with obstinacy, when she had no prospect of any fortune? He
+could always remember that of himself at least; and remembering that
+now, he could take a delight in these bright money prospects without
+having to accuse himself in the slightest degree of mercenary motives.
+This fortune was a godsend which he could take with clean hands if only
+he should ultimately be able to take the lady who possessed the fortune!
+
+>From London he wrote to Clara, telling her that he proposed to visit
+her at Belton. His letter was written before he had seen Mr Green, and
+was not very fervent in its expressions; but, nevertheless, it was a
+fair letter, written with the intention of giving her a fair chance. He
+had seen with great sorrow 'with heartfelt grief,' that quarrel between
+his mother and his own Clara. Thinking, as he felt himself obliged to
+think, about Mrs Askerton, he could not but feel that his mother bad
+cause for her anger. But he himself was unprejudiced, and was ready,
+and anxious also the word anxious was underscored to carry out his
+engagement. A few words between them might probably set everything
+right, and therefore be proposed to meet her at the Belton Castle
+house, at such an hour, on such a day. He should run down to Perivale
+on his journey, and perhaps Clara would let him have a line addressed
+to him there. Such was his letter.
+
+'What do you think of that?' said Clara, showing it to Mrs Askerton on
+the afternoon of the day on which she had received it.
+
+'What do you think of it?' said Mrs Askerton. 'I can only hope, that he
+will not come within reach of my hands.'
+
+'You are not angry with me for showing it to you?'
+
+'No why should I be angry with you? Of course I knew it all without any
+showing. Do not tell Colonel Askerton, or they will be killing each
+other.'
+
+'Of course I shall not tell Colonel Askerton; but I could not help
+showing this to you.'
+
+'And you will meet him?'
+
+'Yes; I shall meet him. What else can I do?'
+
+'Unless, indeed, you were to write and tell him that it would do no
+good.'
+
+'It will be better that he should come.'
+
+'If you allow him to talk you over you will be a wretched woman all
+your life.'
+
+'It will be better that he should come,' said Clara again. And then she
+wrote to Captain Aylmer at Perivale, telling him that she would be at
+the house at the hour he had named, on the day he had named.
+
+When that day came she walked across the park a little before the time
+fixed, not wishing to meet Captain Aylmer before she had reached the
+house. It was now nearly the middle of April, and the weather was soft
+and pleasant. It was almost summer again, and as she felt this, she
+thought of all the events which had occurred since the last summer of
+their agony of grief at the catastrophe which had closed her brother's
+life, of her aunt's death first, and then of her father's following so
+close upon the other, and of the two offers of marriage made to her as
+to which she was now aware that she had accepted the wrong man and
+rejected the wrong man. She was steadily minded, now, at this moment,
+that before she parted from Captain Aylmer, her engagement with him
+should be brought to a close. Now, at this coming interview, so much at
+any rate should be done. She had tried to make herself believe that she
+felt for him that sort of affection which a woman should have for the
+man she is to marry, but she had failed. She hardly knew whether she
+had in truth ever loved him; but she was quite sure that she did not
+love him now. No she had done with Aylmer Park, and she could feel
+thankful, amidst all her troubles, that that difficulty should vex her
+no more. In showing Captain Aylmer's letter to Mrs Askerton she had
+made no such promise as this, but her mind had been quite made up. 'He
+certainly shall not talk me over,' she said to herself as she walked
+across the park.
+
+But she could not see her way so clearly out of that further difficulty
+with regard to her cousin. It might be that she would be able to rid
+herself of the one lover with comparative ease; but she could not bring
+herself to entertain the idea of accepting the other. It was true that
+this man longed for her desired to call her his own, with a wearing,
+anxious, painful desire which made his heart grievously heavy heavy as
+though with lead hanging to its strings; and it was true that Clara
+knew that it was so. It was true also that his spirit had mastered her
+spirit, and that his persistence had conquered her resistance the
+resistance, that is, of her feelings. But there remained with her a
+feminine shame, which made it seem to her to be impossible that she
+should now reject Captain Aylmer, and as a consequence of that
+rejection, accept Will Belton's hand. As she thought of this, she could
+not see her way out of her trouble in that direction with any of that
+clearness which belonged to her in reference to Captain Aylmer.
+
+She had been an hour in the house before he came, and never did an hour
+go so heavily with her. There was no employment for her about the
+place, and Mrs Bunce, the old woman who now lived there, could not
+understand why her late mistress chose to remain seated among the
+unused furniture. Clara had of course told her that a gentleman was
+coming. 'Not Mr Will?' said the woman. 'No; it is not Mr Will,' said
+Clara; 'his name is Captain Aylmer.' 'Oh, indeed.' And then Mrs Bunce
+looked at her with a mystified look. Why on earth should not the
+gentleman call on Miss Amedroz at Mrs Askerton's cottage? 'I'll be sure
+to show 'un up, when a comes, at any rate,' said the old woman solemnly
+and Clara felt that it was all very uncomfortable.
+
+At last the gentleman did come, and was shown up with all the ceremony
+of which Mrs Bunce was capable. 'Here he be, mum.' Then Mrs Bunce
+paused a moment before she retreated, anxious to learn whether the new
+corner was a friend or a foe. She concluded from the captain's manner
+that he was a very dear friend, and then she departed.
+
+'I hope you are not surprised at my coming,' said Captain Aylmer, still
+holding Clara by the hand.
+
+'A little surprised,' she said, smiling.
+
+'But not annoyed?'
+
+'No not annoyed.'
+
+'As soon as you had left Aylmer Park I felt that it was the right thing
+to do the only thing to do as I told my mother.'
+
+'I hope you have not come in opposition to her wishes,' said Clara,
+unable to control a slight tone of banter as she spoke.
+
+'In this matter I found myself compelled to act in accordance with my
+own judgment,' said he, untouched by her sarcasm.
+
+'Then I suppose that Lady Aylmer is is vexed with you for coming here.
+I shall be so sorry for that so very sorry, as no good can come of it.'
+
+'Well I am not so sure of that. My mother is a most excellent woman,
+one for whose opinions on all matters I have the highest possible value
+a value so high, that that that'
+
+'That you never ought to act in opposition to it. That is what you
+really mean, Captain Aylmer; and upon my word I think that you are
+right.'
+
+'No, Clara; that is not what I mean not exactly that. Indeed, just at
+present I mean the reverse of that. There are some things on which a
+man must act on his own judgment, irrespectively of the opinions of any
+one else.'
+
+'Not of a mother, Captain Aylmer?'
+
+'Yes of a mother. That is to say, a man must do so. With a lady of
+course it is different. I was very, very sorry that there should have
+been any unpleasantness at Aylmer Park.'
+
+'It was not pleasant to me, certainly.'
+
+'Nor to any of us, Clara.'
+
+'At any rate, it need not be repeated.'
+
+'I hope not.'
+
+'No it certainly need not be repeated. I know now that I was wrong to
+go to Aylmer Park. I felt sure beforehand that there were many things
+as to which I could not possibly agree with Lady Aylmer, and I ought
+not to have gone.'
+
+'I don't see that at all, Clara.'
+
+'I do see it now.'
+
+'I can't understand you. What things? Why should you be determined to
+disagree with my mother? Surely you ought at any rate to endeavour to
+think as she thinks.'
+
+'I cannot do that, Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'I am sorry to hear you speak in this way. I have come here all the way
+from Yorkshire to try to put things straight between us; but you
+receive me as though you would remember nothing but that unpleasant
+quarrel.'
+
+'It was so unpleasant so very unpleasant! I had better speak out the
+truth at once. I think that Lady Aylmer ill-used me cruelly. I do. No
+one can talk me out of that conviction. Of course I am sorry to be
+driven to say as much to you and I should never have said it, had you
+not come here. But when you speak of me and your mother together, I
+must say what I feel. Your mother and I, Captain Aylmer, are so opposed
+to each other, not only in feeling, but in opinions also, that it is
+impossible that we should be friends impossible that we should not be
+enemies if we are brought together.'
+
+This she said with great energy, looking intently into his face as she
+spoke. He was seated near her, on a chair from which he was leaning
+over towards her, holding his hat in both hands between his legs. Now,
+as he listened to her, he drew his chair still nearer, ridding himself
+of his hat, which he left upon the carpet, and keeping his eyes upon
+hers as though he were fascinated. 'I am sorry to hear you speak like
+this,' he said.
+
+'It is best to say the truth.'
+
+'But, Clara, if you intend to be my wife'
+
+'Oh, no that is impossible now.' 'What is impossible?'
+
+'Impossible that I should become your wife. Indeed I have convinced
+myself that you do not wish it.'
+
+'But I do wish it.'
+
+'No no. If you will question your heart about it quietly, you will find
+that you do not wish it.'
+
+'You wrong me, Clara.'
+
+'At any rate it cannot be so.'
+
+'I will not take that answer from you,' he said, getting up from his
+chair, and walking once up and down the room. Then he returned to it,
+and repeated his words. 'I will not take that answer from you. An
+engagement such as ours cannot be put aside like an old glove. You do
+not mean to tell me that all that has been between us is to mean
+nothing.' There was something now like feeling in his tone, something
+like passion in his gesture, and Clara, though she had no thought of
+changing her purpose, was becoming unhappy at the idea of his
+unhappiness.
+
+'It has meant nothing,' she said. 'We have been like children together,
+playing at being in love. It is a game from which you will come out
+scatheless, but I have been scalded.'
+
+'Scalded!'
+
+'Well never mind. I do not mean to complain, and certainly not of you.'
+
+'I have come here all the way from Yorkshire in order that things may
+be put right between us.'
+
+'You have been very good very good to come, and I will not say that I
+regret your trouble. It is best, I think, that we should meet each
+other once more face to face, so that we may understand each other.
+There was no understanding anything during those terrible days at
+Aylmer Park.' Then she paused, but as he did not speak at once she went
+on. 'I do not blame you for anything that has taken place, but I am
+quite sure of this that you and I could never be happy together as man
+and wife.'
+
+'I do not know why you say so; I do not indeed.'
+
+'You would disapprove of everything that I should do. You do disapprove
+of what I am doing now.'
+
+'Disapprove of what?'
+
+'I am staying with my friend, Mrs Askerton.'
+
+He felt that this was hard upon him. As she had shown herself inclined
+to withdraw herself from him, he had become more resolute in his desire
+to follow her up, and to hold by his engagement. He was not employed
+now in giving her another chance as he had proposed to himself to do
+but was using what eloquence he had to obtain another chance for
+himself. Lady Aylmer had almost made him believe that Clara would be
+the suppliant, but now he was the suppliant himself. In his anxiety to
+keep her he was willing even to pass over her terrible iniquity in
+regard to Mrs Askerton that great sin which had led to all these
+troubles. He had once written to her about Mrs Askerton, using very
+strong language, and threatening her with his mother's full
+displeasure. At that time Mrs Askerton had simply been her friend.
+There had been no question then of her taking refuge under that woman's
+roof. Now she had repelled Lady Aylmer's counsels with scorn, was
+living as a guest in Mrs Askerton's house; and yet he was willing to
+pass over the Askerton difficulty without a word. He was willing not
+only to condone past offences, but to wink at existing iniquity! But
+she she who was the sinner, would not permit of this. She herself
+dragged up Mrs Askerton's name, and seemed to glory in her own shame.
+
+'I had not intended,' said he, 'to speak of your friend.'
+
+'I only mention her to show how impossible it is that we should ever
+agree upon some subjects as to which a husband and wife should always
+be of one mind. I knew this from the moment in which I got your letter
+and only that I was a coward I should have said so then.'
+
+'And you mean to quarrel with me altogether?'
+
+'No why should we quarrel?'
+
+'Why, indeed?' said he.
+
+'But I wish it to be settled quite settled, as from the nature of
+things it must be, that there shall be no attempt at renewal of our
+engagement. After what has passed, how could I enter your mother's
+house?'
+
+'But you need not enter it.' Now, in his emergency he was willing to
+give up anything everything. He had been prepared to talk her over into
+a reconciliation with his mother, to admit that there had been faults
+on both sides, to come down from his high pedestal and discuss the
+matter as though Clara and his mother stood upon the same footing.
+Having recognized the spirit of his lady-love, he had told himself that
+so much indignity as that must be endured. But now, he had been carried
+so far beyond this, that he was willing, in the sudden vehemence of his
+love, to throw his mother over altogether, and to accede to any terms
+which Clara might propose to him. 'Of course, I would wish you to be
+friends,' he said, using now all the tones of a suppliant; 'but if you
+found that it could not be so'
+
+'Do you think that I would divide you from your mother?'
+
+'There need be no question as to that.'
+
+'Ah there you are wrong. There must be such questions. I should have
+thought of it sooner.'
+
+'Clara, you are more to me than my mother. Ten times more.' As he said
+this he came up and knelt down beside her. 'You are everything to me.
+You will not throw me over.' He was a suppliant indeed, and such
+supplications are very potent with women. Men succeed often by the
+simple earnestness of their prayers. Women cannot refuse to give that
+which is asked for with so much of the vehemence of true desire.
+'Clara, you have promised to be my wife. You have twice promised; and
+can have no right to go back because you are displeased with what my
+mother may have said. I am not responsible for my mother. Clara, say
+that you will be my wife.' As he spoke he strove to take her hand, and
+his voice sounded as though there were in truth something of passion in
+his heart.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+THERE IS NOTHING TO TELL
+
+Captain Aylmer had never before this knelt to Clara Amedroz. Such
+kneeling on the part of lovers used to be the fashion because lovers in
+those days held in higher value than they do now that which they asked
+their ladies to give or because they pretended to do so. The forms at
+least of supplication were used; whereas in these wiser days Augustus
+simply suggests to Caroline that they two might as well make fools of
+themselves together and so the thing is settled without the need of
+much prayer. Captain Aylmer's engagement had been originally made
+somewhat after this fashion. He had not, indeed, spoken of the thing
+contemplated as a folly, not being a man given to little waggeries of
+that nature; but he had been calm, unenthusiastic, and reasonable. He
+bad not attempted to evince any passion, and would have been quite
+content that Clara should believe that he married as much from
+obedience to his aunt as from love for herself, had he not found that
+Clara would not take him at all under such a conviction. But though she
+had declined to come to him after that fashion though something more
+than that had been needed still she had been won easily, and,
+therefore, lightly prized. I fear that it is so with everything that we
+value with our horses, our houses, our wines, and, above all, with our
+women. Where is the man who has heart and soul big enough to love a
+woman with increased force of passion because she has at once
+recognized in him all that she has herself desired? Captain Aylmer
+having won his spurs easily, had taken no care in buckling them, and
+now found, to his surprise, that he was like to lose them. He had told
+himself that he would only be too glad to shuffle his feet free of
+their bondage; but now that they were going from him, he began to find
+that they were very necessary for the road that he was to travel.
+'Clara,' he said, kneeling by her side,' you are more to me than my
+mother; ten times more!'
+
+This was all new to her. Hitherto, though she had never desired that he
+should assume such attitude as this, she had constantly been
+unconsciously wounded by his coldness by his cold propriety and
+unbending self-possession. His cold propriety and unbending
+self-possession were gone now, and he was there at her feet. Such an
+argument, used at Aylmer Park, would have conquered her would have won
+her at once, in spite of herself; but now she was minded to be
+resolute. She had sworn to herself that she would not peril herself, or
+him, by joining herself to a man with whom she had so little sympathy,
+and who apparently had none with her. But in what way was she to answer
+such a prayer as that which was now made to her? The man who addressed
+her was entitled to use all the warmth of an accepted lover. He only
+asked for that which had already been given to him.
+
+'Captain Aylmer ' she began.
+
+'Why is it to be Captain Aylmer? What have I done that you should use
+me in this way? It was not I who who made you unhappy at Aylmer Park.'
+
+'I will not go back to that. It is of no use. Pray get up. It shocks me
+to see you in this way.'
+
+'Tell me, then, that it is once more all right between us. Say that,
+and I shall be happier than I ever was before yes, than I ever was
+before. I know how much I love you now, how sore it would be to lose
+you. I have been wrong. I had not thought enough of that, but I will
+think of it now.'
+
+She found that the task before her was very difficult so difficult that
+she almost broke down in performing it. It would have been so easy and,
+for the moment, so pleasant to have yielded. He had his hand upon her
+arm, having attempted to take her hand. In preventing that she had
+succeeded, but she could not altogether make herself free from him
+without rising. For a moment she had paused paused as though she were
+about to yield. For a moment, as he looked into her eyes, he had
+thought that he would again be victorious. Perhaps there was something
+in his glance, some too visible return of triumph to his eyes, which
+warned her of her danger. 'No!' she said, getting up and walking away
+from him; 'no!'
+
+'And what does "no" mean, Clara?' Then he also rose, and stood leaning
+on the table. 'Does it mean that you will be forsworn?'
+
+'It means this that I will not come between you and your mother; that I
+will not be taken into a family in which I am scorned; that I will not
+go to Aylmer Park myself or be the means of preventing you from going
+there.'
+
+'There need be no question of Aylmer Park.'
+
+'There shall be none!'
+
+'But, so much being allowed, you will be my wife?'
+
+'No, Captain Aylmer no. I cannot be your wife. Do not press it further;
+you must know that on such a subject I would think much before I
+answered you. I have thought much, and I know that I am right.'
+
+'And your promised word is to go for nothing?'
+
+'If it will comfort you to say so, you may say it. If you do not
+perceive that the mistake made between us has been as much your mistake
+as mine, and has injured me more than it has injured you, I will not
+remind you of it will never remind you of it after this.'
+
+'But there has been no mistake and there shall be no injury.'
+
+'Ah, Captain Aylmer you do not understand; you cannot understand. I
+would not for worlds reproach you; but do you think I suffered nothing
+from your mother?'
+
+'And must I pay for her sins?'
+
+'There shall be no paying, no punishment, and no reproaches. There
+shall be none at least from me. But do not think that I speak in anger
+or in pride I will not marry into Lady Aylmer's family.'
+
+'This is too bad too bad! After all that is past, it is too bad!'
+
+'What can I say? Would you advise me to do that which would make us
+both wretched?'
+
+'It would not make me wretched. It would make me happy. It would
+satisfy me altogether.'
+
+'It cannot be, Captain Aylmer. It cannot be. When I speak to you in
+that way, will you not let it be final?'
+
+He paused a moment before he spoke again, and then he turned sharp upon
+her. 'Tell me this, Clara; do you love me? Have you ever loved me?' She
+did not answer him, but stood there, listening quietly to his
+accusations. 'You have never loved me, and yet you have allowed
+yourself to say that you did. Is not that true?' Still she did not
+answer. 'I ask you whether that is not true?' But though he asked her,
+and paused for an answer, looking the while full into her face, yet she
+did not speak. And now I suppose you will become your cousin's wife?'
+he said. 'It will suit you to change, and to say that you love him.'
+
+Then at last she spoke. 'I did not think that you would have treated me
+in this way, Captain Aylmer! I did not expect that you would insult me!'
+
+'I have not insulted you.'
+
+'But your manner to me makes my task easier than I could have hoped it
+to be. You asked me whether I ever loved you? I once thought that I did
+so; and so thinking, told you, without reserve, all my feeling. When I
+came to find that I had been mistaken, I conceived myself bound by my
+engagement to rectify my own error as best I could; and I resolved,
+wrongly as I now think, very wrongly that I could learn as your wife to
+love you. Then came circumstances which showed me that a release would
+be good for both of us, and which justified me in accepting it. No girl
+could be bound by any engagement to a man who looked on and saw her
+treated in his own home, by his own mother, as you saw me treated at
+Aylmer Park. I claim to be released myself, and I know that this
+release is as good for you as it is for me.'
+
+'I am the best judge of that.'
+
+'For myself at any rate I will judge. For myself I have decided. Now I
+have answered the questions which you asked me as to my love for
+yourself. To that other question which you have thought fit to put to
+me about my cousin, I refuse to give any answer whatsoever.' Then,
+having said so much, she walked out of the room, closing the door
+behind her, and left him standing there alone.
+
+We need not follow her as she went up, almost mechanically, into her
+own room the room that used to be her own and then shut herself in,
+waiting till she should be assured, first by sounds in the house, and
+then by silence, that he was gone. That she fell away greatly from the
+majesty of her demeanour when she was thus alone, and descended to the
+ordinary ways of troubled females, we may be quite sure. But to her
+there was no further difficulty. Her work for the day was done. In due
+time she would take herself to the cottage, and all would be well, or,
+at any rate, comfortable with her. But what was he to do? How was he to
+get himself out of the house, and take himself back to London? While he
+had been in pursuit of her, and when he was leaving his vehicle at the
+public- house in the village of Belton, he like some other invading
+generals had failed to provide adequately for his retreat. When he was
+alone he took a turn or two about the room, half thinking that Clara
+would return to him. She could hardly leave him alone in a strange
+house him, who, as he had twice told her, had come all the way from
+Yorkshire to see her. But she did not return, and gradually he came to
+understand that he must provide for his own retreat without assistance.
+He was hardly aware, even now, how greatly he had transcended his usual
+modes of speech and action, both in the energy of his supplication and
+in the violence of his rebuke. He had been lifted for awhile out  of
+himself by the excitement of his position, and now that he was
+subsiding into quiescence, he was unconscious that he had almost
+mounted into passion that he had spoken of love very nearly with
+eloquence. But he did recognize this as a fact that Clara was not to be
+his wife, and that he had better get back from Belton to London as
+quickly as possible. It would be well for him to teach himself to look
+back on the result of his aunt's dying request as an episode in his
+life satisfactorily concluded. His mother had undoubtedly been right.
+Clara, he could see now, would have led him a devil of a life; and even
+had she come to him possessed of a moiety of the property a supposition
+as to which he had very strong doubts still she might have been dear at
+the money. 'No real feeling,' he said to himself, as he walked about
+the room 'none whatever; and then so deficient in delicacy!' But still
+he was discontented because he had been rejected, and therefore tried
+to make him. self believe that he could still have her if he chose to
+persevere. 'But no,' he said, as he continued to pace the room, 'I have
+done everything more than every. thing that honour demands. I shall not
+ask her again. it is her own fault. She is an imperious woman, and my
+mother read her character aright.' It did not occur to him, as he thus
+consoled himself for what he had lost, that his mother's accusation
+against Clara had been altogether of a different nature. When we
+console ourselves by our own arguments, we are not apt to examine their
+accuracy with much strictness.
+
+But whether he were consoled or not, it was necessary that he should
+go, and in his going he felt himself to be ill-treated. He left the
+room, and as he went downstairs was disturbed and tormented by the
+creaking of his own boots. He tried to be dignified as he walked
+through the hall, and was troubled at his failure, though he was not
+conscious of any one looking at him. Then it was grievous that he
+should have to let himself out of the front door without attendance. At
+ordinary times he thought as little of such things as most men, and
+would not be aware whether he opened a door for himself or had it
+opened for him by another but now there was a distressing awkwardness
+in the necessity for self-exertion. He did not know the turn of the
+handle, and was unfamiliar with the manner of exit. He was being
+treated with indignity, and before he had escaped from the house had
+come to think that the Amedroz and Belton people were somewhat below
+him. He endeavoured to go out without a noise, but there was a slam of
+the door, without which he could not get the lock to work; and Clara,
+up in her own room, knew all about it.
+
+'Carriage yes; of course I want the carnage,' he said to the
+unfortunate boy at the public-house. 'Didn't you hear me say that I
+wanted it?' He had come down with a pair of horses, and as he saw them
+being put to the vehicle he wished he had been contented with one. As
+he was standing there, waiting, a gentleman rode by, and the boy, in
+answer to his question, told him that the horseman was Colonel
+Askerton. Before the day was over Colonel Askerton would probably know
+all that had happened to him. 'Do move a little quicker; will you?' he
+said to the boy and the old man who was to drive him. Then he got into
+the carriage, and was driven out of Belton, devoutly purposing that he
+never would return; and as he made his way back to Perivale he thought
+of a certain Lady Emily, who would, as he assured himself, have behaved
+much better than Clara Amedroz had done in any such scene as that which
+had just taken place.
+
+When Clara was quite sure that Captain Aylmer was off the premises,
+she, too, descended, but she did not immediately leave the house. She
+walked through the room, and rang for the old woman, and gave certain
+directions as to the performance of which she certainly was not very
+anxious, and was careful to make Mrs Bunce understand that nothing had
+occurred between her and the gentleman that was either exalting or
+depressing in its nature. 'I suppose Captain Aylmer went out, Mrs
+Bunce?' 'Oh yes, miss, a went out. I stood and see'd un from the top of
+the kitchen stairs.' 'You might have opened the door for him, Mrs
+Bunce.' 'Indeed then I never thought of it, miss, seeing the house so
+empty and the like.' Clara said that it did not signify; and then,
+after an hour of composure, she walked back across the park to the
+cottage.
+
+'Well?' said Mrs Askerton as soon as Clara was inside the drawing-room.
+
+'Well,' replied Clara.
+
+'What have you got to tell? Do tell me what you have to tell.'
+
+'I have nothing to tell.'
+
+'Clara, that is impossible. Have you seen him? I know you have seen
+him, because he went by from the house about an hour since.'
+
+'Oh yes; I have seen him.'
+
+'And what have you said to him?'
+
+'Pray do not ask me these questions just now. I have got to think of it
+all to think what he did say and what I said.'
+
+'But you will tell me.'
+
+'Yes; I suppose so.' Then Mrs Askerton was silent on the subject for
+the remainder of the day, allowing Clara even to go to bed without
+another question. And nothing was asked on the following morning
+nothing till the usual time for the writing of letters.
+
+'Shall you have anything for the post?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'There is plenty of time yet.'
+
+'Not too much if you mean to go out at all. Come, Clara, you had better
+write to him at once.'
+
+'Write to whom? I don't know that I have any letter to write at all.'
+Then there was a pause. 'As far as I can see,' she said, 'I may give up
+writing altogether for the future, unless some day you may care to hear
+from me.'
+
+'But you are not going away.'
+
+'Not just yet if you will keep me. To tell you the truth, Mrs Askerton,
+I do not yet know where on earth to take myself.'
+
+'Wait here till we turn you out.'
+
+'I have got to put my house in order. You know what I mean. The job
+ought not to be a troublesome one, for it is a very small house.'
+
+'I suppose I know what you mean.'
+
+'It will not be a very smart establishment. But I must look it all in
+the face; must I not? Though it were to be no house at all, I cannot
+stay here all my life.'
+
+'Yes, you may. You have lost Aylmer Park because you were too noble not
+to come to us.'
+
+'No,' said Clara, speaking aloud, with bright eyes almost with her
+hands clenched. 'No I deny that.'
+
+'I shall choose to think so for my own purposes. Clara, you are savage
+to me almost always savage; but next to him I love you better than all
+the world beside. And so does he. "It's her courage," he said to me the
+other day. "That she should dare to do as she pleases here, is nothing;
+but to have dared to persevere in the fangs of that old dragon," it was
+just what he said "that was wonderful!"'
+
+'There is an end of the old dragon now, so far as I am concerned.'
+
+'Of course there is and of the young dragon too. You wouldn't have had
+the heart to keep me in suspense if you had accepted him again. You
+couldn't have been so pleasant last night if that had been so.'
+
+'I did not know I was very pleasant.'
+
+'Yes, you were. You were soft and gracious gracious for you, at least.
+And now, dear, do tell me about it. Of course I am dying to know.'
+
+'There is nothing to tell.'
+
+'That is nonsense. There must be a thousand things to tell. At any rate
+it is quite decided?'
+
+'Yes; it is quite decided.'
+
+'All the dragons, old and young, are banished into outer darkness.'
+
+'Either that, or else they are to have all the light to themselves.'
+
+'Such light as glimmers through the gloom of Aylmer Park. And was he
+contented? I hope not. I hope you had him on his knees before he left
+you.'
+
+'Why should you hope that? How can you talk such nonsense?'
+
+'Because I wish that he should recognize what he has lost that he
+should know that he has been a fool a mean fool.'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I will not have him spoken of like that. He is a man
+very estimable of estimable qualities.'
+
+'Fiddle-de-dee. He is an ape a monkey to be carried on his mother's
+organ. His only good quality was that you could have carried him on
+yours. I can tell you one thing there is not a woman breathing that
+will ever carry William Belton on hers. Whoever his wife may be, she
+will have to dance to his piping.'
+
+'With all my heart and I hope the tunes will be good.'
+
+'But I wish I could have been present to have heard what passed hidden,
+you know, behind a curtain. You won't tell me?'
+
+'I will tell you not a word more.'
+
+'Then I will get it out from Mrs Bunce. I'll be bound she was
+listening.'
+
+'Mrs Bunce will have nothing to tell you; I do not know why you should
+be so curious.'
+
+'Answer me one question at least when it came to the last, did he want
+to go on with it? Was the final triumph with him or with you?'
+
+'There was no final triumph. Such things, when they have to end, do not
+end triumphantly.'
+
+'And is that to be all?' 'Yes that is to be all.'
+
+'And you say that you have no letter to write.'
+
+'None no letter; none at present; none about this affair. Captain
+Aylmer, no doubt, will write to his mother, and then all those who are
+concerned will have been told.'
+
+Clara Amedroz held her purpose and wrote no letter, but Mrs Askerton
+was not so discreet, or so indiscreet as the case might be. She did
+write not on that day or on the next, but before a week had passed by.
+She wrote to Norfolk, telling Clara not a word of her letter, and by
+return of post the answer came. But the answer was for Clara, not for
+Mrs Askerton, and was as follows:
+
+'Plaistow Hall, April, 186
+
+My dear Clara,
+
+I don't know whether I ought to tell you but I suppose I may as well
+tell you, that Mary has had a letter from Mrs Askerton. It was a kind,
+obliging letter, and I am very grateful to her. She has told us that
+you have separated yourself altogether from the Aylmer Park people. I
+don't suppose you'll think I ought to pretend to be very sorry. I can't
+be sorry, even though I know how much you have lost in a worldly point
+of view. I could not bring myself to like Captain Aylmer, though I
+tried hard.' Oh Mr Belton, Mr Belton! 'He and I never could have been
+friends, and it is no use my pretending regret that you have quarrelled
+with them. But that, I suppose, is all over, and I will not say a word
+more about the Aylmers.
+
+I am writing now chiefly at Mary's advice, and because she says that
+something should be settled about the estate. Of course it is necessary
+that you should feel yourself to be the mistress of your own income,
+and understand exactly your own position. Mary says that this should be
+arranged at once, so that you may be able to decide how and where you
+will live. I therefore write to say that I will have nothing to do with
+your father's estate at Belton nothing, that is, for myself. I have
+written to Mr Green to tell him that you are to be considered as the
+heir. If you will allow me to undertake the management of the property
+as your agent, I shall be delighted. I think I could do it as well as
+any one else: and, as we agreed that we would always be dear and close
+friends, I think that you will not refuse me the pleasure of serving
+you in this way.
+
+And now Mary has a proposition to make, as to which she will write
+herself tomorrow, but she has permitted me to speak of it first. If you
+will accept her as a visitor, she will go to you at Belton. She thinks,
+and I think too, that you ought to know each other. I suppose nothing
+would make you come here, at present, and therefore she must go to you.
+She thinks that all about the estate would be settled more comfortably
+if you two were together. At any rate, it would be very nice for her
+and I think you would like my sister Mary. She proposes to start about
+the 10th of May. I should take her as far as London and see her off,
+and she would bring her own maid with her. In this way she thinks that
+she would get as far as Taunton very well. She had, perhaps, better
+stay there for one night, but that can all be settled if you will say
+that you will receive her at the house.
+
+I cannot finish my letter without saying one word for myself. You know
+what my feelings have been, and I think you know that they still are,
+and always must be, the same. From almost the first moment that I saw
+you I have loved you. When you refused me I was very unhappy; but I
+thought I might still have a chance, and therefore I resolved to try
+again. Then, when I heard that you were engaged to Captain Aylmer, I
+was indeed broken-hearted. Of course I could not be angry with you. I
+was not angry, but I was simply broken-hearted. I found that I loved
+you so much that I could not make myself happy without you. It was all
+of no use, for I knew that you were to be married to Captain Aylmer. I
+knew it, or thought that I knew it. There was nothing to be done only I
+knew that I was wretched. I suppose it is selfishness, but I felt, and
+still feel, that unless I can have you for my wife, I cannot be happy
+or car for anything. Now you are free again free, I mean, from Captain
+Aylmer and how is it possible that I should not again have a hope?
+Nothing but your marriage or death could keep me from hoping.
+
+I don't know much about the Aylmers. I know nothing of what has made
+you quarrel with the people at Aylmer Park nor do I want to know. To me
+you are once more that Clara Amedroz with whom I used to walk in Belton
+Park, with your hand free to be given wherever your heart can go with
+it. While it is free I shall always ask for it. I know that it is in
+many ways above my reach. I quite understand that in education and
+habits of thinking you are my superior. But nobody can love you better
+than I do. I sometimes fancy that nobody could ever love you so well.
+Mary thinks that I ought to allow a time to go by before I say all this
+again but what is the use of keeping it back? It seems to me to be more
+honest to tell you at once that the only thing in the world for which I
+care one straw is that you should be my wife.
+
+Your most affectionate Cousin,
+
+'WILLIAM BELTON.'
+
+'Miss Belton is coming here, to the castle, in a fortnight,' said
+Clara that morning at breakfast. Both Colonel Askerton and his wife
+were in the room, and she was addressing herself chiefly to the former.
+
+'Indeed, Miss Belton! And is he coming?' said Colonel Askerton.
+
+'So you have heard from Plaistow?' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'Yes in answer to your letter. No, Colonel Askerton, my Cousin William
+is not coming. But his sister purposes to be here, and I must go up to
+the house and get it ready.'
+
+'That will do when the time comes,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+'I did not mean quite immediately.'
+
+'And are you to be her guest, or is she to be yours? said Colonel
+Askerton.
+
+'It's her brother's home, and therefore I suppose I must be hers.
+Indeed it must be so, as I have no means of entertaining any one,'
+
+'Something, no doubt, will be settled,' said the colonel.
+
+'Oh, what a weary word that is,' said Clara; 'weary, at least, for a
+woman's ears! It sounds of poverty and dependence, and endless trouble
+given to others, and all the miseries of female dependence. If I were a
+young man I should be allowed to settle for myself.'
+
+'There would be no question about the property in that case,' said the
+colonel.
+
+'And there need be no question now,' said Mrs Askerton.
+
+When the two women were alone together, Clara, of course, scolded her
+friend for having written to Norfolk without letting it be known that
+she was doing so scolded her, and declared how vain it was for her to
+make useless efforts for an unattainable end; but Mrs Askerton always
+managed to slip out of these reproaches, neither asserting herself to
+be right, nor owning herself to be wrong. 'But you must answer his
+letter,' she said.
+
+'Of course I shall do that.'
+
+'I wish I knew what he said.'
+
+'I shan't show it you, if you mean that.'
+
+'All the same I wish I knew what he said.'
+
+Clara, of course, did answer the letter; but she wrote her answer to
+Mary, sending, however, one little scrap to Mary's brother. She wrote
+to Mary at great length, striving to explain, with long and laborious
+arguments, that it was quite impossible that she should accept the
+Belton estate from her cousin. That subject, however, and the manner of
+her future life, she would discuss with her dear Cousin Mary, when Mary
+should have arrived. And then Clara said how she would go to Taunton to
+meet her cousin, and how she would prepare William's house for the
+reception of William's sister; and how she would love her cousin when
+she should come to know her. All of which was exceedingly proper and
+pretty. Then there was a little postscript, 'Give the enclosed to
+William.' And this was the note to William:
+
+'Dear William,
+
+Did you not say that you would be my brother? Be my brother always. I
+will accept from your hands all that a brother could do; and when that
+arrangement is quite fixed, I will love you as much as Mary loves you,
+and trust you as completely; and I will be obedient, as a younger
+sister should be.
+
+Your loving Sister, C. A.'
+
+'It's all no good,' said William Belton, as he crunched the note in
+his hand. 'I might as well shoot myself. Get out of the way there, will
+you?' And the injured groom scudded across the farm-yard, knowing that
+there was something wrong with his master.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+MARY BELTON
+
+It was about the middle of the pleasant month of May when Clara
+Amedroz again made that often repeated journey to Taunton, with the
+object of meeting Mary Belton. She had transferred herself and her own
+peculiar belongings back from the cottage to the house, and had again
+established herself there so that she might welcome her new friend. But
+she was not satisfied with simply receiving her guest at Belton, and
+therefore she made the journey to Taunton, and settled herself for the
+night at the inn. She was careful to get a bedroom for an 'invalid
+lady', close to the sitting-room, and before she went down to the
+station she saw that the cloth was laid for tea, and that the tea
+parlour had been made to look as pleasant as was possible with an inn
+parlour.
+
+She was very nervous as she stood upon the platform waiting for the new
+comer to show herself. She knew that Mary was a cripple, but did not
+know how far her cousin was disfigured by her infirmity; and when she
+saw a pale-faced little woman, somewhat melancholy, but yet pretty
+withal, with soft, clear eyes, and only so much appearance of a stoop
+as to soften the hearts of those who saw her, Clara was agreeably
+surprised, and felt herself to be suddenly relieved of an unpleasant
+weight. She could talk to the woman she saw there, as to any other
+woman, without the painful necessity of treating her always as an
+invalid. 'I think you are Miss Belton?' she said, holding out her hand.
+The likeness between Mary and her brother was too great to allow of
+Clara being mistaken.
+
+'And you are Clara Amedroz? It is so good of you to come to meet me!'
+
+'I thought you would be dull in a strange town by yourself.'
+
+'It will be much nicer to have you with me.'
+
+Then they went together up to the inn; and when they had taken their
+bonnets off, Mary Belton kissed her cousin. 'You are very nearly what I
+fancied you,' said Mary.
+
+'Am I? I hope you fancied me to be something that you could like.'
+
+'Something that I could love very dearly. You are a little taller than
+what Will said; but then a gentleman is never a judge of a lady's
+height. And he said you were thin.'
+
+'I am not very fat.'
+
+'No; not very fat; but neither are you thin. Of course, you know, I
+have thought a great deal about you. It seems as though you had come to
+be so very near to us; and blood is thicker than water, is it not? If
+cousins are not friends, who can be?'
+
+In the course of that evening they became very confidential together,
+and Clara thought that she could love Mary Belton better than any woman
+that she had ever known. Of course they were talking about William, and
+Clara was at first in constant fear lest some word should be said on
+her lover's behalf some word which would drive her to declare that she
+would not admit him as a lover; but Mary abstained from the subject
+with marvellous care and tact. Though she was talking through the whole
+evening of her brother, she so spoke of him as almost to make Clara
+believe that she could not have heard of that episode in his life. Mrs
+Askerton would have dashed at the subject at once; but then, as Clara
+told herself, Mary Bolton was better than Mrs Askerton.
+
+A few words were said about the estate, and they originated in Clara's
+declaration that Mary would have to be regarded as the mistress of the
+house to which they were going. 'I cannot agree to that,' said Mary.
+
+'But the house is William's, you know,' said Clara.
+
+'He says not.'
+
+'But of course that must be nonsense, Mary.'
+
+'It is very evident that you know nothing of Plaistow ways, or you
+would not say that anything coming from William was nonsense. We are
+accustomed to regard all his words as law, and when he says that a
+thing is to be so, it always is so.'
+
+'Then he is a tyrant at home.'
+
+'A beneficent despot. Some despots, you know, always were beneficent.'
+
+'He won't have his way in this thing.'
+
+'I'll leave you and him to fight about that, my dear. I am so
+completely under his thumb that I always obey him in everything. You
+must not, therefore, expect to range me on your side.'
+
+The next day they were at Belton Castle, and in a very few hours Clara
+felt that she was quite at home with her cousin. On the second day Mrs
+Askerton came up and called according to an arrangement to that effect
+made between her and Clara. I'll stay away if you like it,' Mrs
+Askerton had said. But Clara had urged her to come, arguing with her
+that she was foolish to be thinking always of her own misfortune. 'Of
+course I am always thinking of it,' she had replied, and always
+thinking that other people are thinking of it. Your cousin, Miss
+Belton, knows all my history, of course, But what matters? I believe it
+would be better that everybody should know it. I suppose she's very
+straight-laced and prim.'She is not prim at all,' said Clara. 'Well,
+I'll come,' said Mrs Askerton, 'but I shall not be a bit surprised if I
+hear that she goes back to Norfolk the next day.'
+
+So Mrs Askerton came, and Miss Belton did not go back to Norfolk.
+Indeed, at the end of the visit, Mrs Askerton had almost taught herself
+to believe that William Belton had kept his secret, even from his
+sister. 'She's a dear little woman,' Mrs Askerton afterwards said to
+Clara.
+
+'Is she not?'
+
+'And so thoroughly like a lady.'
+
+'Yes; I think she is a lady.'
+
+'A princess among ladies! What a pretty little conscious way she has of
+asserting herself when she has an opinion and means to stick to it! I
+never saw a woman who got more strength out of her weakness. Who would
+dare to contradict her?'
+
+'But then she knows everything so well,' said Clara.
+
+'And how like her brother she is!'
+
+'Yes there is a great family likeness.'
+
+'And in character, too. I'm sure you'd find, if you were to try her,
+that she has all his personal firmness, though she can't show it as he
+does by kicking out his feet and clenching his fist.'
+
+'I'm glad you like her,' said Clara.
+
+'I do like her very much.'
+
+'It is so odd the way you have changed. You used to speak of him as
+though he was merely a clod of a farmer, and of her as a stupid old
+maid. Now, nothing is too good to say of them.'
+
+'Exactly, my dear and if you do not understand why, you are not so
+clever as I take you to be.'
+
+Life went on very pleasantly with them at Belton for two or three weeks
+but with this drawback as regarded Clara, that she had no means of
+knowing what was to be the course of her future life. During these
+weeks she twice received letters from her Cousin Will, and answered
+both of them. But these letters referred to matters of business which
+entailed no contradiction to certain details of money due to the estate
+before the old squire's death, and to that vexed question of Aunt
+Winterfield's legacy, which had by this time drifted into Belton's
+hands, and as to which he was inclined to act in accordance with his
+cousin's wishes, though he was assured by Mr Green that the legacy was
+as good a legacy as had ever been left by an old woman. 'I think,' he
+said in his last letter,' that we shall be able to throw him over in
+spite of Mr Green.' Clara, as she read this, could not but remember
+that the man to be thrown over was the man to whom she had been
+engaged, and she could not but remember also all the circumstances of
+the intended legacy of her aunt's death, and of the scenes which had
+immediately followed her death. It was so odd that William Belton
+should now be discussing with her the means of evading all her aunt's
+intentions and that he should be doing so, not as her accepted lover.
+He had, indeed, called himself her brother, but he was in truth her
+rejected lover.
+
+>From time to time during these weeks Mrs Askerton would ask her
+whether Mr Belton was coming to Belton, and Clara would answer her with
+perfect truth that she did not believe that he had any such intention.
+'But he must come soon,' Mrs Askerton would say. And when Clara would
+answer that she knew nothing about it, Mrs Askerton would ask further
+questions about Mary Belton. 'Your cousin must know whether her brother
+is coming to look after the property?' But Miss Belton, though she
+heard constantly from her brother, gave no such intimation. If he had
+any intention of coming, she did not speak of it. During all these days
+she had not as yet said a word of her brother's love. Though his name
+was daily in her mouth and latterly, was frequently mentioned by Clara
+there had been no allusion to that still enduring hope of which Will
+Belton himself could not but speak when he had any opportunity of
+speaking at all. And this continued till at last Clara was driven to
+suppose that Mary Belton knew nothing of her brother's hopes.
+
+But at last there came a change a change which to Clara was as great as
+that which had affected her when she first found that her delightful
+cousin was not sale against love-making. She had made up her mind that
+the sister did not intend to plead for her brother that the sister
+probably knew nothing of the brother's necessity for pleading that the
+brother probably had no further need for pleading When she remembered
+his last passionate words, she could not but accuse herself of
+hypocrisy when she allowed place in her thoughts to this latter
+supposition. He had been so intently earnest! The nature of the man was
+so eager and true! But yet, in spite of all that bad been said, of all
+the fire in his eyes, and life in his words, and energy in his actions,
+he had at last seen that his aspirations were foolish, and his desires
+vain. It could not otherwise be that she and Mary should pass these
+hours in such calm repose without an allusion to the disturbing
+subject! After this fashion, and with such meditations as these, had
+passed by the last weeks and then at last there came the change.
+
+'I have had a letter from William this morning,' said Mary.
+
+'And so have not I,' said Clara, and yet I expect to hear from him.'
+
+'He means to be here soon,' said Mary.
+
+'Oh, indeed!
+
+'He speaks of being here next week.'
+
+For a moment or two Clara had yielded to the agitation caused by her
+cousin's tidings; but with a little gush she recovered her presence of
+mind, and was able to speak with all the hypocritical propriety of a
+female. 'I am glad to hear it,' she said. 'It is only right that he
+should come.'
+
+'He has asked me to say a word to you as to the purport of his journey.'
+
+Then again Clara's courage and hypocrisy were so far subdued that they
+were not able to maintain her in a position adequate to the occasion.
+'Well,' she said laughing, 'what is the word? I hope it is not that I
+am to pack up, bag and baggage, and take myself elsewhere. Cousin
+William is one of those persons who are willing to do everything except
+what they are wanted to do. He will go on talking about the Belton
+estate, when I want to know whether I may really look for as much as
+twelve shillings a week to live upon.'
+
+'He wants me to speak to you about about the earnest love he bears for
+you.'
+
+'Oh dear! Mary could you not suppose it all to be said? It is an old
+trouble, and need not be repeated.'
+
+'No,' said Mary, 'I cannot suppose it to be all said.' Clara looking up
+as she heard the voice, was astonished both by the fire in the woman's
+eye and by the force of her tone. 'I will not think so meanly of you as
+to believe that such words from such a man can be passed by as meaning
+nothing. I will not say that you ought to be able to love him; in that
+you cannot control your heart; but if you cannot love him, the want of
+such love ought to make you suffer to suffer much and be very sad.'
+
+'I cannot agree to that, Mary.'
+
+'Is all his life nothing, then? Do you know what love means with him
+this love which he bears to you? Do you understand that it is
+everything to him? that from the first moment in which he acknowledged
+to himself that his heart was set upon you, he could not bring himself
+to set it upon any other thing for a moment? Perhaps you have never
+understood this; have never perceived that he is so much in earnest,
+that to him it is more than money, or land, or health more than life
+itself that he so loves that he would willingly give everything that he
+has for his love? Have you known this?'
+
+Clara would not answer these questions for a while. What if she had
+known it all, was she therefore bound to sacrifice herself? Could it be
+the duty of any woman to give herself to a man simply because a man
+wanted her? That was the argument as it was put forward now by Mary
+Belton.
+
+'Dear, dearest Clara,' said Mary Belton, stretching herself forward
+from her chair, and putting out her thin, almost transparent, hand, 'I
+do not think that you have thought enough of this; or, perhaps, you
+have not known it. But his love for you is as I say. To him it is
+everything. It pervades every hour of every day, every corner in his
+life! He knows nothing of anything else while he is in his present
+state.'
+
+'He is very good more than good.'
+
+'He is very good.'
+
+'But I do not see that that Of course I know how disinterested he is.'
+
+'Disinterested is a poor word. It insinuates that in such a matter
+there could be a question of what people call interest.'
+
+'And I know, too, how much he honours me.'
+
+'Honour is a cold word. It is not honour, but love downright true,
+honest love. I hope he does honour you. I believe you to be an honest,
+true woman; and, as he knows you well, he probably does honour you but
+I am speaking of love.' Again Clara was silent. She knew what should be
+her argument if she were determined to oppose her cousin's pleadings;
+and she knew also she thought she knew that she did intend to oppose
+them; but there was a coldness in the argument to which she was averse.
+'You cannot be insensible to such love as that!' said Mary, going on
+with the cause which she had in hand.
+
+'You say that he is fond of me.'
+
+'Fond of you! I have not used such trifling expressions as that.'
+
+'That he loves me.'
+
+'You know he loves you. Have you ever doubted a word that he has spoken
+to you on any subject?'
+
+'I believe he speaks truly.'
+
+'You know he speaks truly. He is the very soul of truth.'
+
+'But, Mary'
+
+'Well, Clara! But remember; do not answer me lightly. Do not play with
+a man's heart because you have it in your power.'
+
+'You wrong me. I could never do like that. You tell me that he loves me
+but what if I do not love him? Love will not be constrained. Am I to
+say that I love him because I believe that he loves me?'
+
+This was the argument, and Clara found herself driven to use it not so
+much from its special applicability to herself, as on account of its
+general fitness. Whether it did or did not apply to herself she had no
+time to ask herself at that moment; but she felt that no man could have
+a right to claim a woman's hand on the strength of his own love unless
+he had been able to win her love. She was arguing on behalf of women in
+general rather than on her own behalf.
+
+'If you mean to tell me that you cannot love him, of course I must give
+over,' said Mary, not caring at all for men and women in general, but
+full of anxiety for her brother. 'Do you mean to say that that you can
+never love him?' It almost seemed, from her face, that she was
+determined utterly to quarrel with her new-found cousin to quarrel and
+to go at once away if she got an answer that would not please her.
+
+'Dear Mary, do not press me so hard.'
+
+'But I want to press you hard. It is not right that he should lose his
+life in longing and hoping.'
+
+'He will not lose his life, Mary.'
+
+'I hope not not not if I can help it. I trust that he will be strong
+enough to get rid of his trouble to put it down and trample it under
+his feet.' Clara, as she heard this, began to ask herself what it was
+that was to be trampled under Will's feet. 'I think he will be man
+enough to overcome his passion; and then, perhaps you may regret what
+you have lost.'
+
+'Now you are unkind to me.'
+
+'Well; what would you have me say? Do I not know that he is offering
+you the best gift that he can give? Did I not begin by swearing to you
+that he loved you with a passion of love that cannot but be flattering
+to you? If it is to be love in vain, this to him is a great misfortune.
+And, yet, when I say that I hope that he will recover, you tell me that
+I am unkind.'
+
+'No not for that.'
+
+'May I tell him to come and plead for himself?'
+
+Again Clara was silent, not knowing how to answer that last question.
+And when she did answer it, she answered it thoughtlessly. 'Of course
+he knows that he can do that.'
+
+'He says that he has been forbidden.'
+
+'Oh, Mary, what am I to say to you? You know it all, and I wonder that
+you can continue to question me in this way.'
+
+'Know all what?'
+
+'That I have been engaged to Captain Aylmer.'
+
+'But you are not engaged to him now.'
+
+'No I am not.'
+
+'And there can be no renewal there, I suppose?'
+
+'Oh, no!'
+
+'Not even for my brother would I say a word if I thought'
+
+'No there is nothing of that; but If you cannot understand, I do not
+think that I can explain it.' It seemed to Clara that her cousin, in
+her anxiety for her brother, did not conceive that a woman, even if she
+could suddenly transfer her affections from one man to another, could
+not bring herself to say that she had done so.
+
+'I must write to him today,' said Mary, 'and I must give him some
+answer. Shall I tell him that he had better not come here till you are
+gone?'
+
+'That will perhaps be best,' said Clara.
+
+'Then he will never come at all.'
+
+'I can go can go at once. I will go at once. You shall never have to
+say that my presence prevented his coming to his own house. I ought not
+to be here. I know it now. I will go away, and you may tell him that I
+am gone.'
+
+'No, dear; you will not go.'
+
+'Yes I must go. I fancied things might be otherwise, because he once
+told me that he would be a brother to me. And I said I would hold him
+to that not only because I want a brother so badly, but because I love
+him so dearly. But it cannot be like that.'
+
+'You do not think that he will ever desert you?'
+
+'But I will go away, so that he may come to his own house. I ought not
+to be here. Of course I ought not to be at Belton either in this house
+or in any other. Tell him that I will be gone before he can come, and
+tell him also that I will not be too proud to accept from him what it
+may be fit that he should give me. I have no one but him no one but him
+no one but him.' Then she burst into tears, and throwing hack her head,
+covered her face with her hands.
+
+Miss Belton, upon this, rose slowly from the chair on which she was
+sitting, and making her way painfully across to Clara, stood leaning on
+the weeping girl's chair. 'You shall not go while I am here,' she said.
+
+'Yes; I must go. He cannot come till I am gone.'
+
+'Think of it all once again, Clara. May I not tell him to come, and
+that while he is coming you will see if you cannot soften your heart
+towards him?'
+
+'Soften my heart! Oh, if I could only harden it!'
+
+'He would wait. If you would only hid him wait, he would be so happy in
+waiting.'
+
+'Yes till tomorrow morning. I know him. Hold out your little finger to
+him, and he has your whole hand and arm in a moment.'
+
+'I want you to say that you will try to love him.'
+
+But Clara was in truth trying not to love him. She was ashamed of
+herself because she did love the one man, when, but a few weeks since,
+she had confessed that she loved another. She had mistaken herself and
+her own feelings, not in reference to her cousin, but in supposing that
+she could really have sympathized with such a man as Captain Aylmer. It
+was necessary to her self-respect that she should be punished because
+of that mistake. She could not save herself from this condemnation she
+would not grant herself a respite because, by doing so, she would make
+another person happy. Had Captain Aylmer never crossed her path, she
+would have given her whole heart to her cousin. Nay; she had so given
+it had done so, although Captain Aylmer had crossed her path and come
+in her way. But it was matter of shame to her to find that this had
+been possible, and she could not bring herself to confess her shame.
+
+The conversation at last ended, as such conversations always do end,
+without any positive decision. Mary wrote of course to her brother, but
+Clara was not told of the contents of the letter. We, however, may know
+them, and may understand their nature, without learning above two lines
+of the letter. 'If you can be content to wait awhile, you will
+succeed,' said Mary; 'but when were you ever content to wait for
+anything?' ' If there is anything I hate, it is waiting,' said Will,
+when he received the letter; nevertheless the letter made him happy,
+and he went about his farm with a sanguine heart, as he arranged
+matters for another absence. 'Away long?' he said, in answer to a
+question asked him by his head man; 'how on earth can I say how long I
+shall be away? You can go on well enough without me by this time, I
+should think. You will have to learn, for there is no knowing how often
+I may be away, or for how long.'
+
+When Mary said that the letter had been written, Clara again spoke
+about going. 'And where will you go?' said Mary.
+
+'I will take a lodging in Taunton.'
+
+'He would only follow you there, and there would be more trouble. That
+would be all. He must act as your guardian, and in that capacity, at
+any rate, you must submit to him.' Clara, therefore, consented to
+remain at Belton; but, before Will arrived, she returned from the house
+to the cottage.
+
+'Of course I understand all about it,' said Mrs Askerton; 'and let me
+tell you this that if it is not all settled within a week from his
+coming here, I shall think that you are without a heart. He is to be
+knocked about, and cuffed, and kept from his work, and made to run up
+and down between here and Norfolk, because you cannot bring yourself to
+confess that you have been a fool.'
+
+'I have never said that I have not been a fool,' said Clara.
+
+'You have made a mistake as young women will do sometimes, even when
+they are as prudent and circumspect as you are and now you don't quite
+like the task of putting it right.'
+
+It was all true, and Clara knew that it was true. The putting right of
+mistakes is never pleasant; and in this case it was so unpleasant that
+she could not bring herself to acknowledge that it must be done. And
+yet, I think that, by this time, she was aware of the necessity.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+TAKING POSSESSION
+
+'I want her to have it all,' said William Belton to Mr Green, the
+lawyer, when they came to discuss the necessary arrangements for the
+property.
+
+'But that would be absurd.'
+
+'Never mind. It is what I wish. I suppose a man may do what he likes
+with his own.'
+
+'She won't take it,' said the lawyer.
+
+'She must take it, if you manage the matter properly,' said Will.
+
+'I don't suppose it will make much difference,' said the lawyer 'now
+that Captain Aylmer is out of the running.'
+
+'I know nothing about that. Of course I am very glad that he should be
+out of the running, as you call it. He is a bad sort of fellow, and I
+didn't want him to have the property. But all that has had nothing to
+do with it. I'm not doing it because I think she is ever to be my wife.'
+
+>From this the reader will understand that Belton was still fidgeting
+himself and the lawyer about the estate when he passed through London.
+The matter in dispute, however, was so important that he was induced to
+seek the advice of others besides Mr Green, and at last was brought to
+the conclusion that it was his paramount duty to become Belton of
+Belton. There seemed in the minds of all these councillors to be some
+imperative and almost imperious requirement that the acres should go
+back to a man of his name. Now, as there was no one else of the family
+who could stand in his way, he had no alternative but to become Belton
+of Belton. He would, however, sell his estate in Norfolk, and raise
+money for endowing Clara with commensurate riches. Such was his own
+plan but having fallen among counsellors he would not exactly follow
+his own plan, and at last submitted to an arrangement in accordance
+with which an annuity of eight hundred pounds a year was to be settled
+upon Clara, and this was to lie as a charge upon the estate in Norfolk.
+
+'It seems to me to be very shabby,' said William Belton.
+
+'It seems to me to be very extravagant,' said the leader among the
+counsellors. 'She is net entitled to sixpence.'
+
+But at last the arrangement as above described was the one to which
+they all assented.
+
+When Belton reached the house which was now his own he found no one
+there but his sister. Clara was at the cottage. As he had been told
+that she was to return there, he had no reason to be annoyed. But,
+nevertheless, he was annoyed, or rather discontented, and had not been
+a quarter of an hour about the place before he declared his intention
+to go and seek her.
+
+'Do no such thing, Will; pray do not,' said his sister.
+
+'And why not?'
+
+'Because it will be better that you should wait. You will only injure
+yourself and her by being impetuous.'
+
+'But it is absolutely necessary that she should know her own position.
+It would be cruelty to keep her in ignorance though for the matter of
+that I shall be ashamed to tell her. Yes I shall be ashamed to look her
+in the face. What will she think of it after I had assured her that she
+should have the whole?'
+
+'But she would not have taken it, Will. And had she done so, she would
+have been very wrong. Now she will be comfortable.'
+
+'I wish I could be comfortable,' said he.
+
+'If you will only wait'
+
+'I hate waiting. I do not see what good it will do. Besides, I don't
+mean to say anything about that not today, at least. I don t indeed. As
+for being here and not seeing her, that is out of the question. Of
+course she would think that I had quarrelled with her, and that I meant
+to take everything to myself, now that I have the power.'
+
+'She won't suspect you of wishing to quarrel with her, Will'
+
+'I should in her place. It is out of the question that I should be
+here, and not go to her. It would be monstrous. I will wait till they
+have done lunch, and then I will go up.'
+
+It was at last decided that he should walk up to the cottage, call upon
+Colonel Askerton, and ask to see Clara in the colonel's presence. It
+was thought that he could make his statement about the money better
+before a third person who could be regarded as Clara's friend, than
+could possibly be done between themselves. He did, therefore, walk
+across to the cottage, and was shown into Colonel Askerton's study.
+
+'There he is,' Mrs Askerton said, as soon as she heard the sound of the
+bell. 'I knew that he would come at once.'
+
+During the whole morning Mrs Askerton had been insisting that Belton
+would make his appearance on that very day the day of his arrival at
+Belton, and Clara had been asserting that he would not do so.
+
+'Why should he come?' Clara had said.
+
+'Simply to take you to his own house, like any other of his goods and
+chattels.'
+
+'I am not his goods or his chattels.'
+
+'But you soon will be; and why shouldn't you accept your lot quietly?
+He is Belton of Belton, and everything here belongs to him.'
+
+'I do not belong to him.'
+
+'What nonsense! When a man has the command of the situation, as he has,
+he can do just what he pleases. If he were to come and carry you off by
+violence, I have no doubt the Beltonians would assist him, and say that
+he was right. And you of course would forgive him. Belton of Belton may
+do anything.'
+
+'That is nonsense, if you please.'
+
+'Indeed if you had any of that decent feeling of feminine inferiority
+which ought to belong to all women, he would have found you sitting on
+the doorstep of his house waiting for him.'
+
+That had been said early in the morning, when they first knew that he
+had arrived; but they had been talking about him ever since talking
+about him under pressure from Mrs Askerton, till Clara had been driven
+to long that she might be spared. 'If he chooses to come, he will
+come,' she said. 'Of course he will come,' Mrs Askerton had answered,
+and then they heard the ring of the hell. 'There he is. I could swear
+to the sound of his foot. Doesn't he step as though he were Belton of
+Belton, and conscious that everything belonged to him?' Then there was
+a pause. 'He has been shown in to Colonel Askerton. What on earth could
+he want with him?'
+
+'He has called to tell him something about the cottage,' said Clara,
+endeavouring to speak as though she were calm through it all.
+
+'Cottage! Fiddlestick! The idea of a man coming to look after his
+trumpery cottage on the first day of his showing himself as lord of his
+own property! Perhaps he is demanding that you shall be delivered up to
+him. If he does I shall vote for obeying.'
+
+'And I for disobeying and shall vote very strongly too.'
+
+Their suspense was yet prolonged for another ten minutes, and at the
+end of that time the servant came in and asked if Miss Amedroz would be
+good enough to go into the master's room. 'Mr Belton is there, Fanny?'
+asked Mrs Askerton. The girl confessed that Mr Belton was there, and
+then Clara, without another word, got up and left the room. She had
+much to do in assuming a look of composure before she opened the door;
+but she made the effort, and was not unsuccessful. In another second
+she found her hand in her cousin's, and his bright eye was fixed upon
+her with that eager friendly glance which made his face so pleasant to
+those whom he loved.
+
+'Your cousin has been telling me of the arrangements he has been making
+for you with the lawyers,' said Colonel Askerton. 'I can only say that
+I wish all the ladies had cousins so liberal, and so able to be
+liberal.'
+
+'I thought I would see Colonel Askerton first, as you are staying at
+his house. And as for liberality there is nothing of the kind. You must
+understand, Clara, that a fellow can't do what he likes with his own in
+this country. I have found myself so bullied by lawyers and that sort
+of people, that I have been obliged to yield to them. I wanted that you
+should have the old place, to do just what you pleased with It.'
+
+'That was out of the question, Will.'
+
+'Of course it was,' said Colonel Askerton. Then, as Belton himself did
+not proceed to the telling of his own story, the colonel told it for
+him, and explained what was the income which Clara was to receive.
+
+'But that is as much out of the question,' said she, 'as the other. I
+cannot rob you in that way. I cannot and I shall not. And why should I?
+What do I want with an income? Something I ought to have, if only for
+the credit of the family, and that I am willing to take from your
+kindness; but'
+
+'It's all settled now, Clara.'
+
+'I don't think that you can lessen the weight of your obligation, Miss
+Amedroz, after what has been done up in London,' said the colonel.
+
+'If you had said a hundred a year'
+
+'I have been allowed to say nothing,' said Belton; 'those people have
+said eight and so it is settled. When are you coming over to see Mary?'
+
+To this question he got no definite answer, and as he went away
+immediately afterwards he hardly seemed to expect one. He did not even
+ask for Mrs Askerton, and as that lady remarked, behaved altogether
+like a bear. 'But what a munificent bear!' she said. 'Fancy eight
+hundred a year of your own. One begins to doubt whether it is worth
+one's while to marry at all with such an income as that to do what one
+likes with! However, it all means nothing. It will all be his own again
+before you have even touched it.'
+
+'You must not say anything more about that,' said Clara gravely.
+
+'And why must I not?'
+
+'Because I shall hear nothing more of it. There is an end of all that
+as there ought to be.'
+
+'Why an end? I don't see an end. There will be no end till Belton of
+Belton has got you and your eight hundred a year as well as everything
+else.'
+
+'You will find that he does not mean anything more,' said Clara.
+
+'You think not?'
+
+'I am sure of it.' Then there was a little sound in her throat as
+though she were in some danger of being choked; but she soon recovered
+herself, and was able to express herself clearly. 'I have only one
+favour to ask you now, Mrs Askerton, and that is that you will never
+say anything more about him. He has changed his mind. Of course he has,
+or he would not come here like that and have gone away without saying a
+word.'
+
+'Not a word! A man gives you eight hundred a year and that is not
+saying a word!'
+
+'Not a word except about money! But of course he is right. I know that
+he is right. Alter what has passed he would be very wrong to to think
+about it any more. You joke about his being Belton of Belton. But it
+does make a difference.'
+
+'It does does it?'
+
+'It has made a difference. I see and feel it now. I shall never hear
+him ask me that question any more.'
+
+'And if you did hear him, what answer would you make him?'
+
+'I don't know.'
+
+'That is just it. Women are so cross-grained that it is a wonder to me
+that men should ever have any. thing to do with them. They have about
+them some madness of a phantasy which they dignify with the name of
+feminine pride, and under the cloak of this they believe themselves to
+be justified in tormenting their lovers' lives out. The only
+consolation is that they torment themselves as much. Can anything be
+more cross-grained than you are at this moment? You were resolved just
+now that it would be the most unbecoming thing in the world if he spoke
+a word more about his love for the next twelve months'
+
+'Mrs Askerton, I said nothing about twelve months.'
+
+'And now you are broken-hearted because he did not blurt it all out
+before Colonel Askerton in a business interview, which was very
+properly had at once, and in which he has had the exceeding good taste
+to confine himself altogether to the one subject.'
+
+'I am not complaining.'
+
+'It was good taste; though if he had not been a bear he might have
+asked after me, who am fighting his battles for him night and day.'
+
+'But what will he do next?'
+
+'Eat his dinner, I should think, as it is now nearly five o'clock. Your
+father used always to dine at five.'
+
+'I can't go to see Mary,' she said, 'till he comes here again.'
+
+'He will be here fast enough. I shouldn't wonder if he was to come here
+tonight.' And he did come again that night.
+
+When Belton's interview was over in the colonel's study, he left the
+house without even asking after the mistress, as that mistress had
+taken care to find out and went off, rambling about the estate which
+was now his own. It was a beautiful place, and he was not insensible to
+the gratification of being its owner. There is much in the glory of
+ownership of the ownership of land and houses, of beeves and woolly
+flocks, of wide fields and thick-growing woods, even when that
+ownership is of late date, when it conveys to the owner nothing but the
+realization of a property on the soil; but there is much more in it
+when it contains the memories of old years; when the glory is the glory
+of race as well as the glory of power and property. There had been
+Beltons of Belton living there for many centuries, and now he was the
+Belton of the day, standing on his own ground the descendant and
+representative of the Beltons of old Belton of Belton without a flaw in
+his pedigree! He felt himself to be proud of his position prouder than
+he could have been of any other that might have been vouchsafed to him.
+And yet amidst it all he was somewhat ashamed of his pride. 'The man
+who can do it for himself is the real man after all,' he said. 'But I
+have got it by a fluke and by such a sad chance too!' Then he wandered
+on, thinking of the circumstances under which the property had fallen
+into his hands, and remembering how and when and where the first idea
+had occurred to him of making Clara Amedroz his wife. He had then felt
+that if he could only do that he could reconcile himself to the
+heirship. And the idea had grown upon him instantly, and had become a
+passion by the eagerness with which he had welcomed it. From that day
+to this he had continued to tell himself that he could not enjoy his
+good fortune unless he could enjoy it with her. There had come to be a
+horrid impediment in his way a barrier which had seemed to have been
+placed there by his evil fortune, to compensate the gifts given to him
+by his good fortune, and that barrier had been Captain Aylmer. He had
+not, in fact, seen much of his rival, but he had seen enough to make it
+matter of wonder to him that Clara could be attached to such a man. He
+had thoroughly despised Captain Aylmer, and had longed to show his
+contempt of the man by kicking him out of the hotel at the London
+railway station. At that moment all the world had seemed to him to be
+wrong and wretched.
+
+But now it seemed that all the world might so easily be made right
+again! The impediment had got itself removed. Belton did not even yet
+altogether comprehend by what means Clara had escaped from the meshes
+of the Aylmer Park people, but he did know that she had escaped. Her
+eyes had been opened before it was too late, and she was a free woman
+to be compassed if only a man might compass her. While she had been
+engaged to Captain Aylmer, Will had felt that she was not assailable.
+Though he had not been quite able to restrain himself as on that fatal
+occasion when he had taken her in his arms and kissed her still he had
+known that as she was an engaged woman, he could not, without insulting
+her, press his own suit upon her. But now all that was over. Let him
+say what he liked on that head, she would have no proper plea for
+anger. She was assailable and, as this was so, why the mischief should
+he not set about the work at once? His sister bade him wait. Why should
+he wait when one fortunate word might do it? Wait! He could not wait.
+How are you to bid a starving man to wait when you put him down at a
+well-covered board? Here was he, walking about Belton Park just where
+she used to walk with him and there was she at Belton Cottage, within
+half an hour of him at this moment, if he were to go quickly; and yet
+Mary was telling him to wait! No; he would not wait. There could be no
+reason for waiting. Wait, indeed, till some other Captain Aylmer should
+come in the way and give him more trouble!
+
+So he wandered on, resolving that he would see his cousin again that
+very day. Such an interview as that which had just taken place between
+two such dear friends was not natural was not to be endured. What might
+not Clara think of it! To meet her for the first time after her escape
+from Aylmer Park, and to speak to her only on matters concerning money!
+He would certainly go to her again on that afternoon. In his walking he
+came to the bottom of the rising ground on the top of which stood the
+rock on which he and Clara had twice sat. But he turned away, and would
+not go up to it. He hoped that he might go up to it very soon but,
+except under certain dream. stances, he would never go up to it again.
+
+'I am going across to the cottage immediately after dinner,' he said to
+his sister.
+
+'Have you an appointment?'
+
+'No; I have no appointment. I suppose a man doesn't want an appointment
+to go and see his own cousin down in the country.'
+
+'I don't know what their habits are.'
+
+'I shan't ask to go in; but I want to see her.'
+
+Mary looked at him with loving, sorrowing eyes, but she said no more.
+She loved him so well that she would have given her right hand to get
+for him what he wanted but she sorrowed to think that he should want
+such a thing so sorely. Immediately after his dinner, he took his hat
+and went out without saying a word further, and made his way once more
+across to the gate of the cottage. It was a lovely summer evening, at
+that period of the year in which our summer evenings just begin, when
+the air is sweeter and the flowers more fragrant, and the forms of the
+foliage more lovely than at any other time. it was now eight o'clock,
+but it was hardly as yet evening; none at least of the gloom of evening
+had come, though the sun was low in the heavens. At the cottage they
+were all sitting out on the lawn; and as Belton came near he was seen
+by them, and he saw them.
+
+'I told you so,' said Mrs Askerton, to Clara, in a whisper.
+
+'He is not coming in,' Clara answered. 'He is going on.'
+
+But when he had come nearer, Colonel Askerton called to him over the
+garden paling, and asked him to join them. He was now standing within
+ten or fifteen yards of them, though the fence divided them. 'I have
+come to ask my Cousin Clara to take a walk with me,' he said. 'She can
+be back by your tea time.' He made his request very placidly, and did
+not in any way look like a lover.
+
+'I am sure she will be glad to go,' said Mrs Askerton. But Clara said
+nothing.
+
+'Do take a turn with me, if you are not tired,' said he.
+
+'She has not been out all day, and cannot be tired,' said Mrs Askerton,
+who had now walked up to the paling. 'Clara, get your hat. But, Mr
+Belton, what have I done that I am to be treated in this way? Perhaps
+you don't remember that you have not spoken to me since your arrival.'
+
+'Upon my word, I beg your pardon,' said he, endeavouring to stretch his
+hand across the bushes.
+
+'I forgot I didn't see you this morning.'
+
+'I suppose I musn't be angry, as this is your day of taking possession;
+but it is exactly on such days as this that one likes to be remembered.'
+
+'I didn't mean to forget you, Mrs Askerton; I didn't, indeed. And as
+for the special day, that's all bosh, you know. I haven't taken
+particular possession of anything that I know of.'
+
+'I hope you will, Mr Belton, before the day is over,' said she. Clara
+had at length arisen, and had gone into the house to fetch her hat. She
+had not spoken a word, and even yet her cousin did not know whether she
+was coming. 'I hope you will take possession of a great deal that is
+very valuable. Clara has gone to get her hat.'
+
+'Do you think she means to walk?'
+
+'I think she does, Mr Belton. And there she is at the door. Mind you
+bring her back to tea.'
+
+Clara, as she came forth, felt herself quite unable to speak, or walk,
+or look after her usual manner. She knew herself to be a victim to be
+so far a victim that she could no longer control her own fate. To
+Captain Aylmer, at any rate, she had never succumbed. In all her
+dealings with him she had fought upon an equal footing. She had never
+been compelled to own herself mastered. But now she was being led out
+that she might confess her own submission, and acknowledge that
+hitherto she had not known what was good for her. She knew that she
+would have to yield. She must have known how happy she was to have an
+opportunity of yielding; but yet yet, had there been any room for
+choice, she thought she would have refrained from walking with her
+cousin that evening. She had wept that afternoon because she had
+thought that he would not come again; and now that he had come at the
+first moment that was possible for him, she was almost tempted to wish
+him once more away.
+
+'I suppose you understand that when I came up this morning I came
+merely to talk about business,' said Belton, as soon as they were off
+together.
+
+'It was very good of you to come at all so soon after your arrival.'
+
+'I told those people in London that I would have it all settled at
+once, and so I wanted to have it off my mind.'
+
+'I don't know what I ought to say to you. Of course I shall not want so
+much money as that.'
+
+'We won't talk about the money any more today. I hate talking about
+money.'
+
+'It is not the pleasantest subject in the world.'
+
+'No,' said he; 'no indeed. I hate it particularly between friends. So
+you have come to grief with your friends, the Aylmers?'
+
+'I hope I haven't come to grief and the Aylmers, as a family, never
+were my friends. I'm obliged to contradict you, point by point you see.'
+
+'I don't like Captain Aylmer at all,' said Will, after a pause.
+
+'So I saw, Will; and I dare say he was not very fond of you.' 'Fond of
+me! I didn't want him to be fond of me. I don't suppose he ever thought
+much about me. I could not help thinking of him.' She had nothing to
+say to this, and therefore walked on silently by his side. 'I suppose
+he has not any idea of coming back here again?'
+
+'What; to Belton? No, I do not think he will come to Belton any more.'
+
+'Nor will you go to Aylmer Park?'
+
+'No; certainly not. Of all the places on earth. Will, to which you
+could send me, Aylmer Park is the one to which I should go most
+unwillingly.'
+
+'I don't want to send you there.'
+
+'You never could be made to understand what a woman she is; how
+disagreeable, how cruel, how imperious, how insolent.'
+
+'Was she so bad as all that?'
+
+'Indeed she was, Will. I can't but tell the truth to you.
+
+'And he was nearly as bad as she.'
+
+'No, Will; no; do not say that of him.'
+
+'He was such a quarrelsome fellow. He flew at me just because I said we
+had good hunting down in Norfolk.'
+
+'We need not talk about all that, Will.'
+
+'No of course not. It's all passed and gone, I suppose.'
+
+'Yes it is all passed and gone. You did not know my Aunt Winterfield,
+or you would understand my first reason for liking him.'
+
+'No,' said Will; 'I never saw her.'
+
+Then they walked on together for a while without speaking, and Clara
+was beginning to feel some relief some relief at first; but as the
+relief came, there came back to her the dead, dull, feeling of
+heaviness at her heart which had oppressed her after his visit in the
+morning. She had been right, and Mrs Askerton had been wrong. He had
+returned to her simply as her cousin, and now he was walking with her
+and talking to her in this strain, to teach her that it was so. But of
+a sudden they came to a place where two paths diverged, and he turned
+upon her and asked her quickly which path they should take. 'Look,
+Clara,' he said, 'will you go up there with me?' It did not need that
+she should look, as she knew that the way indicated by him led up among
+the rocks.
+
+'I don't much care which way,' she said, faintly.
+
+'Do you not? But I do. I care very much. Don't you remember where that
+path goes?' She had no answer to give to this. She remembered well, and
+remembered how he had protested that he would never go to the place
+again unless he could go there as her accepted lover. And she had asked
+herself sundry questions as to that protestation. Could it be that for
+her sake he would abstain from visiting the prettiest spot on his
+estate that he would continue to regard the ground as hallowed because
+of his memories of her? 'Which way shall we go?' he asked.
+
+'I suppose it does not much signify,' said she, trembling.
+
+'But it does signify. It signifies very much to me. Will you go up to
+the rocks?'
+
+'I am afraid we shall be late, if we stay out long.'
+
+'What matters how late? Will you come?'
+
+'I suppose so if you wish it, Will.'
+
+She had anticipated that the high rock was to be the altar at which the
+victim was to be sacrificed; but now he would not wait till he had
+taken her to the sacred spot. He had of course intended that he would
+there renew his offer; but he had perceived  that his offer had been
+renewed, and had, in fact, been accepted, during this little parley as
+to the pathway. There was hardly any necessity for further words. So he
+must have thought; for, as quick as lightning, he flung his arms around
+her, and kissed her again, as he had kissed her on that other terrible
+occasion that occasion on which he had felt that he might hardly hope
+for pardon.
+
+'William, William,' she said; 'how can you serve me like that?' But he
+had a full understanding as to his own privileges, and was well aware
+that he was in the right now, as he had been before that he was
+trespassing egregiously. 'Why are you so rough with me?' she said.
+
+'Clara, say that you love me.'
+
+'I will say nothing to you because you are so rough.' They were now
+walking up slowly towards the rocks.
+
+And as he had his arm round her waist, he was contented for awhile to
+allow her to walk without speaking. But when they were on the summit it
+was necessary for him that he should have a word from her of positive
+assurance. 'Clara, say that you love me.'
+
+'Have I not always loved you, Will, since almost the first moment that
+I saw you?'
+
+'But that won't do. You know that is not fair. Come, Clara; I've had a
+deal of trouble and grief too; haven't I? You should say a word to make
+up for it that is, if you can say it.'
+
+'What can a word like that signify to you today? You have got
+everything.'
+
+'Have I got you?' Still she paused. 'I will have an answer. Have I got
+you? Are you now my own?'
+
+'I suppose so, Will. Don't now. I will not have it again. Does not that
+satisfy you?'
+
+'Tell me that you love me.'
+
+'You know that I love you.'
+
+'Better than anybody in the world?'
+
+'Yes better than anybody in the world.'
+
+'And after all you will be my wife?'
+
+'Oh, Will how you question one!'
+
+'You shall say it, and then it will all be fair and honest.'
+
+'Say what? I'm sure I thought I had said everything.'
+
+'Say that you mean to be my wife.'
+
+'I suppose so if you wish it.'
+
+'Wish it!' said he, getting up from his seat, and throwing his hat into
+the bushes on one side; 'wish it! I don't think you have ever
+understood howl have wished it. Look here, Clara; I found when I got
+down to Norfolk that I couldn't live without you. Upon my word it is
+true. I don't suppose you'll believe me.'
+
+'I didn't think it could be so bad with you as that.'
+
+'No I don't suppose women ever do believe. And I wouldn't have believed
+it of myself. I hated myself for it. By George, I did. That is when I
+began to think it was all up with me.'
+
+'All up with you! Oh, Will!'
+
+'I had quite made up my mind to go to New Zealand. I had, indeed. I
+couldn't have kept my hands off that man if we had been living in the
+same country. I should have wrung his neck.'
+
+'Will, how can you talk so wickedly?'
+
+'There's no understanding it till you have felt it. But never mind.
+It's all right now; isn't it, Clara?'
+
+'If you think so.'
+
+'Think so! Oh, Clara, I am such a happy fellow. Do give me a kiss. You
+have never given me one kiss yet.'
+
+'What nonsense! I didn't think you were such a baby.'
+
+'By George, but you shall or you shall never get home to tea to-night.
+My own, own, own darling. Upon my word, Clara, when I begin to think
+about it I shall be half mad.'
+
+'I think you are quite that already.'
+
+'No, I'm not but I shall be when I'm alone. What can I say to you,
+Clara, to make you under. stand how much I love you? You remember the
+song, "For Bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me down and dee". Of course it
+is all nonsense talking of dying for a woman. What a man has to do is
+to live for her. But that is my feeling. I'm ready to give you my life.
+If there was anything to do for you, I'd do it if I could, whatever it
+was. Do you understand me?'
+
+'Dear Will! Dearest Will!'
+
+'Am I dearest?'
+
+'Are you not sure of it?'
+
+'But I like you to tell me so. I like to feel that you are not ashamed
+to own it. You ought to say it a few times to me, as I have said it so
+very often to you.'
+
+'You'll hear enough of it before you've done with me.'
+
+'I shall never have heard enough of it. Oh, Heavens, only think, when I
+was coming down in the train last night I was in such a bad way.'
+
+'And are you in a good way now?'
+
+'Yes; in a very good way. I shall crow over Mary so when I get home.'
+
+'And what has poor Mary done?'
+
+'Never mind.'
+
+'I dare say she knows what is good for you better than you know
+yourself. I suppose she has told you that you might do a great deal
+better than trouble yourself with a wife?'
+
+'Never mind what she has told me. It is settled now is it not?
+
+'I hope so, Will.'
+
+'But not quite settled as yet. When shall it be? That is the next
+question.'
+
+But to that question Clara positively refused to make any reply that
+her lover would consider to be satisfactory. He continued to press her
+till she was at last driven to remind him how very short a time it was
+since her father had been among them; and then he was very angry with
+himself, and declared himself to be a brute. 'Anything but that,' she
+said. 'You are the kindest and the best of men but at the same time the
+most impatient.'
+
+'That's what Mary says; but what's the good of waiting? She wanted me
+to wait today.'
+
+'And as you would not, you have fallen into a trap out of which you can
+never escape. But pray let us go. What will they think of us?'
+
+'I shouldn't wonder if they didn't think something near the truth.'
+
+'Whatever they think, we will go back. It is ever so much past nine.'
+
+'Before you stir, Clara, tell me one thing. Are you really happy?'
+
+'Very happy.'
+
+'And are you glad that this has been done?'
+
+'Very glad. Will that satisfy you?'
+
+'And you do love me?'
+
+'I do I do I do. Can I say more than that?
+
+'More than anybody else in the world?'
+
+'Better than all the world put together.'
+
+'Then,' said he, holding her tight in his arms, 'show me that you love
+me.' And as he made his request he was quick to explain to her what,
+according to his ideas, was the becoming mode by which lovers might
+show their love. I wonder whether it ever occurred to Clara, as she
+thought of it all before she went to bed that night, that Captain
+Aylmer and William Belton were very different in their manners. And if
+so, I must wonder further whether she most approved the manners of the
+patient man or the man who was impatient.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+About two months after the scene described in the last chapter, when
+the full summer had arrived, Clara received two letters from the two
+lovers the history of whose loves have just been told, and these shall
+be submitted to the reader, as they will serve to explain the manner in
+which the two men proposed to arrange their affairs. We will first have
+Captain Aylmer's letter, which was the first read; Clara kept the
+latter for the last, as children always keep their sweetest morsels.
+
+'Aylmer Park, August 188
+
+My dear Miss Amedroz,
+
+I heard before leaving London that you are engaged to marry your cousin
+Mr William Belton, and I think that perhaps you may be satisfied to
+have a line from me to let you know that I quite approve of the
+marriage.' 'I do not care very much for his approval or disapproval,'
+said Clara as she read this. 'No doubt it will be the best thing you
+can do, especially as it will heal all the sores arising from the
+entail.' 'There never was any sore,' said Clara. 'Pray give my
+compliments to Mr Belton, and offer him my congratulations, and tell
+him that I wish him all happiness in the married state.' 'Married
+fiddlestick!' said Clara. In this she was unreasonable; but the
+euphonious platitudes of Captain Aylmer were so unlike the vehement
+protestations of Mr Belton that she must be excused if by this time she
+had come to entertain something of an unreasonable aversion for the
+former.
+
+I hope you will not receive my news with perfect indifference when I
+tell you that I also am going to be married. The lady is one whom I
+have known for a long time, and have always esteemed very highly. She
+is Lady Emily Tagmaggert, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Mull.'
+Why Clara should immediately have conceived a feeling of supreme
+contempt for Lady Emily Tagmaggert, and assured herself that her
+ladyship was a thin, dry, cross old maid with a red nose, I cannot
+explain; but I do know that such were her thoughts, almost
+instantaneously, in reference to Captain Aylmer's future bride. 'Lady
+Emily is a very intimate friend of my sister's; and you, who know how
+our family cling together, will feel how thankful I must be when I tell
+you that my mother quite approves of the engagement. I suppose we shall
+be married early in the spring. We shall probably spend some months
+every year at Perivale, and I hope that we may look forward to the
+pleasure of seeing you sometimes as a guest beneath our roof.' On
+reading this Clara shuddered, and made some inward protestation which
+seemed to imply that she had no wish whatever to revisit the dull
+streets of the little town with which she had been so well acquainted.
+'I hope she'll be good to poor Mr Possit,' said Clara, 'and give him
+port wine on Sundays.'
+
+I have one more thing that I ought to say. You will remember that I
+intended to pay my aunt's legacy immediately after her death, but that
+I was prevented by circumstances which I could not control. I have paid
+it now into Mr Green's hands on your account, together with the sum of
+œ59 18s 3d., which is due upon it as interest at the rate of 5 per
+cent. I hope that this may be satisfactory.' 'It is not satisfactory at
+all,' said Clara, putting down the letter, and resolving that Will
+Belton should be instructed to repay the money instantly. It may,
+however, be explained here that in this matter Clara was doomed to be
+disappointed; and that she was forced, by Mr Green's arguments, to
+receive the money. 'Then it shall go to the hospital at Perivale,' she
+declared when those arguments were used. As to that, Mr Green was quite
+indifferent, but I do not think that the legacy which troubled poor
+Aunt Winterfield so much on her dying bed was ultimately applied to so
+worthy a purpose.
+
+And now, my dear Miss Amedroz,' continued the letter, 'I will say
+farewell, with many assurances of my unaltered esteem, and with
+heartfelt wishes for your future happiness. Believe me to be always,
+
+Most faithfully and sincerely yours,
+
+FREDERIC F. AYLMER.
+
+'Esteem!' said Clara, as she finished the letter. 'I wonder which he
+esteems the most, me or Lady Emily Tagmaggert. He will never get beyond
+esteem with any one.
+
+The letter which was last read was as follows:
+
+Plaistow, August 186 .
+
+Dearest Clara,
+
+I don't think I shall ever get done, and I am coming to hate farming.
+It is awful lonely here, too, and I pass all my evenings by myself,
+wondering why I should be doomed to this kind of thing, while you and
+Mary are comfortable together at Belton. We have begun with the wheat,
+and as soon as that is safe I shall cut and run. I shall leave the
+barley to Bunce. Bunce knows as much about it as I do and as for
+remaining here all the summer, it's out of the question.
+
+My own dear, darling love, of course I don't intend to urge you to do
+anything that you don't like; but upon my honour I don't see the force
+of what you say. You know I have as much respect for your father's
+memory as anybody, but what harm can it do to him that we should be
+married at once? Don't you think he would have wished it himself? It
+can be ever so quiet. So long as it's done, I don't care a straw how
+it's done. Indeed, for the matter of that, I always think it would be
+best just to walk to church and to walk home again without saying
+anything to anybody. I hate fuss and nonsense, and really I don't think
+anybody would have a right to say anything if we were to do it at once
+in that sort of way. I have had a bad time of it for the last
+twelvemonth. You must allow that, and I think that I ought to be
+rewarded.
+
+As for living, you shall have your choice. Indeed you shall live
+anywhere you please at Timbuctoo if you like it. I don't want to give
+up Plaistow, because my father and grandfather farmed the land
+themselves; but I am quite prepared not to live here. I don't think it
+would suit you, because it has so much of the farm-house about it. Only
+I should like you sometimes to come and look at the old place. What I
+should like would be to pull down the house at Belton and build
+another. But you mustn't propose to put it off till that's done, as I
+should never have the heart to do it. If you think that would suit you,
+I'll make up my mind to live at Belton for a constancy; and then I'd go
+in for a lot of cattle, and don't doubt I'd make a fortune. I'm almost
+sick of looking at the straight ridges in the big square fields every
+day of my life.
+
+Give my love to Mary. I hope she fights my battle for me. Pray think of
+all this, and relent if you can. I do so long to have an end of this
+purgatory. If there was any use, I wouldn't say a word; but there's no
+good in being tortured, when there is no use. God bless you, dearest
+love. I do love you so well!
+
+Yours most affectionately,
+
+W. BELTON.'
+
+She kissed the letter twice, pressed it to her bosom, and then sat
+silent for half an hour thinking of it of it, and the man who wrote it,
+and of the man who had written the other letter. She could not but
+remember how that other man had thought to treat her, when it was his
+intention and her intention that they two should join their lots
+together how cold he had been; how full of caution and counsel; how he
+had preached to her himself and threatened her with the preaching of
+his mother; how manifestly he had purposed to make her life a sacrifice
+to his life; how he had premeditated her incarceration at Perivale,
+while he should be living a bachelor's life in London! Will Belton's
+ideas of married life were very different. Only come to me at once now,
+immediately, and everything else shall be disposed just as you please.
+This was his offer. What he proposed to give or rather his willingness
+to be thus generous, was very sweet to her; but it was not half so
+sweet as his impatience in demanding his reward. How she doted on him
+because he considered his present state to be a purgatory! How could
+she refuse anything she could give to one who desired her gifts so
+strongly?
+
+As for her future residence, it would be a matter of indifference to
+her where she should live, so long as she might live with him; but for
+him she felt that but one spot in the world was fit for him. He was
+Belton of Belton, and it would not be becoming that he should live
+elsewhere. Of course she would go with him to Plaistow Hall as often as
+he might wish it; but Belton Castle should be his permanent
+resting-place. It would be her duty to be proud for him, and therefore,
+for his sake, she would beg that their home might be in Somersetshire.
+
+'Mary,' she said to her cousin soon afterwards, 'Will sends his love to
+you.'
+
+'And what else does he say?'
+
+'I couldn't tell you everything. You shouldn't expect it.'
+
+'I don't expect it; but perhaps there may be something to be told.'
+
+'Nothing that I need tell specially. You, who know him so well, can
+imagine what he would say.'
+
+'Dear Will! I am sure he would mean to write what was pleasant.'
+
+Then the matter would have dropped had Clara been so minded but she, in
+truth, was anxious to be forced to talk about the letter. She wished to
+be urged by Mary to do that which Will urged her to do or, at least, to
+learn whether Mary thought that her brother's wish might be gratified
+without impropriety. 'Don't you think we ought to live here?' she said.
+
+'By all means if you both like it.'
+
+'He is so good so unselfish, that he will only ask me to do what I like
+best.'
+
+'And which would you like best?'
+
+'I think he ought to live here because it is the old family property. I
+confess that the name goes for something with me. He says that he would
+build a new house.'
+
+'Does he think he could have it ready by the time you are married?'
+
+'Ah that is just the difficulty. Perhaps, after all, you had better
+read his letter. I don't know why I should not show it to you. It will
+only tell you what you know already that he is the most generous fellow
+in all the world.' Then Mary read the letter. 'What am I to say to
+him?' Clara asked. 'It seems so hard to refuse anything to one who is
+so true, and good, and generous.'
+
+'It is hard.'
+
+'But you see my poor, dear father's death has been so recent.'
+
+'I hardly know,' said Mary, 'how the world feels about such things.'
+
+'I think we ought to wait at least twelve months,' said Clara, very
+sadly.
+
+'Poor Will! He will be broken-hearted a dozen times before that. But
+then, when his happiness does come, he will be all the happier.' Clara,
+when she heard this, almost hated her cousin Mary not for her own sake,
+but on Will's account. Will trusted so implicitly to his sister, and
+yet she could not make a better fight for him than this! It almost
+seemed that Mary was indifferent to her brother's happiness. Had Will
+been her brother, Clara thought, and had any girl asked her advice
+under similar circumstances, she was sure that she would have answered
+in a different way. She would have told such girl that her first duty
+was owing to the man who was to be her husband, and would not have said
+a word to her about the feeling of the world. After all, what did the
+feeling of the world signify to them, who were going to be all the
+world to each other?
+
+On that afternoon she went up to Mrs Askerton's; and succeeded in
+getting advice from her also, though she did not show Will's letter to
+that lady. 'Of course, I know what he says,' said Mrs Askerton. 'Unless
+I have mistaken the man, he wants to be married tomorrow.'
+
+'He is not so bad as that,' said Clara.
+
+'Then the next day, or the day after. Of course he is impatient, and
+does not see any earthly reason why his impatience should not be
+gratified.'
+
+'He is impatient.'
+
+'And I suppose you hesitate because of your father's death?
+
+'It seems but the other day does it not?' said Clara.
+
+'Everything seems but the other day to me. It was but the other day
+that I myself was married.'
+
+'And, of course, though I would do anything I could that he would ask
+me to do'
+
+'But would you do anything?'
+
+'Anything that was not wrong I would. Why should I not, when he is so
+good to me?'
+
+'Then write to him, my dear, and tell him that it shall be as he wishes
+it. Believe me, the days of Jacob are over. Men don't understand
+waiting now, and it's always as well to catch your fish when you can.'
+
+'You don't suppose I have any thought of that kind?'
+
+'I am sure you have not and I'm sure that he deserves no such thought
+but the higher that are his deserts, the greater should be his reward.
+If I were you, I should think of nothing but him, and I should do
+exactly as he would have me.' Clara kissed her friend as she parted
+from her, and again resolved that all that woman's sins should be
+forgiven her. A woman who could give such excellent advice deserved
+that every sin should be forgiven her. 'They'll be married yet before
+the summer is over,' Mrs Askerton said to her husband that afternoon.
+'I believe a man may have anything he chooses to ask for, if he'll only
+ask hard enough.'
+
+And they were married in the autumn, if not actually in the summer.
+With what precise words Clara answered her lover's letter I will not
+say; but her answer was of such a nature that he found himself
+compelled to leave Plaistow, even before the wheat was garnered. Great
+confidence was placed in Bunce on that occasion, and I have reason to
+believe that it was not misplaced. They were married in September yes,
+in September, although that letter of Will's was written in August, and
+by the beginning of October they had returned from their wedding trip
+to Plaistow. Clara insisted that she should be taken to Plaistow, and
+was very anxious when there to learn all the particulars of the farm.
+She put down in a little book how many acres there were in each field,
+and what was the average produce of the land. She made inquiry about
+four-crop rotation, and endeavoured, with Bunce, to go into the great
+subject of stall-feeding. But Belton did not give her as much
+encouragement as he might have done. 'We'll come here for the shooting
+next year,' he said; 'that is, if there is nothing to prevent us.'
+
+'I hope there'll be nothing to prevent us.'
+
+'There might be, perhaps; but we'll always come if there is not. For
+the rest of it, I'll leave it to Bunce, and just run over once or twice
+in the year. It would not be a nice place for you to live at long.'
+
+'I like it of all things. I am quite interested about the farm.'
+
+'You'd get very sick of it if you were here in the winter. The truth is
+that if you farm well, you must farm ugly. The picturesque nooks and
+corners have all to be turned inside out, and the hedgerows must be
+abolished, because we want the sunshine. Now, down at Belton, just
+above the house, we won't mind farming well, but will stick to the
+picturesque.'
+
+The new house was immediately commenced at Belton, and was made to
+proceed with all imaginable alacrity. It was supposed at one time at
+least Belton himself said that he so supposed that the building would
+be ready for occupation at the end of the first summer; but this was
+not found to be possible. 'We must put it off till May, after all,'
+said Belton, as he was walking round the unfinished building with
+Colonel Askerton. 'It's an awful bore, but there's no getting people
+really to pull out in this country.'
+
+'I think they've pulled out pretty well. Of course you couldn't have
+gone into a damp house for the winter.'
+
+'Other people can get a house built within twelve months. Look what
+they do in London.'
+
+'And other people with their wives and children die in consequence of
+colds and sore throats and other evils of that nature. I wouldn't go
+into a new house, I know, till I was quite sure it was dry.'
+
+As Will at this time was hardly ten months married, he was not as yet
+justified in thinking about his own wife and children; but he had
+already found it expedient to make arrangements for the autumn, which
+would prevent that annual visit to Plaistow which Clara had
+contemplated, and which he had regarded with his characteristic
+prudence as being subject to possible impediments. He was to be absent
+himself for the first week in September, but was to return immediately
+after that. This he did; and before the end of that month he was
+justified in talking of his wife and family. 'I suppose it wouldn't
+have done to have been moving now under all the circumstances,' he said
+to his friend, Mrs Askerton, as he still grumbled about the unfinished
+house.
+
+'I don't think it would have done at all, under all the circumstances,'
+said Mrs Askerton.
+
+But in the following spring or early summer they did get into the new
+house and a very nice house it was, as will, I think, be believed by
+those who have known Mr William Belton. And when they were well
+settled, at which time little Will Belton was some seven or eight
+mouths old little Will, for whom great bonfires had been lit, as though
+his birth in those parts was a matter not to be regarded lightly; for
+was he not the first Belton of Belton who had been born there for more
+than a century? when that time came visitors appeared at the new Belton
+Castle, visitors of importance, who were entitled to, and who received,
+great consideration. These were no less than Captain Aylmer, Member for
+Perivale, and his newly-married bride, Lady Emily Aylmer, n‚e
+Tagmaggert. They were then just married, and had come down to Belton
+Castle immediately after their honeymoon trip. How it had come to pass
+that such friendship had sprung up or rather how it had been revived it
+would be bootless here to say. But old affiances, such as that which
+had existed between the Aylmer and the Amedroz families, do not allow
+themselves to die out easily, and it is well for us all that they
+should be long-lived. So Captain Aylmer brought his bride to Belton
+Park, and a small fatted calf was killed, and the Askertons came to
+dinner on which occasion Captain Aylmer behaved very well, though we
+may imagine that he must have had some misgivings on the score of his
+young wife. The Askertons came to dinner, and the old rector, and the
+squire from a neighbouring parish, and everything was very handsome and
+very dull. Captain Aylmer was much pleased with his visit, and declared
+to Lady Emily that marriage had greatly improved Mi. William Belton.
+Now Will had been very dull the whole evening, and very unlike the
+fiery, violent, unreasonable man whom Captain Aylmer remembered to have
+met at the station hotel of the Great Northern Railway.
+
+'I was as sure of it as possible,' Clara said to her husband that night.
+
+'Sure of what, my dear?'
+
+'That she would have a red nose.'
+
+'Who has got a red nose?'
+
+'Don't be stupid, Will. Who should have it but Lady Emily?'
+
+'Upon my word I didn't observe it.'
+
+'You never observe anything, Will; do you? But don't you think she is
+very plain?'
+
+'Upon my word I don't know. She isn't as handsome as some people.'
+
+'Don't be a fool, Will. How old do you suppose her to be?' 'How old?
+Let me see. Thirty, perhaps.'
+
+'If she's not over forty, I'll consent to change noses with her.'
+
+'No we won't do that; not if I know it.'
+
+'I cannot conceive why any man should marry such a woman as that. Not
+but what she's a very good woman, I dare say; only what can a man get
+by it? To be sure there's the title, if that's worth anything.' But
+Will Belton was never good for much conversation at this hour, and was
+too fast asleep to make any rejoinder to the last remark.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BELTON ESTATE ***
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